Safety And Design For Process Plants: An Overview

Details that need to be investigated

Process plant operations are some of the key sectors in any organization, where there will be considerable amount of risk, as there will be continuous involvement of the operators as well the most riskiest equipment in the organization will normally be seen in the process operations. Hence from a long time, there are numerous control strategies being adopted to control the possible safety risk in these operations. There are diverse techniques and strategies being in use. PHR strategies, Hazop strategies (Basu, 2016) as well as other strategies like Risk ranking are some of the several techniques which the organizational management can employ to identify, categorize and restrict the risk in the process plant operations. Infact the risk identification procedures do start during the design phase itself. Restricting the vulnerability by all the possible design procedures and application of the safety factors will make the system better. Further application of the risk mitigation strategies (Boyle, 2015) and enforcement of the safety practices will make the organizations more and safer. The following part of the discussion is related with the process plant design and operational perspectives in safety enforcement framework. The following discussion is not restricted to any one particular type of process plant, the conditions and the clauses discussed here in this report are quite general and broader. They are applicable to any type of the process plant in general. They are more confined with the design and operational perspectives. Also the breadth and width of coverage is much vaster. The presentation is done in the form of an enquiry and the list presented here is provided with questionnaire that will detail the list of the aspects that one needs to consider before finalizing the plant design and operations in the organization (Brauer, 2016). A comprehensive safety measures implementation is the only channel available for safety control in process plants (Mannan et al., 2016).

Is  there restricted entry policy imposed into all the critical sites of the plant?

Are there sufficient controls implemented in terms of restricting the carriage of the fire and flammable substances into the plant location?

Is there policy of enforcing PPE for personnel entering into the site?(personal protection equipment)?

All people working in the  the critical sites of the plant like boilers, furnaces, High temperature zones are enforced to use special protective equipment like fire proof apparels etc? Is that policy in force? IF so who monitor that?

Who monitors the security of the plant as well as the people entering into the plant?

How stringent are the restrictions are applied in the context of restricting the explosive material carriage either by person or by through mass transport?

Which is exclusive team is operating in the site to control the safety operations at the site?

What type of full time operational and safety and occupational health monitoring teams operating in the site?

Are all the safety operations are enforced with all the equipment and tools provided with to the concerned personnel?

Is there any exhaustive inclusion of the evacuation routes at emergency conditions? Who are the key personnel are provided with the necessary communication means to interact in their daily routines as well as at emergency situations? (Flin et al., 2000)

General access to the Plant, Restrictions, controls, Management of the people on site

What are the access provisions for emergency counter vehicles as and when need?

How are accesses routes prepared and enabled for the travel of the fire engines and other disaster management devices in the organization?

What type of provisions enabled in the organization for the sake of installation of the emergency alarms and are they linked with for the co-ordination with the appropriate personnel?

How are the manual and automatic fire alarms installed at all the critical locations of the plant?

Who made the design of the plant for locating the fire alarms in the region which are highly accessible to the operators and other supervisor of the organization?

Is the usage of the fire alarms and other devices are made mandatory part of the training or induction in the workers recruitment?

IS there any type of orientation and drill conducted for the work force as part of the training programme, regarding emergency response and preparedness?

Also are all the workers are provided with the necessary drilling exercises, which will update their capabilities to face any type of emergency occurrences in the organization?

Which third party audit conducted regarding the fire and related emergency preparedness of the organization in general? Is the evaluation is performed regarding the installation of the fire alarms and other support activities like preparation of the fire escape routes etc?

Are all the equipment used in the process plant is sufficient subjected to the verification of the standards compliance? Which factors of safety at the time of design are considered and  also all the equipment is benchmarked for the quality and safety compliance? (Fthenakis, 2017)

The waste being generated in the process plant during the operation need to be investigated for the type of the waste it is? What protocols are being employed in accordance with the local government and federal government regulations for the disposal of the same?

What type of hazard handling procedures are being employed in the organization? What procedures are being employed for the waste disposal? Whether complete safety procedural implementation is done during this program?

What type of training the waste disposals as well as the hazard identification and mitigation personnel are provided with to execute their functionality?

How do all the equipment and the procedures being employed in this regard are in line with the safety compliance standards? (Haugen et al., 2016).

Is all the disposal locations are maintained at the safe distance from the actual plant?

IS the check for disposal procedures done against the standard procedures?

Are there right auditing procedures (Allford, 2016) for inspecting the disposal equipments and the disposal procedures from time to time?

