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Technical Presentations

Fatal Explosion Caused by An Intermittently-Used Fuel Gas Piping System

Mar 15, 2011
Russell A. Ogle
A fatal explosion occurred at a foundry during a routine test of an intermittently used propane standby system. Just prior to the explosion, maintenance personnel were preparing the propane standby system for a startup test. While preparing for the startup test, the group was alerted that employees...

PSM Metrics Impact on Process Safety Culture

Mar 15, 2011
Bill Patton
Several years ago our facility recognized the need to expand from a PSM Program managed by a small group to a PSM Culture owned by the full facility. Development and implementation of effective and consistent PSM metrics were utilized to achieve the following: (1) Set the vision for a PSM Culture (...

The Importance of Mechanical Integrity Inspection for Successful Capital Projects

Mar 15, 2011
Paul F. Schubert
It has been a common practice in the petrochemical industry to wait until a new process unit has been placed into service before performing the initial mechanical integrity inspection to establish corrosion rates of new piping systems and vessels. One problem with delaying inspection is that use of...

What to Do When Nothing Has Happened?

Mar 15, 2011
Raymond "Randy" Freeman
Often during a Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) or a Quantitative Risk Analysis (QRA) study, historical information indicates no occurrences of a particular undesired event in the plant or system. The analyst must decide on an appropriate measure of the frequency of the undesired event. The...

Good Engineering Practices - Inspection and Test Frequencies

Mar 15, 2011
Richard Prugh
The "Process Safety Management" standard of the Occupational Safety and Health Act [OSHA] requires that "The frequency of inspections and tests of process equipment shall be consistent with applicable manufacturers' recommendations and good engineering practices, and more frequently if determined...

Risk Assessment of a Propane Storage Sphere: Maintain or Decommission?

Mar 15, 2011
Russell A. Ogle
Ten years ago, the authors were asked to assist a utility with a risk management decision. Specifically, the utility was considering whether they should maintain or decommission an 800,000 gallon propane storage sphere. The 30-year old sphere was the fuel storage vessel for a peak-shaving power...

Methods for Precluding the Existence of a Dust-Explosion Hazard

Mar 14, 2011
Richard Prugh
The "generic" standard for preventing fires and explosions involving combustible dusts is the National Fire Protection Association publication NFPA 654. In this document, fifteen of the requirements are prefaced with the phrase "if an explosion hazard exists", and an additional four requirements...

The Buncefield Explosion: Were the Resulting Overpressures Really Unforeseeable?

Mar 14, 2011
Jérôme R. Taveau
On Sunday 11 December 2005, a severe unconfined vapour cloud explosion followed by several tank fires occurred at the Buncefield oil storage depot in England, causing widespread damage to homes and businesses surrounding the site, hopefully without any victim. The damage caused by the resulting...

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