TABLE OF CONTENTS Key Learning Objectives
The importance of safety in the design and operation of chemical plants
Safety legislation with which companies must comply
Standards and codes of practice that help ensure safer designs
Process and materials hazards that must be considered in design
Methods such as HAZOP, FMEA, and quantitative risk analysis that are used to analyze and quantify process hazards
The safe design and operation of facilities is of paramount importance to every company that is involved in the manufacture of fuels, chemicals, and pharmaceutical products.
Any organization has a legal and moral obligation to safeguard the health and welfare of its employees and the general public. Safety is also good business; the good management practices needed to ensure safe operation will also ensure efficient operation.
Loss prevention is an insurance term, the loss being the financial loss caused by an accident. This loss will be not only the cost of replacing the damaged plant, paying fines, and settling third-party claims, but also the loss of earnings from lost production and lost sales opportunities. In the event of a major incident, such costs can be large enough to overwhelm a company.
All manufacturing processes are to some extent hazardous, but in chemical processes there are additional, special, hazards associated with the chemicals used and the process conditions. The designer must be aware of these hazards and ensure, through the application of sound engineering practice, that the risks are reduced to acceptable levels.
In this chapter the...
