Thermal expansion of crude oil causes an incident

A HSE press release mentions that an incident had occurred in a crude oil pipeline due to thermal expansion of the crude oil. The report mentions that the company had recognized the risk of thermal expansion of crude oil and subsequent pressure increase but had depended on a manual system of draining the pipeline instead of installing engineering controls.
Beware of thermal expansion of liquids trapped in pipelines! Read the press release in this link.

Chemical dosing and storage systems

In many plants that I visit, I observe that many operators of chemical storage tanks and dosing systems do not follow certain basic precautions for avoiding incidents. Greg Humm of West Yost associates has a good presentation on the basic safety requirements for chemical storage and dosing systems.This is applicable for all industries including water treatment. See the presentation in this link. (PDF file - be patient!)

Managing risk in the chemical industry

With strategies of chemical companies always evolving to changing circumstances, I often find that "de-risking" strategies are often applied from a purely financial point of view rather than a combination of financial and process safety risks. In chemical industries, process safety risks need to be carefully studied and evaluated, as a single process incident could wipe out all the gains that you had obtained by de-risking purely from a financial point of view. Similarly, during mergers and acquisitions of chemical companies, process safety risks need to be carefully evaluated. It may cost you more if you do not heed process safety risks.
See BASF's approach to managing process safety risks in this link.

Operational excellence - an example

Chevron's tenets of operation is an excellent example of what process safety management should be! Their tenets, which I am quoting from this link in their website are

1. "Always operate within design and environmental limits.
2. Always operate in a safe and controlled condition.
3. Always ensure safety devices are in place and functioning.
4. Always follow safe work practices and procedures.
5. Always meet or exceed customers’ requirements.
6. Always maintain integrity of dedicated systems.
7. Always comply with all applicable rules and regulations.
8. Always address abnormal conditions.
9. Always follow written procedures for high-risk or unusual situations.
10. Always involve the right people in decisions that affect procedures and equipment".

I specially like the  last tenet. I see many companies NOT involving the right people in decisions that affect procedures and equipment.

Emergency headcounts

During a trip to Singapore, I saw an interesting LCD display outside a very large shop with many entrances and exits. This signage is posted at all entries. It warns  visitors that it is unsafe to enter when monitor turns red! (Approved load is 431).