Chapter-18

FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT

 CHAPTER-18
FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT

18.1 INTRODUCTION:

Every operation in refinery has a risk associated with it. The magnitude of
risk varies depending upon the nature of operation, the nature and quantity
of material being handled and the preventive measures available to control
the risks. Risk assessment is necessary to know the priority areas with
regard to the risks and thereby make action plan to mitigate the risk if
possible or to keep it under control.
Fire risk assessment is done in order to know the high fire risk areas, check
preventive and protective measures available vis-à-vis the risks and take
necessary actions to keep the fire risk in control.

18.2 METHODOLOGY:

While carrying out the identification and assessment of Fire/ explosion risk
of refinery, following points shall be considered:

 The data of fire and explosion in Guwahati Refinery,

 The available fire and explosion data of other oil refineries,
 The risk assessment reports of Guwahati Refinery in past
 The implementation status of recommendations to reduce the risk,
 New risks added or risks removed during modification/ modernisation of
facilities,
 New fire prevention, protection measures taken,
 Compliance of OISD std. on fire prevention and fire protection measures
in Refinery,
 Site visit with a checklist (Annexure- III)
 Group discussion at various levels to gather information and views.

As part of the exercise inventory of fire risks shall be compiled from the
list of tasks and the assessment shall be carried out for all identified risks
to know them criticality. The criticality of risks shall be assessed based on
three parameters e.g., Severity, frequency and probability.
18.3 PROCEDURE FOR IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF
RISK:

18.3.1 IDENTIFICATION OF RISK

 The first step in developing a comprehensive risk inventory will be to
create a list of all occupations of Guwahati Refinery.

 List of all the tasks performed within each occupation and/or major
work assignment to be compiled. This inventory shall reflect all the
“hands-on” work (as opposed to administrative duties) associated with
each occupation or major work assignment. Once developed, the task
inventory will permit to identify the fire / explosion risks involved in
each activity. Each identified fire/ explosion risks will be assessed to
know the criticality of risk.

 Supervisors/leaders and workers who are experienced or

knowledgeable about an occupation are usually the best for identifying
all tasks within that occupation. They will do this together as a team
by brainstorming about the hands-on work related to that occupation
or by observing and talking with those who actually do the work.
Additionally the past incidents, requirement of standards, risk
analysis carried out in past, implementation of recommendations to
reduce the level of risk, facility added/ removed etc. will be taken
into account for identification and evaluation of risks.

 Tasks will be broken down into a required sequence of steps. A task

step is defined as one part of the total task where something happens
to advance the work involved. It is this orderly sequence of steps that
will eventually become the basis for the task procedure.

18.3.2 EVALUATION OF RISK

A) ASSESSMENT OF SEVERITY

Severity is derived from the losses being incurred or the loss most likely to
be incurred as a result of wrong performance of the task. In many cases a
whole range of losses could occur but only the most likely result is
considered.
Severity scale ranges from Zero to six, such as the following,

SCALE CONSEQUENCE
0 No injury or illness or quality, no production loss.
Environmental or other loss of less than Rs 1,000.
2 Minor injury or illness without lost time; non-disruptive property
damage, quality, production, environmental or other loss of Rs
1,001 to Rs10, 000.
4 A lost time injury or illness without permanent disability;
disruptive property damage; quality, production, environmental
or other loss of more than Rs 10,001 but not exceeding
Rs50,000.
6 Permanent disability; loss of life or body part; extensive loss of
structure, equipment, material, quality, production,
environmental or other losses exceeding Rs 50,000.
B) ASSESSMENT OF FREQUENCY
Assessment of frequency shall be done based on following table:

Number of Number of times each person is exposed to risk

persons exposed Less than daily Few times per Many times per
to the risks day day
Few 1 1 2
Moderate 1 2 3
Many 2 3 3

C) ASSESSMENT OF PROBABLITY

The probability or likelihood of loss occurring due to a particular Hazard is

influenced by the following factors:
(a) Hazard (i.e., how inherently dangerous is the task?)
(b) Difficulty (i.e., is the task prone to quality, production or other
problems?)
(c) Complexity of the Hazard.
(d) These factors are not evaluated separately but they should all
be borne in mind. The key question is. How likely is it that
things will go wrong as a result of the performance of this
task? From this consideration, an estimate of the likelihood
should be quantified. A scale of from -1 +1 is used as follows:
-1 = Low probability of loss
0 = Moderate probability of loss
+1 = High probability of loss

18.4 ASSESSMENT OF RISK

 The assessed Severity, Frequency and Probability are to be added.

 The tasks/steps having value of 6 to 10 are Critical risks/Significant

Risks and having significant potential of risk.

 For the risks having assessed the total of 5 are to be considered

as High Risk tasks/steps.
  For the risks having assessed the total of 4 are to be considered
as Medium Risk tasks/steps.

 For the risks having assessed the total of 3 and less are to be
considered as Low Risk tasks/steps.

FORMAT FOR FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT

S.No. NATURE OF RISK EVALUATION CRITICALITY CONTROL

FIRE RISK (A+B+C) MEASURES
SEVERITY FREQUENCY PROBABILITY.
(A) (B) (C)
(0 – 6) (1 -3) (-1,0,1)