Operability and Personnel Safety

Features that help the operators and maintainers run the plant in a safer way are inherently safer if they are incorporated into a SYSTEM. 

As new equipment becomes available and insights about ergonomics and human factors become available, we should review new and existing facilities to optimize the person-machine interface. 

One may argue that many techniques listed in this chapter are simply safer, rather than inherently safer. While there is some overlap, a technique becomes inherently safer if it is systematically designed into the process, equipment, and people systems in a unit, plant, or company. If only one or two people practice it on their own, it is simply safer, but it is not an inherently safer system 

New facilities should be reviewed for ergonomics and human factors issues during design, construction, and startup. Existing facilities should be reviewed periodically for opportunities to improve human factors in an inherently safer way. 

There may be well-run facilities in which the operators are doing their best to be careful with facilities or systems that could be redesigned to be inherently safer. These facilities will be inherently safer if designed for operability. Note that inherently safer human factors features can reduce risk of injury to employees (improved personnel safety) and can reduce risk to the process from the worker (improved process safety). 

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Safe operating conditions include safe equipment, chemicals, process operations, and personnel safety. Details for safe laboratory operations have been published [4,5]. 

Introduction Review and audit processes are used in the chemical process industry to evaluate, examine, and verify the design of process equipment, operating procedures, and management systems. These processes assure compliance with company standards and guidelines as well as government regulations. Reviews and audits can encompass the areas of process and personnel safety, environmental and industrial hygiene protection, quality assurance, maintenance procedures, and so on. 

The most common predictive technique which is used to analyze facilities which contain new equipment or processes, or where there is an unusually high risk to personnel or the environment is the Hazard and Operability technique or HAZOP. A HAZOP study requires a team of five to ten multi-discipline personnel consisting of representatives from engineering, operations, and health, safety, and environmental staff. The... 

The development of any program must take into consideration the maintenance tasks that need be carried out and the resources available, thereby ensuring that product quality and personnel safety standards are met. It follows that operational demands, whether they be from a service utility installation, a production line, a mainframe computer or an office environment, will play a major part in reaching the decision as to what type of maintenance program requires implementation. 

Design concepts were used to minimize hazards to personnel, to prevent corrosion, and to protect the environment. Special operating procedures, personnel safety equipment, and training completed these design concepts. An extensive ambient-air monitoring network was established to insure that ambient-air standards were met to protect the environment. 

The Guidelines for Hazard Evaluation Procedures, Second Edition [5] also offers 45 pages of sample questions in its Appendix B. These questions cover process, (i.e., flowsheets and layout), equipment (reactors, heat exchangers, piping, and instrumentation), Operations, Maintenance, Personnel Safety, and other broad areas. 

All personnel who will be involved in making a proposed modification or in conducting the proposed utilization are suitably trained, qualified and experienced for the task and, if necessary, trained in advance in the effect of this modification or utilization on reactor operation and the safety characteristics of the reactor. 

This bulletin applies to underground coal mine operators and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) personnel. 

It is expected that the implementation of this module i.e. safety training manager (STM) will improve the safety level of plant operation and personnel, hence reduce the risk and cost of operation. 

The book does not focus on occupational safety and health issues, although improved process safety can benefit these areas. Detailed engineering designs are outside the scope of this work. This book intends to identify issues and concerns in batch reaction systems and provide potential solutions to address these concerns. This should be of value to process design engineers, operators, maintenance personnel, as well as members of process hazards analysis teams. While this book offers potential solutions to specific issues/concerns, ultimately the user needs to make the case for the solutions that provide a balance between risk... 

The standard operating procedures demand great attention as they reflect personnel safety issues, safe operating limits and quality considerations. They should be written simply and clearly. The level of detail is determined by the training and experience of the operations staff but should also take into account the hazards inherent in the process. 

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