ENG305 Report: Overview of Safety in Process Plant Design & Operation

This report provides a comprehensive overview of safety considerations in process plant design and operation. It emphasizes risk identification during the design phase, the implementation of safety factors, and the application of risk mitigation strategies. The report covers general access restrictions, fire safety management, waste disposal procedures, disaster management training, on-site operator training, and safety measures related to machine guards, electrical systems, and proximity to residential areas. It highlights the importance of continuous monitoring, safety audits, and compliance with local and federal regulations to ensure a safe operational environment. The document is available on Desklib, a platform offering AI-based study tools and a wide range of academic resources for students.

Running Header: Process Plant Design and operation- An overview
Title: Process plant Design and operation: An overview
Student Name and ID:
University Affiliation
Author Note
The report is presented as part of the requirements to complete the course credit work.

Process plant design and operations – An overview 2
ABSTRACT
The current report is about the process plant design and operations. The actual report is
completely based on the evaluation of the safety aspects of the process plant during the design as
well during the operational phase. The reference is not made to any particular process plant and
operations of the same. Rather the evaluation is performed at much broader level and findings
and the report is applicable for much broader range of process industries. The write-up is
presented with the main body part consisting diverse focus areas and the report attempts to cover
maximum and comprehensive coverage aspects in the report.
Key words: process plant design, operational safety, Risk, HAZOP, Compliance, Audit

Process plant design and operations – An overview 3
INTRODUCTION
Process plant operations are some of the key sectors in any organization, where there will be
considerable amount of risk, as there will be continuous involvement of the operators as well the
most riskiest equipment in the organization will normally be seen in the process operations.
Hence from a long time, there are numerous control strategies being adopted to control the
possible safety risk in these operations. There are diverse techniques and strategies being in use.
PHR strategies, Hazop strategies (Basu, 2016) as well as other strategies like Risk ranking are
some of the several techniques which the organizational management can employ to identify,
categorize and restrict the risk in the process plant operations. Infact the risk identification
procedures do start during the design phase itself. Restricting the vulnerability by all the possible
design procedures and application of the safety factors will make the system better. Further
application of the risk mitigation strategies (Boyle, 2015) and enforcement of the safety practices
will make the organizations more and safer. The following part of the discussion is related with
the process plant design and operational perspectives in safety enforcement framework. The
following discussion is not restricted to any one particular type of process plant, the conditions
and the clauses discussed here in this report are quite general and broader. They are applicable to
any type of the process plant in general. They are more confined with the design and operational
perspectives. Also the breadth and width of coverage is much vaster. The presentation is done in
the form of an enquiry and the list presented here is provided with questionnaire that will detail
the list of the aspects that one needs to consider before finalizing the plant design and operations
in the organization (Brauer, 2016). A comprehensive safety measures implementation is the only
channel available for safety control in process plants (Mannan et al., 2016).

Process plant design and operations – An overview 4
DETAILS THAT NEED TO BE INVESTIGATED:
 General access to the Plant, Restrictions, controls, Management of the people on site
Is there restricted entry policy imposed into all the critical sites of the plant?
Are there sufficient controls implemented in terms of restricting the carriage of the fire
and flammable substances into the plant location?
Is there policy of enforcing PPE for personnel entering into the site?(personal protection
equipment)?
All people working in the the critical sites of the plant like boilers, furnaces, High
temperature zones are enforced to use special protective equipment like fire proof
apparels etc? Is that policy in force? IF so who monitor that?
Who monitors the security of the plant as well as the people entering into the plant?
How stringent are the restrictions are applied in the context of restricting the explosive
material carriage either by person or by through mass transport?
Which is exclusive team is operating in the site to control the safety operations at the
site?
What type of full time operational and safety and occupational health monitoring teams
operating in the site?
Are all the safety operations are enforced with all the equipment and tools provided with
to the concerned personnel?
Is there any exhaustive inclusion of the evacuation routes at emergency conditions? Who
are the key personnel are provided with the necessary communication means to interact
in their daily routines as well as at emergency situations? (Flin et al., 2000)
What are the access provisions for emergency counter vehicles as and when need?

