Reason of Safety in Process Industries

Protect people from harm and protect the

environment.
Satisfy laws and regulations.
Reduce cost of production loss and cost due to
damage to equipment.
Lower losses due to negative impact on company
image and lower plant risk profile (Insurance
premium cost).

Inherent Safety
Inherently safer plant

Tolerant of error
Does not require complex safety interlocks
Simpler procedure to operate
Reliable
Smaller equipment
Less severe temperature and pressure
Cost effective

An inherently safer plant depend on

chemistry and physics of plant and process

Rather then on
control system
Redundancy (backup or fail-safe for critical operations e.g., backup pump or
valve)
Interlocks (method to preventing undesired state, e.g., fire or explosion)
Operating procedure

Layers of Protection
Process Design
Control System
Interlocks
Safety Shutdown System
Protective System, Alarms
Emergency Response Plans

Best Practice
Add process design feature to prevent hazardous
situation
Which is more tolerant to operators error
And in abnormal conditions

Approach to inherent safer plant

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Intensification
Substitution
Attenuation
Limitation of effects
Simplification/error tolerance

Intensification
or minimization
Change from large batch reactor to a smaller continuous
reactor
Reduce storage inventory of raw materials
Improve control to reduce inventory of hazardous
intermediate chemicals
Reduce process hold-up
Using smaller quantities of hazardous substances in reactor,
distillation column, storage vessels, and pipelines. Smaller
tank reduce hazard of release.
Simultaneously extraction and mixing minimize process.

Substitution

Use mechanical pump seals vs. packing

Use welded pipe vs. flanged
Use solvents that are less toxic
Use mechanical gauges vs. mercury
Use chemicals with higher flash points, boiling points, and
other less hazardous properties
Use water as a heat transfer fluid instead of hot oil
Use water based paints and adhesives and aqueous or dry
flowable formulation for agricultural chemicals.

Attenuation

Or moderation
Use vacuum to reduce boiling point
Reduce process temperature and pressures
Refrigerate storage vessels
Dissolve hazardous material in safe solvent
Operate at conditions where reactor runaway is not possible
Place control rooms away from operations
Separate pump rooms from other rooms
Acoustically insulate noisy lines and equipment

Using hazardous material at less hazardous condition, diluting to

reduce release conc., handling large particle size solids to min. dust,
and processing under less severe temperature or pressure conditions.

Simplify
Simplification and error tolerance
Keeping piping systems neat and visually easy to follow
Design control panels that are easy to comprehend
Design plants for easy and safe maintenance
Pick equipment that requires less maintenance
Pick equipment with low failure rates
Add fire- and explosion-resistant barricades
Separate systems and controls into blocks that are easy to understand
Label pipes for easy walking the line
Label vessels and controls to enhance understanding
Using welded pipes for flammable and toxic chemicals and avoiding the
use of threaded pipe, using spiral wound gaskets and flexible graphite
type gaskets that are less prone to catastrophic failures, and using proper
support of lines to minimize stress and subsequent failures.

Some Basic Definitions

Accident
The occurrence of a sequence of events that produce unintended
injury, death, or property damage. "Accident" refers to the event,
not the result of the event.
Risk
A measure of human injury, environmental damage, or economic
loss.
Risk analysis
The development of a quantitative estimate of risk based on an
engineering evaluation and mathematical techniques for
combining estimates of incident consequences and frequencies.

What is Hazard
A hazard is any source of potential damage, harm
or adverse health effects on something or someone
under certain conditions at work.
Basically, a hazard can cause harm or adverse
effects (to individuals as health effects or to
organizations as property or equipment losses).

Examples of Hazards and Their Effects

Workplace
Hazard

Example of
Hazard

Example of Harm
Caused

Thing

Knife

Cut

Substance

Benzene

Leukemia

Material

Asbestos

Mesothelioma

Source of Energy Electricity

Shock,
electrocution

Condition

Wet floor

Slips, falls

Process

Welding

Metal fume fever

Practice

Hard rock mining

Silicosis

Types of Hazard
Chemical
Exposure
Ionizing
Radiation

Fire and
Explosion

Oxygen
Deficienc
y

Inhalation, eye/skin contact,

ingestion, puncture

Headaches, nausea, rashes,

burning, coughing, cancer, liver
damage, kidney damage,
convulsion, coma, death
Molecular degradation release
Radiation burns, mutagenicity,
gamma, beta and alpha radiation: death
gamma is
most serious; alpha is most
hazardous in case of ingestion
Unstable chemicals; incompatible Burns, concussion, shock,
reactions; shock-sensitive
dismemberment, death
chemicals vapor
buildup in enclosed spaces or lowlying areas with sparks, open
flames or static
electricity
In enclosed spaces (e.g.,
Inattention, impaired judgment,
buildings, tanks, manholes) or low reduced coordination, altered
areas (e.g.,
breathing and heart rate, nausea,
trenches), oxygen is replaced by
brain damage, unconsciousness,
other gases, generally they are
death

Types of Hazard

Physical
Safety
Hazards

Electrical
Hazards
Heat Stress

Cold
Exposure

Biological
Hazards
Noise

Sharp objects, slippery surfaces,

steep grades, uneven terrain,
fogged eyewear,
bulky protective clothing
Exposed skin

Slip, trip, or fall resulting in cuts,

broken bones, bruises,
concussion, torn protective
clothing
Electrical shock

Caused by difficult work done in

clothing designed to protect
against chemical
but not against weather conditions
Caused by difficult work done in
clothing designed to protect
against chemicals
but not against weather conditions
Waste from hospitals and research
facilities

Inattention impaired judgment,

tiredness, exhaustion, fatigue,
stroke, death

Compressors, machinery, large

equipment

Temporary or permanent hearing

loss, aural pain, nausea, reduced
muscular control (when exposures
are severe), distraction, and
interference with communication

Frostbite, pulled muscles, reduced

coordination hypothermia, death

Fever, disease, death

Hazard Identification
- No single approach is best suited for any particular
application.
- The selection of the best method requires experience.
- Most companies use following methods or adaptations to
suit their particular operation

Process hazards checklists

Hazards surveys
Hazards and operability (HAZOP) studies
Safety review

Process hazards checklists

A simple list of possible problems and areas to be
checked
Checklist can be used during the design of a process
to identify design hazards, or it can be used before
process operation

Process hazards checklists

A classic example is an automobile checklist that one might
review before driving away on a vacation.

Check oil in engine.

Check air pressure in tires.
Check fluid level in radiator.
Check air filter.
Check fluid level in windshield washer tank.
Check headlights and taillights.
Check exhaust system for leaks.
Check fluid levels in brake system.
Check gasoline level in tank.

Process hazards checklists

Companies have checklists for specific pieces of
equipment, such as
heat exchanger
distillation column

Checklists are most effective in identifying hazards

arising from
process design
plant layout
storage of chemicals
electrical systems and so forth

Reference
Chemical Process Safety, Chapter 1
2nd edition, Daniel A. Crowl, Joseph F. Louvar