Process

Safety Hierarchy

BY - DAMINI, SHYAM , VIPUL.

WHAT IS PROCESS SAFETY
HIERARCHY?

● Refers to the system used in industry to

minimize or eliminate exposure to hazards.

● This system is widely accepted and promoted

by numerous safety organisations.

● In industries this concept is taught to

manager, to be promoted as standard practice
in the workplace.
PROCESS SAFETY STRATEGIES.

● INHERENT

● ACTIVE

● PASSIVE

● PROCEDURAL
1. INHERENT

● Identify and implement ways to

eliminate or reduce hazards rather than
to develop add-on procedures and
protective systems.

● This includes identifying technology

that operates in less severe conditions
rather than devoting extensive
resources to safety systems and
procedures.
STRATEGIES FOR INHERENTLY
SAFER CHEMICAL PROCESSES:

Minimize — Use smaller quantities of hazardous

substances
Continuous reactors (stirred tanks, loop reactors, tubular
reactors) in place of batch reactors.
Reduced inventory of raw materials and in-process
intermediates
High efficiency heat exchangers
Example: A 50-liter loop polymerization reactor has a
capacity equal to that of a 5000-liter batch reactor
Substitute — Replace a material with a less hazardous
substance
Water based paints and coatings
Alternative chemistry using less hazardous materials
Less flammable or toxic solvents
Example: Acrylic esters were formerly manufactured
using the Reppe process, using acetylene, carbon
monoxide, and a nickel carbonyl catalyst. The newer
propylene oxidation. The process uses significantly
less hazardous materials .
Moderate — Use less hazardous conditions, a less
hazardous form of a material, or facilities which minimize
the impact of a release of hazardous material or energy
Dilution
Refrigeration of volatile hazardous materials
Granular agricultural product formulations in place of
powders
Example: The distance to an atmospheric
concentration of 500 ppm of mono-methylamine in the
event of the failure of a 2-inch pipe is reduced from 1.9
miles to 0.6 miles by reducing the temperature of the
mono methyl amine from 10ºC to -6ºC.
Simplify — Design facilities which eliminate
unnecessary complexity and make operating
errors less likely, and which are forgiving of errors which
are made
Develop fundamentally simpler technology with fewer
reactions and processing operations.
Eliminate unnecessary equipment
Remove unused or abandoned equipment
Human factors considerations in design
Example: Design vessels to withstand the maximum
pressure which can be generated, rather than
providing complex emergency relief systems,
including devices such as scrubbers, catch tanks, or
flares to contain the relief system effluent.
2. Passive .
● It refers to minimizing the hazard by
process and equipment design
features which reduce either the
frequency or consequence of the
hazard without the active functioning
of any device.
● Add safety features that do not
require action by any device.
● Passive devices from their intended
functions without personnel or control
actions.
Passive Devices.

● Dikes
Flame arrestors
● Passive flames arrestors.

● Welded fittings

Dikes Welded fittings

DIKES
IN CASE OF FLAMMABLE LIQUID SPILLS FROM TANKS,
THERE ARE CHANCES OF FIRE HAZARD AND
CONTAMINATION OF ENVIRONMENT. IN THIS CASE DIKES
ARE DESIGNED TO CONTAIN CHEMICAL SPILLS OR LEAKS
FROM TANKS.

THEY LIMIT THE SPREADING OF FIRE AND PREVENT THE

EXPOSURE OF OTHER EQUIPMENT IF A FLAMMABLE
MATERIAL SPILLS AND IS IGNITED.

IT PREVENTS CONTACT OF INCOMPATIBLE REACTIVE

MATERIALS IN CASE OF LEAKS OR SPILLS.
FLAME ARRESTORS.
A DEVICE THAT STOPS FUEL COMBUSTION BY
EXTINGUISHING THE FLAME

IT ABSORBS THE HEAT FROM A FLAME FRONT TRAVELLING

AT SUBSONIC VELOCITIES, DROPPING THE BURNING
MIXTURE BELOW ITS AUTO IGNITION TEMP. HENCE THE
FLAME CANNOT SURVIVE.

IT LIMITS THE SPREAD OF AN EXPLOSIVE EVENT THAT HAS

OCCURRED .IT PROTECTS POTENTIALLY EXPLOSIVE
MIXTURES FROM IGNITING.

IT IS USED IN FUEL STORAGE VENTS, FUEL GAS PIPE LINES

ETC.
WELDED FITTING.
THEY ARE USED FOR PIPELINES CONVEYING FLAMMABLE
,TOXIC OR EXPENSIVE MATERIAL, WHERE NO LEAKAGE CAN
BE PERMITTED.

THEY CAN BE USED IN PLACE OF THREADED FITTING SO

THE RISK OF LEAKAGE IS MUCH SMALLER.

THERE ARE MANY TYPES OF WELD FITTINGS CLASSIFIED BY

CLASS,SIZE AND WALL THICKNESS.

EXAMPLES: SOCKET WELD FITTINGS, BUTT WELD FITTING

ETC.
3. ACTIVE

● Add safety shutdown systems to

prevent accidents.

