About LPB

The Loss Prevention Bulletin (LPB) was first published in 1974 around the time of the disastrous explosion at Flixborough. Many discussions were taking place around that time to identify what IChemE might do to help prevent accidents, and it was agreed to produce a publication in which subscribing companies could share information on accidents within their companies and elsewhere, and the lessons that others could learn to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

The first issue of the Loss Prevention Bulletin appeared in December 1974 and consisted mainly of items from Trevor Kletz’s renowned ICI Newsletters. A founding principle was that the anonymity of the companies and the locations of the accidents should be preserved if required, so that important lessons could be learned and shared without fear of embarrassment or recrimination.

Over the ensuing forty years, LPB has covered in depth the major process industry accidents, such as Bhopal, Seveso, Piper Alpha, Texas City, Buncefield, as well as scores of less well known incidents and near-misses whose details would not be widely available from other sources. Numerous special issues have been published focussing on specific hazards commonly found in the process industry, for example – confined space entry, accidents during start-up and shutdown, laboratory hazards. LPB also looks beyond the boundaries of the process industry to draw out the applicable lessons from accidents in other industries: the Uberlingen air crash; the Channel Tunnel fire and the sinking of the HMS Costa Concordia, amongst others covered in LPB, all have relevant learning for the process industry. In addition, LPB also publishes guidance on good systems of loss prevention and process safety management on the principle of ‘continuous improvement.’

LPB’s objective of sharing information with the aim of improving process safety is recognised by other bodies, and shares many of the same objectives as the UK CIA’s Responsible Care programme; the US Chemical Safety Board and the European Commission’s Major Accident Hazards Bureau. As such, LPB relies on organisations continuing willingness to share the lessons they have learned with others. The result is a growing archive of material providing an invaluable resource for process safety professionals worldwide, which continues to have an important role in disseminating the lessons learned from incidents past and present.

Subscription to LPB will give you access to this excellent source of reference material. Key features include:

• six new issues per year
• case studies demonstrating the hazards of real processes and plants
• technical articles offering practical advice on specific hazards, process safety management systems and good safety practice
• all case studies and articles are reviewed by an editorial panel of experienced safety professionals
• free access to the toolbox talks - a series of PowerPoint slide shows that can be used as the basis of short safety talks
• access to 50 years of articles.

IChemE members get access to the complete online collection of LPB as part of their membership benefits.

For more information go to subscription rates and how to subscribe.

1. IChemE members and subscribers to the Loss Prevention Bulletin (LPB) may, in accordance with the copyright law of the United Kingdom:

• search, view, retrieve and display any article, toolbox talk or news item published on the LPB website (hereafter referred to as ‘licensed materials’)
• electronically save parts of the licensed materials for personal use
• print off a copy of individual articles or items of the licensed materials for their own use.

2. IChemE members and subscribers may not:

• remove or alter the authors’ names or the publisher’s copyright notices or other means of identification or disclaimers as they appear in the licensed materials
• systematically make print or electronic copies of multiple extracts of the licensed materials for any purpose
• mount or distribute any part of the licensed material on any electronic network or the internet.

3. The publisher’s explicit written permission must be obtained in order to:

• use all or any part of the licensed materials for any commercial use
• publish, distribute or make available the licensed materials, works based on the licensed materials or works which combine them with any other material
• alter, abridge, adapt or modify the licensed materials.

If you wish to re-use or distribute material from the LPB to anyone other than other subscribers, you must obtain prior permission.

IChemE has partnered with Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) to make it easy for you to secure permission to reuse our content. 

Please visit www.copyright.com and enter the title that you are requesting permission for in the ‘Get Permission’ search box.

We welcome submissions to LPB. For information on how to submit content, please visit the submit material section.