Safety concerns in the Design: DME, hot water and control loops

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Safety concerns in the Design:
Safety and health concerns to be considered in the design are presented in the following
discussion part of the write-up. The discussion is spanned to evaluate the Safety with DME,
Safety aspects with the hot water and finally the control loops in the system.
(i) Safety with Dimethyl Ether(DME)
Dimethyl Ether should be restricted from entering into the human respiratory system, If incase
DME is inhaled into the human respiratory system, it can create serious implications to the eye,
throat and nose. Implications can range from minor irritations to the serious infections, Hence
inhaling the same into the respiratory body need to be curtailed with proper equipment. When
the level of exposure of DME is quite high, it can create a range of problems to the individuals
that can include headaches, dizziness, and lightheadedness and also will create even the loss of
consciousness as well. Severity and the time of exposure to the vapors of DME will create the
specific complication in the victim. At times when operators are exposed to the liquid DME, the
skin will get severe frostbite. Other important aspect is the dangerous levels of fire hazard with
the substance it is highly flammable and hence need to be protected with all the measures of fire
protection. Typical means of employing non contact gloves for DME as well using respiratory
shielding will protect the operators working in the region from getting contact with DME. Also
exposure meters in the location will alert the surrounding with the level of DME in the location
and thereby will help the operators to identify the hazard and to take up the necessary protection
measures (King 135). Further the locations should be provided with exhaust ventilations to
enable quick dissipation of the vapors.

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 Typical implications to the current design include,
 Operator safety provisions – PPE during operations
 Providing with alarms for the DME vapors
 Provision of Exhaust ventilation to let the DME vapors to move off the location in case of leaks
 Providing provisions to verify the seals of the valves etc are intact or not.
(ii) Safety with hot water
Hot water exposure will cause implications to the operator or the victim in proportion to the
temperature of the water as well in proportion to the time of exposure. If the hot water is
exposed for long time, it will create burns and serious wounds on the skin of the person
exposed to the hot water. Further sprinkling of hot water on to the face, eyes and other vital
organs can create serious implications of loss of sight etc. There is need for taking
precautions by continuously monitoring the health and well being of the systems by keeping
the precautions and other operational controls intact. Chronicle inspection of the pipe
lines(Abedi 770), adding insulation to the hot exposed parts of the heat exchangers and other
hot water carrying components, condition monitoring of the valves etc is necessary to ensure
safety in dealing with hot water and hot water carrying parts in the systems.
 Implications to design
 Keeping the operators safe from the impact of the hot water
 Enabling insulation (lagging) on the pipes carrying the hot water and steam if any.
 Providing operators with the heat resistant gloves and face shield while operating with
the heat exchanger.