ModulesEmergency Preparedness & ResponseProcess Safety
When it goes wrong, the card is already written.One scenario, from the study that found it to the exercise that tested it.
For site emergency coordinators and process safety engineers: import the scenarios your studies found, write a response card for each, name the people for every shift, and exercise them on an interval. The status says what was exercised, never more.
- Critical
- Critical · marked by Emma Clarke on 12 Aug 2026
- Protective action
- Evacuate the vaporizer area to assembly point B · Fire or gas alarm in Area 2
| Do first | Action | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raise the alarm at the nearest call point | First person on scene |
| 2 | Trip ESD from the control room; close XV-201 at the battery limit | Control room operator |
| 3 | Isolate steam to V-201 at TV-201 bypass HV-202 | Area operator |
| 4 | Start deluge DV-201 if not running | Fire team leader |
- Never
- Never approach a jet fire to isolate by hand
- Never
- Never enter Area 2 without a gas test
| Call | Who | Who calls |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Public emergency services | Shift supervisor calls |
| 2 | Site emergency coordinator | Shift supervisor calls |
| 3 | Authority to notify | Coordinator calls |
| 4 | Neighbour · warehouse at gate 3 | Coordinator calls |
- Tell the services
- Propane, about 12 t in V-201 and bullets B-1 and B-2
- Tell the services
- Isolation at XV-201 and HV-202
- Tell the services
- Hydrants H-4 and H-5; deluge DV-201
- Assembly point
- Assembly point B · east car park
- Card
- Complete · edited 28 Oct 2026 by Emma Clarke
| Relies on | Barrier | Status |
|---|---|---|
| BE-0019 | Deluge DV-201 | In place |
| BE-0021 | ESD valve XV-201 | Impaired · active bypass |
Read live from Barrier Management. A barrier not in place shows here; it does not change the status, and the reason line says so.
One scenario, three moments in its exercise record. An example scenario; the fields are the product’s, the values illustrative.
Where it connects
On the same loop: Barrier Management, Chemical Management, Training and 38 more modules in one workspace.
Method note
Announced or unannounced exercises? Both schools are right.
One teaches the plan, the other tests it. A site needs both, in the right order.
Leandro · Founder, UProcess
One school announces exercises so people learn their roles without fear of getting it wrong. The other runs them unannounced, because a real emergency warns nobody and only a surprise shows what people actually do.
So each exercise records its type and whether it was announced, and the record says what was tested.
- TabletopThe team talks the scenario through, step by step, around a table.
- DrillOne part done for real: the alarm, the muster, a first action.
- Full-scaleThe whole response, with outside services where they take part.
- Announced or notRecorded on every exercise, whatever its type.
Where Emergency Response usually breaks
Four places emergency preparedness goes wrong, and what the record does about each.
The responders are not told what is inside.
At West, Texas in 2013, the CSB found that training and reference material had not told emergency responders that the fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate on site could detonate in a fire, and lists inadequate emergency planning among the causes of the toll.
Source: U.S. Chemical Safety Board
In UProcess Scenarios come from your HAZOP & LOPA, Process Hazard Identification or Bowtie Analysis studies and keep their source. Each response card has a section for what to tell the services on arrival, and can show what is stored at its locations, read from Chemical Management.
Tell the services on arrival · ES-0014
- Stored here
- Propane · about 12 t · V-201, B-1, B-2
- From
- Chemical Management · Area 2 bullets
- Isolation
- XV-201 at the battery limit · HV-202 steam
- Water
- Hydrants H-4, H-5 · deluge DV-201
Source: HAZOP & LOPA scenario 2.1 · Current
The warning never reaches the people outside.
After the 2008 Bayer CropScience explosion, the CSB found that information was held back from county emergency agencies and that the shelter-in-place advice never reached the 911 operators.
Source: U.S. Chemical Safety Board
In UProcess Each card sets the call order and the role that makes each call: public services, authorities to notify, neighbours. A contact not checked within your interval comes back to the plan owner. UProcess never makes the call itself.
Call, in this order · ES-0014
UProcess never calls, texts or emails anyone. The card says who does.
