Facilities and Maintenance

GMP regulations encompass every phase of product development (manufacturing, testing, acceptance, etc.), from the purity of the raw materials to the quality of the finished product. Established procedures include staffing and training, quality control, facilities and maintenance, selection, calibration and maintenance of equipment, procurement, testing and storage of raw materials,... 

The field development plan s prime purpose is to serve as a conceptual project specification for subsurface and surface facilities, and the operational and maintenance philosophy required to support a proposal for the required investments. It should give management and shareholders confidence that all aspects of the project have been... 

Maintenance and operating costs represent the major expenditure late in field life. These costs will be closely related to the number of staff required to run a facility and the amount of hardware they operate to keep production going. The specifications for product quality and plant up-time can also have a significant impact on running costs. 

The operations group will develop general operating and maintenance objectives for the facilities which will address product quality, costs, safety and environmental issues. At a more detailed level, the mode of operations and maintenance tor a particular project will be specified in the field development plan. Both specifications will be discussed in this section, which will focus on the input of the production operations and maintenance departments to a field development plan. The management of the field during the producing period is discussed in Section 14.0. 

Regardless of the machine device, centrifuges are typically maintenance-intensive. Filters can be cheaper in terms of capital and maintenance and should be considered first unless centrifugal equipment already exists. Small facilities (<1000 liters) use filtration, since centrifugation scale-down is constrained by equipment availability. Comparative economics of the two classes of operations are discussed by Datar and Rosen (loc. cit.). 

If a PSSR is extensive, the PSSR team should include a toller company engineer and an engineer from the client. In addition, an operations supervisory representative and operations personnel with appropriate knowledge and skills along with a maintenance and safety representative may also be included on the team. The PSSR leader must ensure enough manpower and expertise is available on the team to review the new facilities and major modifications thoroughly. 

QRA practitioners can use to satisfy some QRA objectives. Also, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) has sponsored a project to expand and improve the quality of component failure data for chemical industry use. And many process facilities have considerable equipment operating experience in maintenance files, operating logs, and the minds of operators and maintenance personnel. These data can be collected and combined with industrywide data to help achieve reasonable QRA objectives. However, care must be exercised to select data most representative of your specific system from the wide range available from various sources. Even data from your own plant may have to be modified (sometimes by a factor of 10 or more) to reflect your plant s current operating environment and maintenance practices. 

Adequate support from the facility staff is absolutely essential. The facility staff must help the analysis team gather pertinent documents (e.g., PSilDs, procedures, software descriptions, material inventories, meteorological data, population data) and must describe current operating and maintenance practices. The facility staff must then critique the logic model(s) and calculation(s) to ensure that the assumptions are correct and that the results seem reasonable. The facility staff should also be involved in developing any recommendations to reduce risk so they will fully understand the rationale behind all proposed improvements and can help ensure that the proposed improvements are feasible. Table 12 summarizes the types of facility resources and personnel needed for a typical QRA. 

Provision, use and maintenance of hygiene facilities for work with asbestos insulation and coatings Nitrosammes m synthetic metal cutting and gnndmg fluids (withdrawn)... 

For facilities that include large numbers of motors and other electrical equipment, it normally is both more economical and more convenient to furnish a building to enclose the required motor starters and distribution panels. This building is normally referred to as a motor control center (MCC). In addition to typically allowing less expensive non-explosion-proof equipment, these buildings are frequently environmentally controlled (air conditioned, and possibly heated in colder climates) to reduce equipment corrosion and enhance reliability. Maintenance is more easily performed indoors than if the equipment were installed outside and maintenance personnel were subject to extreme cold, rain, snow, or other adverse weather conditions. 

This concept book is intended for nse by chemical engineers and other technical personnel involved in the design, operation, and maintenance of facilities and eqnipment where deflagration and detonation arresters (DBAs) may be reqnired. These people are nsnally technically competent individnals who are aware of, bnt not experts in, combnstion phenomena. The facilities where snch devices may be needed inclnde chemical plants, petrochemical plants, petrolenm refineries, pharmacentical plants, specialty chemical plants, storage tank farms, loading and nnloading facilities, and pipelines. 

All flame arrester mannfactnrers have written instmctions for installation, inspection, and maintenance, and these shonld be followed. Some flame arrester mannfactnrers reqnire that maintenance be done at their facility to avoid invalidating the flame arrester warranty. 

Many flame arrester mannfactnrers provide training conrses on inspection and maintenance of flame arresters, either at their facilities or a client s plant. It is recommended that snch conrses be schednled for operating and maintenance personnel. Also, the OSPLA PSM standard, 29 CFR 1910.119 (j)(3), shonld be consnlted for reqnirements for training for process maintenance activities. 

As with previous, similar exercises, encourage your team to be creative. Like any sound management system, your PSM system probably creates unexpected side benefits over and above those related spedfically to safety performance. For example, the pilot test may have demonstrated that a new system, once installed, enabled the facility to reduce unplanned downtime with better planning and use of preventive maintenance. Or perhaps the pilot test process itself may have helped improve relations between the facility and corporate staff. 

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