Abstract
Sustainable hydrogen is transitioning from a future concept to a reality in everyday life, especially in some countries. There are numerous developments and applications of primary use of hydrogen, such as fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen refuelling stations (HRSs). HRSs’ safety is a prerequisite for their successful deployment in society. The expansion of this technology inevitably will depend on its safe operation, thus there is a need to minimize potential risks in the value chain of hydrogen. As part of the international SUSHy project, we aim to identify key parameters and safety requirements to minimize risks and ensure HRS safety. As a first step, an incident analysis protocol has been developed based on proven methodologies from high reliability industries (such as nuclear and offshore). This protocol, Incident Contributing Factors Analysis (ICFA), will guide the systematic analysis of the different factors involved in the events. The ICFA has been validated by a multidisciplinary team of experts through its application to some incidents obtained from various international databases (KHK, HIAD 2.0, ARIA, and H2 LL). This paper briefly describes the basis of the ICFA protocol development and the procedure for its implementation, derived from the results of the pilot study. In the framework of the SUSHy project, it is planned to apply this protocol to a systematic analysis of more than 200 incidents and accidents that occurred in HRS, which have been identified and selected from the previous mentioned international databases. Its systematic application will allow ranking risk factors and gathering lessons learned in order to improve HRS safety.