Are the personnel in the organization are provided with the necessary disaster management training?

Whether the typical procedural steps like display of the emergency contact numbers displayed in right place prominently?

Who are the key technical personnel in the critical operational divisions are provided with the necessary training to face the disasters?

What type of disaster response training is provided to all the employees by making it mandatory as per the organization policy and protocols?

Fire safety and management, alarms, Drills, consequences and drills

Is the organization has proximity to outside help? Whether all the related contact numbers and related correspondence channels are kept open?

How the in-house disaster response teams are prepared and informed broadly about their role and action requirements at the times of need? (Haugen, 2011)

On-site operators must be trained of the safety procedures.

Safe operating procedures need to be displayed prominently in all the critical locations in the organization.

They should be readable and should remain prominently visible to all the key stakeholders and visitors to the plant.

Also there need to be immediate safety procedures in case of an accident or any sort of the mal functionality if applied during the operation of the particular task?

The facilities should be provided with all the necessary safe ventilation, free air flow, should be provided with fire alarms and fire prevention systems?

Also there is need for all the operators to be trained to execute safety alarms as and when need and also need to be trained in taking up alert actions to alarm the emergency response teams at times of need. These need to be inspected for.

An insight into the implementation of these practices and enforcement need to be strictly verified. Any discrepancies if found need to be tackled immediately with corrective measures.

What safety considerations are taken into account while making bunds near the fuel storage area?

Are there any restrictions enforced to take care of the catchment area compliances with the protocols?

What standards and considerations taken into consideration during the design phase to account for these aspects of the design?

For what extent the fences are kept in place for the entire site? Has it resulted in betterment of the total safety? Are there any lapses still in the system?

All the checks for the safety of the people and the equipment whether enforced by checklist?

What are the precautions like safety signs and boards taken in the site? Are they kept in proper place? Are they in proper number and locations for prominent display?(Hollnagel,2016).

What type of safety guards are kept in place in the site?

Whether all the machine guards are located in the proper location with proper fasteners and related mechanism?

What type of training is provided to the operators to follow the safety controls during working on the machines?

All operators need to be updated of the safety competency chronically and what measures are being taken in this regard?

What type of safety audits do happen at the site occasionally?

What measures are taken during the design phase for the implementation of the safety aspects at the plant site and for its related operations?

What extent safety passage clearances are provided for men and material movement in the machine shop? What are dimensions of the gangue way in these locations? Are they as per the prevailing standards?

Are  all precautions of the possible electrical shock displayed prominently in the plant?

All  HV lines are isolated and prominently labelled for caution?

Is  insulation is done for the vulnerable conductors in all the reachable areas in the plant?

Disposal of waste, hazards handling, procedures, training of the personnel, disposal sites and the disposal equipment?

Is there any prominent display of the lock out and tag out procedures and protocols in the plant? (Yamin et al., 2017)

Is the Safety and occupational department is working out to enforce the lockout and tag procedures in the organization?

Is the colour coding employed in the organization to display the electrical vulnerable locations?

Are all process equipment is protected from the possible high voltage and short circuiting problems?

The safe distance of the plant need to be maintained from the entire vulnerable population habitat?

During the design phase, what precautions are taken to locate the plant site? How far is it located from the habitats and how safe is it? What standards and controls are employed in this direction?

Hazardous material storage protocols are they followed during the site and ware house designs?

Are all the local legislations, regulations and protocols followed in this regard?

Are the community members made part of the vigilance teams for safety audit? What type of third party audits are scheduled to assess the safety of the plant? Who are the specialist members working for the audit of the safety of the plant?

Who monitors material handling process? What protocols are in place to ensure safety in material handling?

What are the emission control measures enforced in the plant?

What standards are considered in enforcing the same for enabling greener and safer plant initiatives (Rohr et al., 2015)?

What type of safety standards and protocols enforced in the plant to detect unwanted and unsafe emissions from the plant and site?

What are the type of by-products being released in the plant? What safety legislations are enforced to make sure the by-products and associated emissions are safer (Schellings, 2013).

Is there any provision to assess the eco-friendliness of the by-products of the plant?

Is there any survey conducted in regard of the weather conditions in the location? Is there any audit performed regarding the cyclone, hurricanes and other related aspects like tsunamis, earthquakes (environmental problems) etc? What types of historical interferences are considered in design of the plant from natural disaster occurrences perspectives?

