Process Design Safety Checklist

Plant Layout
1. Areas properly drained?
2. Aisleways provided?
3. Fire walls, dikes and special guardrails needed?
4. Hazardous underground obstructions?
5. Hazardous overhead restrictions?
6. Emergency accesses and exits?
7. Enough headroom?
8. Access for emergency vehicles?
9. Safe storage space for raw materials and finished products?
10.Adequate platforms for safe maintenance operations?
11.Hoists and elevators properly designed and safeguarded?
12.Clearance for overhead power lines?

Buildings
1. Adequate ladders, stairways and escapeways?
2. Fire doors required?
3. Head obstructions marked?
4. Ventilation adequate?
5. Need for ladder or stairway to roof?
6. Safety glass specified where necessary?
7. Need for fireproofed structural steel?

Process
1. Emergency Shurdown and positive isolation of connectiong process units in case
of fire / explosion / natural calamities available?
2. Consequences of exposure to adjacent operations considered?
3. Special fume or dust hoods required?
4. Unstable materials properly stored?
5. Process laboratory checked for runaway explosive conditions?
6. Hazardous reactions possible due to operational mistakes or contamination?
7. Chemistry of processes completely understood and reviewed?
8. Provisions for safe and rapid disposal of reactants in an emergency?
9. Failure of mechanical equipment possible cause of hazards?
10.Hazards possible from gradual or sudden blockages in piping or equipment?
11.Public liability risks possible from visual pollution (elevated flares), hazardous
air polllutants, odor, noise?
12.Provisions made for disposal of toxic materials?
13.Hazards involved in collection, treatment, transport, and disposal of liquid pollutants?
14.Material safety data sheets available for all chemical species?
15. Preliminary Hazards Analysis (PHA) Studies conducted during project concept phase?
16. Deatiled safety studies such as HAZOP conducted during project detail design?
17. All relevant engineering design documents updated to include actionable
recommendations of safety studies such as HAZID / HAZOP?
18. Pre-Commissioning, Commissioning and Operations Safety Manual available?

Piping
1. Safety showers and eye baths required?
2. Provisions for thermal expansion?
3. All overflow lines directed to safe areas?
4. Vent lines directed safely?
5. Piping specifications followed?
6. Washing-down hoses needed?
7. Check valves provided as needed?
8. Protection and identification of fragile pipe considered?
9. Possible deterioration of exterior of piping by chemicals?
10. Emergency valves readily accessible?
11. Long and large vent lines supported?
12. Steam condensate piping safely designed?
13. Relief valve piping designed to prevent plugging?
14. Relief Valve piping designed to prevent fluid accumulation?
15. Drains for de-inventorying and releasing pressure from suction and discharge of all
process pumps?
16. Remote Operated Emergency and / or Process Shutown Valves avialable to cut-off
feed of flammable fluids to process units?
17. Personnel protective insulation provided for piping and connected equipment?
18. All process and utility piping requiring heat conservation provided proper insulation?
19. Wherever self-draining piping is a process requirement, proper pipe slopes are
provided towards drain collection systems?
20. Proper grounding and bonding as required of piping carrying fluids that can accumlate
static electricity (charge) is available?

Equipment
1. Equipment design pressure and temperature above maximum operating pressure
and temperature?
2. Equipment designed for minimum design metal temperature due to
emergency depressurization / blowdown, lowest recorded ambient temperatures?
3. Correct corrosion allowance considered?
4.
5. Special
Guards isolation
for belts,for hazardous
pulleys, equipment?
sheaves and
gears?
6. Schedule for checking protective devices?
7. Dikes for any storage tanks?
8. Guard rails for storage tanks?
9. Correct slection of material of construction for equipment compatible with process
chemicals?
10. Existing or 2nd hand equipment checked for structural defects, metallurgy and
pressure
11. Piping/ independently
temperature compatibility
supported tofor alternative
relieve pumpsprocess?
and other equipment, as necessary?

12. Lubrication systems for rotating machinery available with availability and failure status?
13. Emergency standby equipment needed?

Venting
1. Overpresssure protection in terms of relief devices required?
2. Materials of construction corrosion resistant?
3. Vents properly designed? (Size, direction, configuration)?
4. Flame arrestors required on vent lines?
5. Process where relief valve can be plugged, upstream rupture disk provided?
6. Telltale pressure gauges installed between rupture disks and relief valve?

Instrumentation and Electrical

1. Final control elements (control valves, on-off valves, damper, fluid couplings, gates etc.)
fail-safe position defined and implemented?
2. Both Local & Remote (Central Control Room) indication of process variable required?
3. All instruments and electrical drives labelled properly in the field?
4. Correct Instrument tubing size, material and field installation?
5. Power cables are segregated from instrumentation / telecommunication cables
either through separate cable trays or a proper barrier?
6. By-pass for instrumentation (e.g. control valves) and operating stand-by provided
to faclilitate isolation, removal and maintenance of instrument / electrical device?
7. Effect on process safety due to response lag considered and appropriate measures
implemented to mitigate the effect?
8. Lables provided for all start-stop switches?
9. Equipment designed to permit lockout protection?
10.
11. Electrical
Sufficient failures
lighting cause unsafe
for both conditions?
outside
and inside operations?
12. Lights provided for all sight glasses, showers and eyebaths?
13. Breakers adequated for circuit protection?
14. All equipment grounded?
15. Special interlocks needed for safe operation?
16. Emergency Lighting for process plant required?
17. Emergency escape lighting required and provided during power failure?
18. All necessary communications equipment (PA system, hand-held walkies etc.) provided?
19. Emergency Shutdown Switch and Circuit Breaker identified with proper labelling?
20. Electrical equipment provided as per the requirements specified in the
Hazardous Area Classification schedule / drawings (example: Explosion Proof)

Loss Prevention
1. Active fire protection available in terms of fire water pumps (main / jockey), firewater
piping network, hydrants, deluge valves, sprinklers and fire hoses etc.?
2. Active fire protection systems available in terms of foam firefighting systems?
3. Active fire protection systems available in terms of various types of portable
fire extinguishers?
4. Passive fire protection available in terms of fire-resistant coatings of equipment, steel
structures and buildings?
5. Administrative controls (evacuation and firefighting procedures) provided?
6. Diking provided for storage tanks?
7. Smoke, Flame and Toxic Gas Detectors provided at all required locations?
8. Fire alarm system (manual or automatic activation by detectors) provided?

Raw Materials
1. Any materials and products require special handling equipment?
2. Any raw materials and products affected by extreme weather conditions?
3. Any products hazardous from a toxic or fire standpoint?
4. Proper containers being used?
5. Containers properly labelled for toxicity, flammability, stability, etc?
6. Consequences of large spills considered?
7. Special instructions needed for containers or for storage and warehousing by distributors?
8. Does warehouse have operating instructions covering each product regarded as critical?

Prpeared by: Ankur Srivastava

Chemical Engineer
Email: ankur_2061@hotmail.com
 Needs N/A Safety
Attention Compliance
Addressed