The drill that was never held.
At Goodyear’s Houston plant in 2008, procedures called for evacuation and shelter-in-place drills four times a year, but workers said none had been held for four years. The headcount missed a worker, who was found about six hours later.
Source: U.S. Chemical Safety Board, case study
In UProcess Each scenario has an exercise interval. Never exercised, or past the interval, it reads not exercised with the days overdue. An objective such as everyone accounted for at the assembly point is evaluated met, partly met or not met.
Exercises covering ES-0014 · interval 12 months
- 22 Sep 2025
- Tabletop EX-2025-0011 · announced · evaluated
- 22 Sep 2026
- Interval ends
- 1 Oct 2026
- Not exercised · 9 days overdue
- 2 Oct 2026
- Drill EX-2026-0007 · unannounced · held
- 9 Oct 2026
- Evaluated · 1 objective partly met
Partly met · one contractor counted 11 minutes late
The role is on paper, the person is not there.
In its 2014 La Porte investigation the CSB describes a disorganized response: the process coordinator was missing and the response team’s pumper truck was not working.
Source: U.S. Chemical Safety Board, recommendation R8
In UProcess Roles carry the training they need and are appointed per shift, and coverage reads per shift from Training. The card lists the barriers it relies on, with their live status from Barrier Management.
Coverage · fire team · North site
Fire team initial and yearly refresher
- Day A
- 4 of 4 current
- Day B
- 4 of 4 current
- Night A
- 3 of 4 current
- Night B
- 4 of 4 current
Current against Training. Each shift needs 4 appointed people with the training in date.
Exercise EX-2026-0007 · Drill · unannouncedDate 2 Oct 2026Scenarios ES-0014Evaluators Emma Clarke · Mark Hughes (external)Alarm raised 10:02Team assembled 10:06Muster complete 10:13All accounted 10:24Services called 10:04End 10:41
| Objective | Result | Observation |
|---|---|---|
| The alarm was raised by the first person who saw the emergency | Met | Call point MCP-12 used within a minute |
| The first actions on the card were done in order, by the role named | Met | ESD tripped, XV-201 closed, steam isolated |
| Everyone was accounted for at the assembly point, visitors and contractors included | Partly met | One contractor on the visitor list was counted 11 minutes late |
| The contacts were called in the card’s call order | Met | Services first, then the coordinator |
Contractor sign-in sheet not taken to assembly point BModerate | Finding | AT-0211 · Open · owner Liam O’Connor · due 30 Nov 2026 |
18 participants · 3 contractors by name
The record an auditor asks for.
An exercise counts when its evaluation is written down and every finding has an action or a reason.
- The plan published for each site, kept as a version exactly as it stood on that date.
- Each exercise: type, announced or not, the scenarios it covered, evaluators, participants including contractors, and its timings.
- The evaluation of every objective, met, partly met or not met, with the observation behind it.
- Every finding with its severity, and its action in Action Tracking or the reason it was dismissed.
What’s in a scenario
- Scenario
- Imported from a HAZOP & LOPA scenario, a Process Hazard Identification consequence or a Bowtie Analysis line, or written here, with its area, a critical flag and an exercise interval.
- Response card
- The protective action and when it applies, the first actions in order with the role for each, what never to do, the call order, what to tell the services on arrival, the assembly point.
- Organisation
- Roles with the training they require, appointments per shift, and coverage per shift.
- Exercises
- Orientation, tabletop, drill, functional or full-scale, announced or not: planned, held, evaluated, closed. Objectives met, partly met or not met; findings major, moderate or minor.
- Status
- Exercised, exercised with findings open, not exercised or card incomplete, worked out by one rule and always shown with its reason.
Questions
Does UProcess call the fire service?
No. The card says who calls whom, and in what order. UProcess never calls, texts or emails anyone.
Does a tabletop count as an exercise?
Yes, all five types count toward the scenario’s interval. The type is on the record, so a reader sees what was tested.
Can we keep our current plan document?
Yes. Link it from Document Manager while the plan built from your scenarios and cards takes over.
When is an exercise closed?
When every finding has an action or has been dismissed with a reason.