Are they sufficient to face the probable severity of the disasters?

Is there any provision for the design and installation of the equipment in the location as per the standards of the manufacturer and manufacturer specifications?

Is there any possible flood occurrence in the location? Are any special controls taken and implemented in this direction? (Spellman, 2017).

Is the process is sufficiently robust to take up the power failure?

Are there are any alternative arrangements in case if there is any power failure?

What procedures of machine shutdown synchronized for power failure?

How it will be restarted?

Who will be restarting operations and will it require any special considerations?

Auto power on and subsequent restart whether it is acceptable for the plant operations?(Stanojevic et al.,2013)

Is there any unwanted waste disposal occurring in the plant?

Are there any provisions to control and mitigate the waste disposal in the site?

What type of auditing is being done to restrict waste from the site?

Disaster management training. Medical help, Emergency equipment, proximity to outside help

What type of other provisions and controls are implemented in the site for better operational effectiveness and for ensuring safety in process?(Rhyner et al., 2017).

What is the quality of the construction material used for construction?

What are the safety factors included in the design of the plant infrastructure and other related aspects of the plant?

Whether the layout of the plant is optimized for safety and proper design requirements?

What type of restrictions and standards are enforced between different plant construction phases?

Is plant layout is designed as per the safety protocols?

Whether there are any emergency accesses located in the plant operational locations?

What type of manholes and handholes installed at critical locations? Are they sufficient in number and for operational requirements?

Is the access to maintenance is performed appropriately and without any inherent risk control mechanism?

Whether the risk controls are done effectively?

Risk mitigation strategies, are they implemented for all foreseen risks in the plant?(Tang e t al., 2017)

What type of PPEs are provided in the site?

Are the PPE implemented in the plant is sufficient as per the requirements of the plant risk factors?

Is there any classified risk in the plant like radioactive emissions and other related dangers?

Is any special safety procedures implemented in this regard?(Tyler,2015)

Are there any special PPE provided for operators working at quite critical locations like boilers, furnaces and other HV lines in the plant?

Is there any special training provided to the employees of the organization to face the challenging situations?

Are there any special orientation skills provided to the employees to face eventual environmental and process exposure problems?

Will there be any chronical inspection in the plant to assess the storage locations and their safety functionalities?

Whether any type of harmful interferences is found, what type of precautions will be taken to arrest the same?

Whether there are well established procedures to face these issues(Tyler,2015)?

What type of permits there in the plant to enable working at heights?(VanderMolen et al.,2014).

Who monitors the permit systems and how well they are monitored for enhancing the protocols and procedures(Rekus et al., 2017)?

What procedures are employed to make the restrictions and controls to happen as per the established procedures in the plant?

How many audits conducted before the erection? Who are the members? What comments are received? Are they implemented in the change revisions? Are the inspected for compliance after the design reviews? To what extent local laws and federal regulations are considered in safety perspective? Who monitors them?

IS there  any risk rating(Khan,2015) done as per the HAZOP analysis?(Janosovsky et al., 2016) Is risk mitigation procedures are implemented comprehensively? How about the entire operational procedures are provided with the necessary insight into the possible risk predictions and standard procedures of countering?

Conclusion:

The Process plant design and operational procedures can be safer only when they  are tested for each and every possible risk in the operations? There is need for verifying the complete operational integrity and safety factors before working out the most safe operational plan. The plant can be safer only when the safer means are implemented right from the design phase(king,2016). It is required that the plant need to be safer right from the design phase of the construction. Also during the actual erection , there need to be continuous monitoring of the quality of the  compliance of the actual design guidelines. Each and every equipment installed in the organization need to be inspected for matters like whether it got gone through quality check or not? After considering all these factors, there need to have critical investigation into factors like is right men are placed in the plant? Is right material is kept in the plant? Are the right methodologies are employed or not? Do the right procedures are being employed for monitoring the plant or not? The two aspects of the organizational investigation, verification of the design of the plant as well as verification of the plant operations need to be done for compliance with the safety as well as other related protocols in the organization (Rathnayaka et al., 2014). Further if the plant is a specific case and with need and requirement for special class of protection, then it need to be investigated for the same. For such cases special enforcements and the methods of controls are needed. For example if incase the plant is a nuclear plant for power generation, altogether different set of precautions and safety monitoring will be needed on priority. Also there may be need for technical expert to verify the process parameters and operational environment before licensing the same for operational requirements.

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