site safety awareness

By:

Gerard B. Hawkins Managing Director, CEO

Confined Space Entry Hazardous Substances In Refineries Hazards of Air and Oxygen Hazards of Electricity and Static Electricity Hazards of Nitrogen and Catalyst Handling Hazards of Steam Hazards of Trapped Pressure and Vacuum Hazards of Water Hotel Fire Safety Liquid Hydrocarbon Tank Fires Safe Handling of Light Ends Safe Furnace and Boiler Firing Safe Tank Farms and (Un)loading Operations Safe Ups and Downs for Process Units Control of Work

Construction ◦ Crane lifts ◦ Trenches, overhead work, pits, scaffold

Steam blowing ◦ Roped off discharge ◦ Safety Officer? ◦ Noisy

Hydraulic testing ◦ Pneumatic for water sensitive areas ◦ Warnings ◦ Done after hours?

Gas leaks ◦ Invisible H2 flames ◦ Personal gas monitors

Site maintenance ◦ Energy isolation methods (electrical, pressure) ◦ Locked! “LOTO”

Working at height ◦ Tie off policy

CONFINED SPACE ENTRY ◦ Highly hazardous activity- multiple deaths.

Controlled by permit to work system ◦ Only valid for a certain time period ◦ Energy isolation ◦ Gas sampling (must be suitable for inert atmospheres?) ◦ Buddy system (count in, count out) ◦ Tied off ◦ Rescue equipment, BA sets nearby

Myths: “I promise you it’s ok” ◦ “No gases/N2 on site yet” ◦ “We were in there yesterday” ◦ “The valves are shut” X even if locked.

1. Column lift 2. Welding methanol column 3. Instrument maintenance 4. Chimney plume and CO leak 5. Grating and guard rails 6. Scaffold condemned 7. Steam valve removal 8. Utility boiler explosion 9. Hydrogen leak 10. Pneumatic testing

Safety Officers nearby- no action

Debris on temporary scaffold platform

Sideways crushing incidents- If it moves, let it go.

Steam leak from t-t weld line

Welded onto live column base, under column skirt (confined space, fire?)

Venting steam, but if column dumped- methanol!

First welder in hospital, but Second finished job!

Instrument fitter opened live level bridal to atmosphere.

Venting H2, propylene and alcohol. 5 bar, 100°C

Sent operator into plume to close isolation valve, wearing cotton overall (+ BA set).

Used fire hose to ‘fog’ area

LI

LPOxo plant Ammonia plant

Weather pattern

Heavies

CO

“Sit in conference room with the A/C on!”

Gratings and railings move during construction activities- there one minute, gone the next!!

Hold on to them!

Undid steam valve flanges with temperature and pressure in line:

Too impatient to wait for line to cool

Spoke to operators: still opened line but were cautious. Got away with it.

S.E. Asia

On 9 Dec at about 2:30am, three personnel were trying to re-start the boiler when an explosion occurred inside the furnace of the boiler.

The three personnel were badly injured with more than 50% 2nd degree burns on their bodies.

Two of them subsequently passed away later in the hospital:

• Deceased 1 - Technician/ Male / 23 yrs old

• Deceased 2 - Technician/ Female / 21 yrs old

Status of valves after accident

Gulf Coast Refinery 12:10:00 PM

During inspection of K-XYZ H2 make up compressor it was discovered that a bolt resting on the 4th stage

suction piping had worn a hole in the pipe and caused the release of make up hydrogen. The

compressor was taken off line.

High pressure hydrogen, 160# pipe rating

Pressure gauge

Plate hid contact during normal inspection

Incident happened in a South American Plant during a pneumatic test of the tank associated piping.

A blind was NOT installed to isolate the piping – only block valves were closed.

• Putting hand over pipe to see if flow had started

• Welding near syngas leak

• Operating machinery without guards

• Arc eye