Process control hazard

Every facility can benefit from a review of its infrastructure. This includes all utilities, entrances/exits, process and production equipment, telephone and data lines, water supply, backup power systans, process controls, hazardous material storage tanks and pits, fire alarm systems, and sprinkler systems. Making a list of all infrastructure details is helpful when evaluating security vulnerability, as well as such mundane tasks as budget analysis, routine and preventive maintenance, and personnel responsibilities. 

Dow Fire and Explosion Index. The Dow Eire and Explosion Index (3) is a procedure usehil for determining the relative degree of hazard related to flammable and explosive materials. This Index form works essentially the same way as an income tax form. Penalties are provided for inventory, extended temperatures and pressures, reactivity, etc, and credits are appHed for fire protection systems, process control (qv), and material isolation. The complete procedure is capable of estimating a doUar amount for the maximum probable property damage and the business intermptionloss based on an empirical correlation provided with the Index. 

CIA 1990. A Approach to the Categorization of Process Plant Hazard and Control Building Design. Prepared by Working Group 3 of the Major Hazards Steering Group. Issued by the Safety Committee of the Chemical Industry Safety and Health Council of the Chemical Industries Association, Eondon. 

An Approach to the Categorisation of Process Plant Hazard and Control Building Design (1990)... 

Employers, at a minimum, must have an emergency action plan that will facilitate the prompt evacuation of employees when there is an unwanted release of a highly hazardous chemical. This means that the employer s plan will be activated by an alarm system to alert employees when to evacuate, and that employees who are physically impaired will have the necessary support and assistance to get them to a safe zone. The intent of these requirements is to alert and move employees quickly to a safe zone. The use of process control centers or buildings as safe areas is discouraged. Recent catastrophes indicate that lives are lost in these structures because of their location and because they are not necessarily designed to withstand over-pressures from shock waves resulting from explosions in the process area. 

Hazardous wastes are legally defined as tliose tliat may cause adverse or clironic effects on hmnan liealUi or tlie enviromiient when not properly controlled. Hazardous wastes are generated eitlier because processes liave converted liamiless materials into hazardous substances or because natural materials tliat are... 

R. J. Firenze, The Process of Hazard Control, Kendall/Hunt Publisliing Company, New York, 1979... 

Next, die mediod requires a determinatioa of die plant limits (i.e., die areas of the plant diat will be evaluated). Some hazards identified may be considered for on-site impacts. An experienced team of principal engineers, a HAZOP chairperson, and an external HAZOP e.xpert is die recommended makeup of the fouiidadon for die team. Other experts from other disciplines, such as instrumentation and process control, may be periodically called on to identify and evaluate deviations from normal operations. 

Firenze, R.J., Tlie Process of Hazard Control, 1 Edition, Kendall/Hurt Publishing Co., Dubuque, lA, 1978,... 

The alternative is hexane, which because of the explosion hazard requires a more expensive type of extractor construction. After the extraction the product is dull gray. The continuos sheet is slit to the final width according to customer requirements, searched by fully automatic detectors for any pinholes, wound into rolls of about 1 m diameter (corresponding to a length of 900-1000 m), and packed for shipping. Such a continuous production process is excellently suited for supervision by modern quality assurance systems, such as statistical process control (SPC). Figures 7-9 give a schematic picture of the production process for microporous polyethylene separators. 

As discussed in Chapter 4, chemicals can be a nuisance or pose health risks if they become airborne as a result of inadequate process control, operation and maintenance malpractice, inadequate maintenance, incomplete understanding of the process etc. Hazards may arise if the oxygen concentration in the air fluctuates beyond its normal level of 21% by volume, and fire/explosion dangers may arise from the presence of flammable gases, vapours or dusts in the atmosphere. Thus air quality tests may be required for a variety of purposes such as ... 

Factory process Health hazard Control measures... 

Stopping excursions from normal operation conditions before they become hazardous, by correction of process control variables when dangerous situations are detected on-line detection of process deviations associated with trip systems for corrective actions. 

Lees, Frank P. 1980. Loss Prevention in the Process Industries Hazard Identification, Assessment and Control. 2 vols. Reprint. Oxford Butterworth-He-inemannLtd., 1991. 

The location of the principal ancillary buildings should then be decided. They should be arranged so as to minimise the time spent by personnel in travelling between buildings. Administration offices and laboratories, in which a relatively large number of people will be working, should be located well away from potentially hazardous processes. Control rooms will normally be located adjacent to the processing units, but with potentially hazardous processes may have to be sited at a safer distance. 

In the pilot plant stage, additional material becomes available so that the reaction hazards can be investigated more extensively. Process control features and deviations from normal operating conditions can be checked. Operating procedures can be drafted and checked. Emergency procedures can be defined. 

Lees, F. P., Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, Hazard Identification, Assessment, and Control, Volume I, London, England (1980). 

In fact, there exists a great difference between the two types of needs in terms of traceability. On the one hand, the regulation compliance need and more often the scientific need require us to be as confident as possible about the trueness of the results (or at least the closeness between the results and true values) and to store the data for further exploitation. On the other hand, process control and hazards prevention are based on the real-time exploitation of the results. 

A final up-and-coming application, based on non-parametric measurement, is used more and more for process control and hazards prevention, for example for shock load prevention or toxic events. This qualitative approach uses integrated information coming from multiple physical signals ... 

Definition of the Facility - A general description of the facility is identified. Input and outputs to the facility are noted, production, manning, basic process control system (BPCS), ESD, fire protection philosophy, assumptions, hazardous material compositions, etc. 

During the process hazards identification and definition phase of a project design, a basic process control system (BPCS) strategy is normally developed in conjunction with heat and material balances for the process. 

Suggested control and instrumentation for the management of process components are shown in API RP I4C which is still relatively the standard within the industry. All process control systems are usually reviewed by a Process Hazard Analysis, which will deem if the provided mechanism area is adequate to prevent a catastrophic incident. 

Identify Process Controls and Risk Management Options Process Risk Management Process Hazard Analysis Operational Control... 

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