Venezuela refinery fire - ppt

Thanks to G.Satyanarayana and Sanjeevi for sending details of the Venezuela refinery fire. You can see the ppt in this link.

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Asset Integrity policy

Maintaining the integrity of assets is of prime importance to process safety. Many a time, management looses focus on this important aspect. I read the asset integrity policy of Petrofac which, in my opinion is an excellent policy. I especially liked the last statement about responsibility and implementation.
Read Petrofac's asset integrity policy in this link. 
 
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Assessing Pressure Relief Needs | Chemical Processing

A good article on assessing thermal safety valve requirements is given in this link:

Assessing Pressure Relief Needs | Chemical Processing

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Crisis management

I read an interesting article in Forbes where an entire top two levels of the management team (50 persons) died in a plane crash. The article mentions how the new CEO addressed the issue and brought the company back into its tracks. Now this was not a chemical manufacturing company, but just imagine if the same thing had happened in a chemical manufacturing organization. Many companies do have strict travel rules for its top management to avoid this exact possibility, but in India, there is an inevitability about "fate" and often these rules are flouted.
Does your crisis management plan address these issues?
Read the article in this link.

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Process safety - Gasket failures

Gasket failures contribute to a large number of leaks and some of them could be catastrophic. With skill levels going down in India, sometimes a simple gasket that is improperly fixed could cause a big disaster. Are you training your technicians on the intricacies of selecting and fitting gaskets?  A good article by Garlock on the causes and cost of gasket failure highlight the various issues that are simple but are often forgotten.
Read the article in this link.
  
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Safety supervisor arrested in paint shop fire

A safety supervisor was arrested for a fire in a paint shop in a tyre factory. Another manager was also arrested for the fire that killed three Persons.
Read the article in this link. 

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Emergency situations and tiredness

An article in the Times Of India mentions that Air India cabin crew have started a campaign protesting the extra hours they were forced to work.The article mentions that the cabin crews alertness is most important in emergency situation and evacuations where time is of the essence. In a chemical plant, during emergencies, it is very similar to emergency situations in planes and the operating crew needs to be alert. When I was shift in charge and had operators continuing on overtime, (especially from evening to night shift), I have seen the errors committed by these operators during emergencies. It is a human need for rest and you cannot fight it. Look at your staffing requirements properly and ensure that competent people are available in adequate numbers.

Read the article in this link.


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Gas blowthrough incident

A gas blowthrough incident caused  H2S release from a tank roof. The cause of the gas blowthrough was due to a level control valve failure.Read the incident in this link.

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Pressure vessels and hazards

A US EPCRA newsletter highlights the rupture hazards of pressure vessels and their prevention in their newsletter. It covers case studies also. These are basic precautions to be taken for pressure vessels. Make sure you heed them!
Read the news letter in this link.

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CSB's Chairman's comment on refinery safety

In an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chairman of the CSB has commented on the spate of refinery accidents and says "I recently read some comments in the media suggesting that "accidents will happen" and suggesting that one bad mishap every few years is acceptable. It is not. The oil refinery industry has the resources to do a lot more to enhance process safety and thereby protect workers, neighbors and the country's increasing energy needs".

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Refineries-must-do-more-to-improve-safety-3851977.php#ixzz26DCbMlQz

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Common problems in gas processing facilities

Mr Vimal Kumar has listed 22 common problems faced in gas processing facilities in this link. Worth a read. 


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Tower malfunctions - 50 year history study

A good article by Henry Z Kister on"What caused tower malfunctions in the last 50 years" can be read in this link.

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Responsible Care - to make it work in India

The accident at the fireworks factory in Sivakasi highlights the need for enhancing safety in the chemicals and explosives industry. There are two aspects to safety - one is voluntary and the other is enforcement. I want to talk about the voluntary initiatives. Initiatives like Responsible Care (trademark of American Chemistry Council) etc  are adopted voluntarily by organisations. In India, the awarding of the Responsible Care logo is carried out by the Indian Chemical Council (an organisation of chemical manufacturing units). The proof of the pudding in awarding the logo lies in the company not experiencing any fatal accident after the award of the logo. If any fatal accident does occur in a company that has been awarded the logo, then the logo must be withdrawn by the awarding authority. Unless this happens, the public are not going to develop faith in the process.
In India, for Responsible Care, I suggest that companies must adopt one more code called " mentoring of small scale industry" around the location of the unit. This means that resources for improving the safety in nearby small scale industries must be voluntarily expended by the company. This will have a trickle down effect to improve safety in the whole chemical industry.

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The importance of pre start up safety review

OSHA has cited a company in the US that produces of liquid natural gas through a cryogenic process." The incident occurred while employees were restarting the process. Cryogenic liquids were improperly routed through equipment not rated to withstand extreme cold temperatures, resulting in the explosion and fire.The willful violation is for failing to conduct an analysis of pre-startup safety conditions and systematically managing changes to process-related technology, equipment, procedures and facilities".
Read the citation in this link.

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More pictures of Venezuela refinery fire

National Geographic have some excellent pictures of the Venezuela oil refinery fire in this link. 

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