November 22, 2013 - A vibrant oil & gas industry, the need to replace aging systems, and new end user attitudes toward safety are driving growth in the worldwide process safety system market, according to ARC Advisory Group. Process safety systems protect people, equipment, and the environment when unsafe conditions occur in industrial processes such as oil refining, petrochemical production, or power generation. The oil & gas industry is the largest user of process safety systems, and the industry has been growing worldwide due to projects for new unconventional resources and large complex offshore projects. The ARC report forecasts solid growth for the safety system market, which will exceed $3 billion worldwide in 2017.
Dedicated process safety systems emerged about 30 years ago and the market grew rapidly. This has created a replacement market opportunity as older systems have become difficult to support. ARC research indicates that plant owner-operators are beginning to adopt a new attitude toward safety system investments. The severity of recent accidents and incidents in the process industries, combined with recognition of the need for greater operational integrity has led many end user companies to take a broader view of safety and re-visit their existing processes, procedures, and systems.
“The need for higher operational integrity is becoming widely recognized, and owner-operators are re-thinking their policies for both new and existing assets, according to ARC Senior Analyst Harry Forbes “Huge new offshore projects and unconventional oil and gas resources bring the challenge of managing safety for critical assets and systems in very remote locations. The practices developed for these new projects will end up being adopted elsewhere across industry.”
End Users Require Increasing Help and Guidance
With the exception of a very few sophisticated owner-operators, most end users need help and guidance applying process safety systems because they lack experience in efficient safety project design and implementation, as well as in-depth knowledge of safety standards such as IEC 61508 and IEC 61511. This is increasing the trend for safety system suppliers and safety specialist engineering firms to work closely with their clients in the design, implementation, and support of their systems and for end users to form joint working teams for process safety projects to ensure long term success and minimize risk.
About ARC Advisory Group:
About ARC: Founded in 1986, ARC Advisory Group is the leading research and advisory firm for industry and infrastructure. ARC covers a wide range of technologies from business systems to asset lifecycle management, supply chain management, operations management, and automation systems; making it the “go-to” firm for business and IT executives around the world. For the complex business issues facing organizations today, ARC analysts have the industry knowledge and first-hand experience to help clients find the best answers.