OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY-II

Asisst.Prof.Dr. Canan URAZ

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Sevim KARAOĞLU
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to
• give the basic information about occupational health and
safety required in the workplace.
• give a wide awareness to the student who will face to many
problems in the future and who will carry legal responsibilities
and who will be supposed to apply a scientific and sound
sense of safety when he will be working as a chemical
engineer in a chemical plant.
• teach occupational hygiene; definition, basic aspects,
occupational health and safety.
• teach the obligations of the occupational health and safety
committee replaced in the plants.
• give information about the harmful factors in the work place.
• teach the environmental and personal control precautions.
• teach the inhalation, discharging and effects of the toxicants.
• give examples about specifications and precaution methods of
some chemicals.
• give information about Safety Data Sheet (SDS).
• give examples about major hazards and major hazard
installations, major accidents, examples of fire, explosion and
toxic release, ILO convention.
• give information about designing and operating a safe
chemical plant. Cost approach, choice of process, operations,
compatible material, specifications of electrical installation
and grounding, construction phase, fire and emergency,
corrosion.
• give the risk assessment methods, analyzing methods,
HAZAN, HAZOP and examples.
• give information about the explosions and fires: Types of fire
and gas and dust explosions, BLEVE.
Lesson-1
Introduction to Process Safety
 Introduction

In recent years there has been an increased emphasis on process safety as

a result of a number of serious accidents. This is due in part to the worldwide
attention to issues in the chemical industry brought on by several dramatic
accidents involving gas releases, major explosions, and environmental
incidents. Public awareness of these and other accidents has provided a driving
force for industry to improve its safety record. Local and national governments
are taking a hard look at safety in industry as a whole and the chemical
industry in particular. There has been an increasing amount of government
regulation.
 The Chemical Process Industries constitutes one of the safest of the
manufacturing sectors, but a single major accident or disaster can do
irreparable damage to a company’s reputation and possibly affect the
entire industry. One reason the chemical industry gets bad press is that its
activities are very noticeable. Large chemical works are striking features
on the landscape. Chemical plants are often noisy and garishly lit, and
many of the effluents cause nuisances which are well below the health and
safety limits. Hazardous chemicals are transported in bulk in highly visible
container vehicles, adding to the public’s image of the industry as
hazardous and dangerous.
 For many reasons, the public often associates the chemical industry
with environmental and safety problems and, unfortunately, sometimes
the negative image that goes with the problems is deserved. It is vital to
the future of the chemical industry that process safety have a high priority
in the design and operation of chemical process facilities.
Hazards from combustion and runaway reactions play a leading role in
many chemical process accidents. Knowledge of these reactions is
essential for control of process hazards. It is important that loss of
containment be avoided.
EPA: Environmental Protection Agency
OSHA: Occupational Safety and Health Administration
RPM: Risk management program
PSM: Process safety management
CalARP: California Accidental Release Prevention Program
TLV: Thershold Limit Value
IDLH: Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health
 Process Safety Subjects

Inherently Safer Design: Rather than add on equipment to control hazards

or to protect people from their consequences, it is better to design user-
friendly plants which can withstand human error and equipment failure
without serious effects on safety, the environment, output, and efficiency.

Process Safety Analysis: treating the analysis of a process or project from

the standpoint of hazards, risks, procedures for making potential damage
estimates, and project reviews and audits.
It can be helpful to management in assessing risks in a project. It consists of
the following:

Hazard Analysis
Risk Analysis
Guidelines for Estimating Damage
Project Reviews and Procedures
Inherent Safety
An inherently safe plant relies on chemistry and physics to prevent
accidents rather than on control systems, interlocks, redundancy, and
special operating procedures to prevent accidents. Inherently safer
plants are tolerant of errors and are often the most cost effective. A
process that does not require complex safety interlocks and elaborate
procedures is simpler, easier to operate, and more reliable. Smaller
equipment, operated at less severe temperatures and pressures, has
lower capital and operating costs.

The following four words are recommended to describe inherent

safety:
Minimize (intensification)
Substitute (substitution)
Moderate (attenuation and limitation of effects)
Simplify (simplification and error tolerance).
The types of inherent safety techniques that are used in the chemical
industry are illustrated in the following Table and are described
more fully in what follows.
Table. Inherent Safety Techniques
Type Typical techniques
Minimize Change from large batch reactor to a smaller continuous reactor
(intensification)Reduce storage inventory of raw materials
Improve control to reduce inventory of hazardous intermediate chemicals
Reduce process hold-up
Substitute Use mechanical pump seals vs. packing
(substitution) Use welded pipe vs. flanged
Use solvents that are less toxic
Use mechanical gauges vs. mercury
Use chemicals with higher flash points, boiling points, and other less hazardous
properties
Use water as a heat transfer fluid instead of hot oil
Moderate Use vacuum to reduce boiling point
(attenuation and Reduce process temperatures and pressures
limitation of Refrigerate storage vessels
effects) Dissolve hazardous material in safe solvent
Operate at conditions where reactor runaway is not possible
Place control rooms away from operations
Separate pump rooms from other rooms
Acoustically insulate noisy lines and equipment
Barricade control rooms and tanks
Simplify Keep piping systems neat and visually easy to follow
(simplification Design control panels that are easy to comprehend
and error Design plants for easy and safe maintenance
tolerance) Pick equipment that requires less maintenance
Pick equipment with low failure rates
Add fire- and explosion-resistant barricades
References
1. D.A. Crowl, J.F. Louvar, "Chemical Process Safety: Fundamentals with
Applications", Prentice Hall International Series in the Physical and
Chemical Engineering Sciences, 1990.
2. N.Gizli, C.Uraz “Process Safety and Hazard Prevention” ders notları,
İzmir, Mart 2015.