● Active systems include process

control systems, safety interlocks ,
automatic shutdown systems and
automated mitigation systems.
PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEM

They are active or dynamic and maintain or change process

conditions.

It is a combination of control engineering and chemical engineering

disciplines that uses industrial control system to achieve a production
level of consistency, economy and safety which cannot be achieved by
human manual control.
SAFETY INTERLOCKS.

MANUALLY, IT IS ACTUATED FROM A SWITCH OR PUSH BUTTON LOCATED ON A

LOCAL PANEL IN THE CONTROL ROOM. IT IS OPERATED BY AN OPERATOR TO
TRIP THE SYSTEM INDEPENDENTLY IN THE EVENT OF A HAZARD .

AUTOMATICALLY, IT ACTIVATES ON ITS OWN WHEN A HAZARDOUS SYSTEM IS

DETECTED.
AUTOMATIC SHUTDOWN SYSTEM

THIS SYSTEM CONSIST OF SENSORS, LOGIC SOLVERS AND FINAL CONTROL ELEMENTS FOR THE
PURPOSE OF PROCESS SAFETY WHEN THE PREDETERMINED CONDITIONS ARE VIOLATED.

IT PROTECTS AGAINST THAT RESULTS IN THE RISK OF EQUIPMENT DAMAGE, ENDANGER THE
HEALTH OR LIVES OF PLANT PERSONNEL, FIRE OR EXPLOSION.
AUTOMATED MITIGATION SYSTEMS.

IT INVOLVES THE USE OF EQUIPMENTS THAT AUTOMATICALLY ACTS TO CONTROL OR REDUVCE

THE ADVERSE CONSEQUENCES OF HAZARDOUS INCIDENTS.

MITIGATION DEVICES DO NOT REQUIRE ANY ACTION ON THE PART OF EMPLOYEE IN ORDER FOR
THE EQUIPMENT TO FUNCTION

EXAMPLES; BACKUP GENERATOR SYSTEMS, AUTOMATIC TRIP DEVICES, AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER

SYSTEM.

THIS SYSTEM PROVIDES OPPORTUNITY FOR SECONDARY PREVENTION. IT DOES NOT ELIMINATE
HAZARD BUT CONTROLS THE SEVERITY OF INCIDENTS.
4. Procedural controls .
● Procedural controls are an administrative
control typically in the form of rules,
requirements and standard operating
procedures that define the manner in
which certain types of chemicals to be
handled, or the manner in which specific
operations involving chemicals to be
conducted, in order to minimize hazards.
● Using operating procedures,
administrative checks, emergency
response, and other management
approaches to prevent incidents, or to
minimize the of an accident.
ADMINISTRATIVE CHECKS.
IT INCLUDES IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL HAZARDS, IDENTIFYING METHODS TO CONTROL OR
ELIMINATE THE HAZARDS, ENSURING EMPLOYEES ENGAGE IN SAFE AND HEALTH FUL WORK
PRACTICES.

IT MAINLY FOCUS ON:

● ESTABLISH SAFETY AND HEALTH INSPECTIONS.
● UNDERSTAND POTENTIAL HAZARDS AND HOW TO ELIMINATE THEM.
● MAINTAINING DOCUMENTATION OF TRAINING, INSPECTIONS,INJURIES AND ILLNESS, AND
OTHER SAFETY RECORDS.
● KEEP A CHECK ON STATISTICAL REPORTS THAT COMPARES SEVERITY AND FREQUENCY
RATES AGAINST PRIOR RECORD

IT BASICALLY CONTROLS: DOCUMENTATION, INFORMATION AND TRAINING, WORK PRACTICES,

HOUSEKEEPING AND MONITORING.
OPERATING PROCEDURES.
IT IS DETAILED ,WRITTEN SET OF PROCEDURES THAT EXPLAINS HOW TO UTILIZE AND MANAGE
HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS,PROCESSES TO MINIMIZE HAZARD SEVERITY . IT SHOULD BE CLEAR
CONCISE AND DETAILED BUT NOT VERY COMPLICATED.

MAINY FOCUS ON:

PROCESSES.
OPERATING RANGES AND CONDITIONS.
INDIVIDUAL HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS.
CLASSES OF HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS.
MANAGEMENT AND USE OF CHEMICAL EQUIPMENTS.
EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN.
AUTHORIZED USERS.
Emergency Response Procedure

● IN CASE OF EMERGENCY ON SITE THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURES ARE INSTITUTED AT EACH

SITE.
1. METHOD OF COMMUNICATION WILL BE DETERMINED AT EACH SITE: TELEPHONE ,RADIO
ETC.
2.POST THE FOLLOWING EMERGENCY TELEPHONE NUMBER.
POLICE
FIRE
MEDICAL RESPONSE
3.POST THE JOB SITE ADDRESS NEAR THE COMMUNICATION STATION.
4.POST NAMES OF FIRST AID RESPONDERS ON SITE.
5.DESIGNATE A PERSON TO DIRECT EMERGENCY CREW TO SITE OF EMERGENCY.
LAYERS OF PROTECTION.
COMPONENTS OF LAYERS OF PROTECTION.
DISADVANTAGES OF LAYERS OF PROTECTION:
THANK YOU.