Fire safe design

Single or multiple barriers Redundancy Diversity Fail-safe design Fire-safe design... 

Fire is a dangerous and potential threat to the btiilt environment and it may turn into a disaster if not well controlled. In any case, fire safety must be considered at the design stage of new buildings. The principles of fire-safe design are outlined in... 

Fire-safe shut-off valves should be fitted close to the tank on both inlet and outlet pipes. Valves should either conform to an appropriate standard (BS 6755-2 or BS EN ISO 10497 ), equivalent international standards or be of an intrinsically fire-safe design, ie have metal-to-metal seats (secondary metal seats on soft-seated valves are acceptable), not be constructed of cast iron and not be wafer bolted. 

To develop a safe design, it is necessary to first design and specify all equipment and systems in accordance with applicable codes and standards. Once the system is designed, a process safety shutdown system is specified to assure that potential hazards that can be detected by measuring process upsets are detected, and that appropriate safety actions (normally an automatic shutdown) are initiated. A hazards analysis is then normally undertaken to identify and mitigate potential hazards that could lead to fire, explosion, pollution, or injury to personnel and that cannot be detected as process upsets. Finally, a system of safety management is implemented to assure the system is operated and maintained in a safe manner by personnel who have received adequate training. 

D. K. McKibben, Safe Design of Atmospheric Pressure Vessels, Paper presented at Seminar on Prevention of Fires and Explosions in the Hydrocarbon Industries, Institute of Gas Technology, Chicago, June 21-26, 1982. 

More detailed check lists are given by Carson and Mumford (1988) and Wells (1980). Balemans (1974) gives a comprehensive list of guidelines for the safe design of chemical plant, drawn up in the form of a check list. A loss prevention check list is included in the Dow Fire and Explosion Index Hazard Classification Guide, Dow (1987). 

The ultimate objective of the study of toxicity of fire-produced toxic agents is the design and construction of a fire-safe environment. There are many ways to accomplish this aim. We might develop materials which, when heated, produce no toxic gases. We might use materials which do not bum. 

Storage of liquid materials in a typical process industry is carried out in tanks classified as spherical or vertical and horizontal cylindrical. Since safety is an important consideration in storage tank design, the National Fire Protection Association and the American Petroleum Institute publish rules for safe design and operation. Vertical tanks are most commonly used for outdoor storage for such materials as petroleum products. Water towers are typical of elevated vertical tank outdoor construction. They are used for maintaining a uniform head of water to store water for temporary emergencies and for fire protection. Hori-... 

Yuan Baoping, Wu Tao et al 2005. Fire protection design and safe evacuation of airport buildings. Fire Science and Technology, 24 4) 440-442. 

Accident safe design with special equipment, double containment, fire protection, alarms, shutdown Special provisions, fail safe, fire safe redundancy, diversity Marking, labeling Experience, training... 

PHA is an integral part of project management. It is a systematic effort to identify and analyse the significance of hazardous situations associated with a process or activity. It is an experience-based evaluation conducted by a team tasked to identify hazards associated with a process, evaluate the risks associated with those hazards, and make recommendations to reduce or eliminate the risks. The focused hazards in PHA are mainly the acute events that can result in unplanned and catastrophic chemical releases, fires or explosions. It ensures that an appropriate safe design basis is implemented and documented. 

It is in the interests of society, due to loss of life and property, to take measures to lower the incidence of fire by analysing and acting upon the elements that contribute to fire safety, i.e., materials fire performance, design and consumer education. So, making materials less fire-safe is obviously not a move in the right direction. 

For hazards that cannot be eliminated, consideration is to be given to safety devices that will minimize mishap risk (e.g., interlocks, redundancy, fail safe design, system protection, fire suppression, and protective measures such as clothing, equipment, devices, and procedures). 

Due consideration is also required on the potential role of SIF devices in mitigating damages when incidents do occur. External fires can often damage control valves or actuators, which are not designed to be fire-safe, and therefore cannot play a role in mitigating a fire after it has occurred. Separate fire-safe SIF isolation valves can be vital in mitigating such events. 

The debate about "containing" vs. "intrinsically safe" design is for safety engineers, and outside the scope of the book. This author has successfully used both approaches. Fires in vapor degreasers using flammable solvents are nonexistent, or occur with an extremely low incidence, or are well-concealed. 

Watts, J. (2003). Fundamentals of fire-safe building design. In NFPA Fire Protection Handbook, edited by A. Cote. National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA. 

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