Integration of safety management at Chemical plants - Beijing, China

1. Integration of Safety Management
at Chemical Plants
International Safety Systems, Inc.
Maharshi Mehta, CSP, CIH, President
Lili Deng, Project Manager China and South East
Asia
COS+H Conference, Beijing, China
September 22-September 25, 2014
Maharshi.mehta@issehs.com Lili.deng@issehs.com
New York, USA +1 2036858808 Shanghai, China+86135 24061672
www.issehs.com

2. Agenda
 Case Studies of Accidents at Chemical Plants
 Common Contributory Factors
 Safety Management
 Chemical Hazards, Hazard Assessment and
Controls
 Lessons Learned

3. Accident Occurred
▪ Flixborough:
▪ 28 Fatalities, 1000 houses in one mile radius damaged and blast was heard
30 miles away
▪ Bypassed connection - releasing 20tons of cyclohexane
▪ SAVASO, Italy
▪ Dioxane released due to exothermic reaction
▪ Operators left early, all controls were manual. Critical Temperature known
was 230 C. Whereas, reaction occurred at 180 C.
▪ Jinzhou District, Dalian, China
▪ 4 fatalities and glass windows of neighborhood shattered.
▪ A vacuum/pressure of as little as 0.1 psi (same pressure at the bottom of cup of
tea) blew tank lid off.
▪ Closing valve on error caused an explosion. In another case explosion occured
because operator forgot to open a valve.
Chemical Safety Board-http://www.csb.gov/

4. Most Common Contributory Factors
▪ Safety Management System
▪ Safety Organization-Empowering Line Managers
▪ Safety at design stage– to reduce operator dependency
▪ System Safety – Hazard recognition, hazard assessment,
hazard communication and training
▪ Preventive Maintenance
▪ Contractor safety “For every dollar spent at plant design
stage, $10 is saved at flow sheet stage,
$100 at the detail design stage, $1000
after plant is build and $10,000 saved to
cleanup the mess after an accident”
KLETZ

5. Elements of Successful EHS
Organization
Demonstrated support and interest from top
management
Safety responsibility with line management
Allocation of sufficient resources
Active participation in EHS from all
Pro-active EHS approach that avoids EHS focus only
after an accident or during an external audit

6. Integration of Safety Management
Policy
Organizing
Planning and
Implementing
Measuring
Performance
Reviewing
Performance
Auditing

7. Hazards at Chemical Plants
 Chemical Hazards
– Flammability
– Reactivity
– Toxicity (Industrial Hygiene)
– Dust Explosions
– Compressed Gases and Cryogenic Liquids
 Physical Hazards
– Noise
– Ionizing and non-ionizing radiation
 Other Hazards
– Cumulative Trauma Disorders (Ergonomics)
– Mechanical Hazards
Robust Safety Management is capable of first
identifying hazards and then communicating to all
stake-holders

8. Ignition Sources
 Electrical
 Friction
 Hot Surfaces
 Overheated Material
 Cutting, Welding, Open Flames
 Spontaneous ignition
– Slow oxidation of low volatile compound with
accompanying evolution of heat in non-ventilated area
 Static Electricity

9. Reactive Chemicals
 High reaction rate
 Rate of reaction increases exponentially with increase in
temperature. An increase of 10C roughly doubles the reaction rate
 If the reaction rate and resulting heat are not controlled , an
explosion could occur.
 Heat initiated decomposition result in explosion e.g., certain
peroxides
 Light could be initiator of an explosive reaction e.g., hydrogen and
chlorine reacts explosively in the presence of light.
 Shock could initiate an explosion, e.g., acetylides, azides, organic
nitrates, nitro compounds and peroxides.
 Picric acid becomes highly shock-sensitive when its normal water
content is allowed to evaporate.

10. Chemical Structure with Explosive
Tendencies
 -ONO2 nitrate R-NO2 aliphatic nitro
 -NH-NO2 Primary nitramine Ar-NO2
aromatic nitro
 -N-NO2 Secondary nitramine -N3
 -NO nitroso =N-X halamines
 -N=N-diazo -C=C-acetylides
 -N=N-S-N=N-diazosulfide
 Organic salts of chlorates, perchlorates,
picrates, nitrates, iodates.

11. Dust Explosions
 Presence of Combustible Dust
 Minimum Oxygen concentration -3 to 15% v/v
 Min Ignition Energy (MIE) and Temperature (MIT)
 Particle Size
– <particle size, > the explosion pressure -<MIE and MIT
 Minimum Explosible Concentrations (MEC)
– MEC for most materials is 10 to 500 g/m3
– 10 g/m3 dust concentration looks like dense fog with visibility
of 1Meter.
 Moisture Content of dust: > Moisture, >MIE, MIT and MEC

12. Hazard Analysis - System Safety
 Job Safety Analysis (JSA)
 Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA)
 What-if and What if -Check List
 Hazard And Operability Analysis (HAZOP)
 Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)
 Fault-Tree Analysis (FTA)
 Management Oversight Risk Tree (MORT)
 Human Reliability Analysis (HRA)
Efficient safety management is capable of identifying risk
through hazard analysis

13. PROCESS SAFETY
INFORMATION
Hazards Technology Equipment
Toxicity Block Flow
Diagram
Construction
Materials
PELs Chemistry Piping &
Instrumention
Physical Inventory Electrical
Reactivity Operating
Ranges
Relief Vents
Corrosivity Hazards of
Deviations
Design Codes
Stability Material Balances
Compatibility Safety Systems

14. Hazard Control
▪ Substitution
▪ Process Modification
▪ Engineering Controls
▪ Ventilation
▪ Administrative Controls
▪ Site Safety and Health Plan/Site Controls
▪ Housekeeping
▪ Safe Operating Procedures
▪ Confined Space/Hot Work Entry Permit System
▪ Lockout/tagout
▪ Personal Protective Equipment
Most important task of safety management is
to control risk and reduce losses

15. Hazard Controls
 Flammable vapors below 10% of Lower Explosive Limits
 Inerting with Nitrogen – Oxygen concentrations below 4%
 Control of Ignition Sources
– Intrinsically safe lighting (Explosion Proof)
– Static Electricity Controls (Grounding and Bonding)
 Redundancies
– Automated temperature controls
– Interlocked to slow or shutdown process
– Safety Relief Valves
– Rupture disks
– Emergency response
 Mechanical integrity
– Design basis
– Thickness testing
– Preventive maintenance

16. Lessons Learned-Integrating
Safety Management
 Efficient Safety Management is at the foundation
of reducing accidents in chemical plants
 Empower line managers by first training them
and then making them element owners for
chemical safety
 EHS department then works with line managers
in timely identifying, evaluating and controlling
safety hazards at chemical plants