Electricity and Control March 2016

HAZARDOUS AREAS + SAFETY

Figure 4: Basic P&ID for the HF transfer and dilution system including first round HAZOP and SIL recommendations.

• Hazard studies are useful tools in the design of safe and operable processing plants. • Information from hazard studies can be used to identify and mitigate risks and to further requirements for plant safety training. • Hazard studies are not immune to human failure owing to human error.

Conclusion Hazard studies are not immune to human failure due to their nature and the nature of the humans doing the studies. This opens up the possibility for critical design flaws to be overlooked in the Hazard study process resulting in a design which is either critically flawed or is not inherently safe. This said, HAZOP and SIL studies remain an effective means of identifying and mitigating process design flaws and inherent safety risks. Advanced Hazard study tools/systems can be used by a skilled facilitator to further enhance the value of such studies and streamline the process to mitigate the possibility of hu- man failure occurring due to the inherent failures of the HAZOP and SIL process. The two questions that we are still faced with are: • How do we keep human discretion in the HAZOP process, whilst eliminating the human factor (the impact of human failure)? • How do we ensure intact transfer of the complete details of the safe design and design intent over to the operating personnel, especially in the long run? Acknowledgement This topic was presented at the Safety Control Systems & Hazardous Areas Conference 2015 held in Midrand, Johannesburg (organised by IDC Technologies). The authors thank Pamela Prinsloo (BFluor Chemicals) and Neels Welgemoed (Quadro Chemicals Engineering) for their contribution to the paper and presentation.

take note

Willie Coetzee started his career at Sasol Technology and soon headed a major technology development pro- ject in the Sasol Secunda Clean Fuels environment. In 2013 he joined CDE Process where he assumed the lead engineering role on an R2 billion, UCG to Energy project. Currently Willie is the founder and managing director of Auctus Holdings and has recently established TerraServ, a company wholly dedicated to turning waste to useful products.

Chris Potgieter started his chemical engineering career in the SA nuclear and fluorochemical industry in the ‘80s. His experience as member of the Applied Fluorine Engineering Group and success as project leader in hazardous chemi- cal process development and the associated market de- velopment of hydrofluoric acid utilisation plants triggered

his interest in hazardous chemical process technology commercialisation. Over the past 20 years Chris has honed his skills in building sound revenue streams for upstart businesses and growing strong relationships with key stakeholders like the environmental authorities. Chris established BFluor Chemicals in 2007. Enquiries: Email chris@bfluor.co.za

Electricity+Control March ‘16

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