Effectively implementing inherently safer design provides an opportunity for preventing major
chemical incidents. The August 6, 2012, incident at Chevron and other incidents23 throughout the
refining industry highlight the difficulty in preventing failure caused by sulfidation corrosion in
low-silicon carbon steel piping solely through inspection, a procedural safeguard that is low on
the hierarchy of controls. Using inherently safer design concepts to eliminate the hazard of
variation in corrosion rate in carbon steel piping due to hard-to-determine silicon content will
prevent future similar failures in refineries