Restrain the stealth risks in the hydrocarbon processing industry

A. J. KHAN, Safety Consultant, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia  The oil and gas industry has always struggled to learn from its safety incidents, both internally and globally. While global incident data sharing initiatives have played an incredibly important role in sharing information and supporting the industry in proactive incident prevention, some issues still trickle down between the cracks.  This article discusses the latent threats and vulnerabilities that often escape scrutiny until it is too late, and examines five often overlooked risks:  Small bore piping (SBP) failures  Acoustic/flow-induced vibrations  Static electricity ignition  Aging infrastructure  Cybersecurit