Process plant design and operations – An overview 5
How are accesses routes prepared and enabled for the travel of the fire engines and other
disaster management devices in the organization?
What type of provisions enabled in the organization for the sake of installation of the
emergency alarms and are they linked with for the co-ordination with the appropriate
personnel?
 Fire safety and management, alarms, Drills, consequences and drills
How are the manual and automatic fire alarms installed at all the critical locations of the
plant?
Who made the design of the plant for locating the fire alarms in the region which are
highly accessible to the operators and other supervisor of the organization?
Is the usage of the fire alarms and other devices are made mandatory part of the training
or induction in the workers recruitment?
IS there any type of orientation and drill conducted for the work force as part of the
training programme, regarding emergency response and preparedness?
Also are all the workers are provided with the necessary drilling exercises, which will
update their capabilities to face any type of emergency occurrences in the organization?
Which third party audit conducted regarding the fire and related emergency preparedness
of the organization in general? Is the evaluation is performed regarding the installation of
the fire alarms and other support activities like preparation of the fire escape routes etc?
Are all the equipment used in the process plant is sufficient subjected to the verification
of the standards compliance? Which factors of safety at the time of design are considered

Process plant design and operations – An overview 6
and also all the equipment is benchmarked for the quality and safety compliance?
(Fthenakis, 2017)
 Disposal of waste, hazards handling, procedures, training of the personnel, disposal
sites and the disposal equipment?
The waste being generated in the process plant during the operation need to be
investigated for the type of the waste it is? What protocols are being employed in
accordance with the local government and federal government regulations for the
disposal of the same?
What type of hazard handling procedures are being employed in the organization? What
procedures are being employed for the waste disposal? Whether complete safety
procedural implementation is done during this program?
What type of training the waste disposals as well as the hazard identification and
mitigation personnel are provided with to execute their functionality?
How do all the equipment and the procedures being employed in this regard are in line
with the safety compliance standards? (Haugen et al., 2016).
Is all the disposal locations are maintained at the safe distance from the actual plant?
IS the check for disposal procedures done against the standard procedures?
Are there right auditing procedures (Allford, 2016) for inspecting the disposal
equipments and the disposal procedures from time to time?
 Disaster management training. Medical help, Emergency equipment, proximity to
outside help

Process plant design and operations – An overview 7
Are the personnel in the organization are provided with the necessary disaster
management training?
Whether the typical procedural steps like display of the emergency contact numbers
displayed in right place prominently?
Who are the key technical personnel in the critical operational divisions are provided
with the necessary training to face the disasters?
What type of disaster response training is provided to all the employees by making it
mandatory as per the organization policy and protocols?
Is the organization has proximity to outside help? Whether all the related contact
numbers and related correspondence channels are kept open?
How the in-house disaster response teams are prepared and informed broadly about their
role and action requirements at the times of need? (Haugen, 2011)
 On site operators training and facilities and procedures
On-site operators must be trained of the safety procedures.
Safe operating procedures need to be displayed prominently in all the critical locations in
the organization.
They should be readable and should remain prominently visible to all the key
stakeholders and visitors to the plant.
Also there need to be immediate safety procedures in case of an accident or any sort of
the mal functionality if applied during the operation of the particular task?
The facilities should be provided with all the necessary safe ventilation, free air flow,
should be provided with fire alarms and fire prevention systems?

Process plant design and operations – An overview 8
Also there is need for all the operators to be trained to execute safety alarms as and when
need and also need to be trained in taking up alert actions to alarm the emergency
response teams at times of need. These need to be inspected for.
An insight into the implementation of these practices and enforcement need to be strictly
verified. Any discrepancies if found need to be tackled immediately with corrective
measures.
 Bunds, Catchments, warning signs, fenses and evacuation
What safety considerations are taken into account while making bunds near the fuel
storage area?
Are there any restrictions enforced to take care of the catchment area compliances with
the protocols?
What standards and considerations taken into consideration during the design phase to
account for these aspects of the design?
For what extent the fences are kept in place for the entire site? Has it resulted in
betterment of the total safety? Are there any lapses still in the system?
All the checks for the safety of the people and the equipment whether enforced by
checklist?
What are the precautions like safety signs and boards taken in the site? Are they kept in
proper place? Are they in proper number and locations for prominent display?
(Hollnagel,2016).

