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Overview
Reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) programs are an integral part of any risk management system.
RAM techniques possess many similarities to those that are used for safety. However, the key difference between the two is that it is possible to talk about optimum reliability, i.e., the point at which a dollar spent on improving reliability leads to less than a cost-averaged dollar in benefits. With safety, however, there is no real optimum value: all incidents are unacceptable. As explained with the discussion to do with ALARP and Acceptable Risk, no company or government agency is going to commit to an acceptable level in the number of deaths or serious injuries. And nor should they.
This ebook provides guidance on the development of a RAM program for the process and energy industries.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Benefits of a RAM Program
Increased Production and Profitability
Increased Productivity
Reduced Investment
Lower Maintenance Costs
Lower Inventories
Enhanced Customer Satisfaction
Personal Recognition
Personal Life
Improved Public Perception
Reliability and Safety
Hazardous Operations
Unsafe Process Conditions
Safety Bypasses
Transient Stresses
Reduced Chance of Catastrophic Losses
Increased Safety May Reduce Reliability
Loss of Experience
Engineering Practices
Daily Operations
Definitions
Reliability
Availability
Effectiveness
Maintainability
Failure Modes
Equipment Description
Primary, Secondary and Command Failures
Catastrophic, Degraded and Incipient Failures
Real Failures / Necessary Replacements
Failure Rates
Constant / Exponential Distribution
Lognormal Distribution
Bathtub Curve
Early Failures
Constant Failure Rate
Wear-Out Failures
Reliability Block Diagrams
Active / Standby Redundancy
Quantification of Block Diagrams
Human Reliability
Errors of Intent
Types of Human Error
Errors of Intent
Mistakes
Slips
Fixation
Error in an Emergency
Incorrect Response
Human Reliability Analysis
THERP
