An Emergency Management Plan (EMP) is an important ingredient of any successful process safety management system. On the other hand, in a typical chemical plant there are several possibilities for emergencies. One must thoroughly analyze any possibility in order to reach a set of representative scenarios on which the emergency response plan can be built.

In this study, Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) is used for emergency planning in a real chemical processing facility. Release scenarios were identified using a detailed HAZOP study, followed by a qualitative risk assessment for screening credible accident scenarios. Final quantitative risk assessment of these scenarios helped screen 9 representative scenarios that were used for preparation of the EMP.

Briefly reviewing the plan itself, the current paper mainly discusses three crucial questions concentrated on the practicality of application of QRA for emergency planning based on the experience of this project, namely: (1) Is QRA necessary? (2) Is QRA economical? (3) Is QRA advantageous? Each question has been analyzed in terms of the standard content of modern emergency management plans, as classified into four major categories: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.

The paper also gives remarks on a number of issues that need to be addressed if use of this technique is going to be extended. A part of the paper is dedicated to a real-time emergency awareness and response system that was specifically developed for this project.

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