Process plant design and operations – An overview 9
 Machine guards, accessibility to machines and process control equipment
What type of safety guards are kept in place in the site?
Whether all the machine guards are located in the proper location with proper fasteners
and related mechanism?
What type of training is provided to the operators to follow the safety controls during
working on the machines?
All operators need to be updated of the safety competency chronically and what measures
are being taken in this regard?
What type of safety audits do happen at the site occasionally?
What measures are taken during the design phase for the implementation of the safety
aspects at the plant site and for its related operations?
What extent safety passage clearances are provided for men and material movement in
the machine shop? What are dimensions of the gangue way in these locations? Are they
as per the prevailing standards?
 Electrical safety and warnings
Are all precautions of the possible electrical shock displayed prominently in the plant?
All HV lines are isolated and prominently labelled for caution?
Is insulation is done for the vulnerable conductors in all the reachable areas in the plant?
Is there any prominent display of the lock out and tag out procedures and protocols in the
plant? (Yamin et al., 2017)
Is the Safety and occupational department is working out to enforce the lockout and tag
procedures in the organization?

Process plant design and operations – An overview 10
Is the colour coding employed in the organization to display the electrical vulnerable
locations?
Are all process equipment is protected from the possible high voltage and short circuiting
problems?
 Proximity to residential and public locations, industrial areas, playgrounds etc
The safe distance of the plant need to be maintained from the entire vulnerable population
habitat?
During the design phase, what precautions are taken to locate the plant site? How far is it
located from the habitats and how safe is it? What standards and controls are employed in
this direction?
Hazardous material storage protocols are they followed during the site and ware house
designs?
Are all the local legislations, regulations and protocols followed in this regard?
Are the community members made part of the vigilance teams for safety audit? What
type of third party audits are scheduled to assess the safety of the plant? Who are the
specialist members working for the audit of the safety of the plant?
Who monitors material handling process? What protocols are in place to ensure safety in
material handling?

Process plant design and operations – An overview 11
 Plant emissions, odour, by-products
What are the emission control measures enforced in the plant?
What standards are considered in enforcing the same for enabling greener and safer plant
initiatives (Rohr et al., 2015)?
What type of safety standards and protocols enforced in the plant to detect unwanted and
unsafe emissions from the plant and site?
What are the type of by-products being released in the plant? What safety legislations are
enforced to make sure the by-products and associated emissions are safer (Schellings,
2013).
Is there any provision to assess the eco-friendliness of the by-products of the plant?
 Weather protection of the operators, drainage, run-off, leaching, flood potential
Is there any survey conducted in regard of the weather conditions in the location? Is there
any audit performed regarding the cyclone, hurricanes and other related aspects like
tsunamis, earthquakes (environmental problems) etc? What types of historical
interferences are considered in design of the plant from natural disaster occurrences
perspectives?
Are they sufficient to face the probable severity of the disasters?
Is there any provision for the design and installation of the equipment in the location as
per the standards of the manufacturer and manufacturer specifications?
Is there any possible flood occurrence in the location? Are any special controls taken and
implemented in this direction? (Spellman, 2017).

Process plant design and operations – An overview 12
 Power supply or supply failure, machine shutdown, restarts, process vulnerability to
power failure
Is the process is sufficiently robust to take up the power failure?
Are there are any alternative arrangements in case if there is any power failure?
What procedures of machine shutdown synchronized for power failure?
How it will be restarted?
Who will be restarting operations and will it require any special considerations?
Auto power on and subsequent restart whether it is acceptable for the plant operations?
(Stanojevic et al.,2013)
 Energy efficiency waste energy control
Is there any unwanted waste disposal occurring in the plant?
Are there any provisions to control and mitigate the waste disposal in the site?
What type of auditing is being done to restrict waste from the site?
What type of other provisions and controls are implemented in the site for better
operational effectiveness and for ensuring safety in process?(Rhyner et al., 2017).
 Plant construction/material, layout, spacing between stages, emergency access,
maintenance access
What is the quality of the construction material used for construction?
What are the safety factors included in the design of the plant infrastructure and other
related aspects of the plant?