Session Topics
Planning for Human Factors Engineering in Projects
Speaker
Natasha Andrew
Abstract Summary
Last year, Risktec Solutions worked on a research project jointly commissioned by the UK Energy Institute (EI) and International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) to carry out a comprehensive review and update of the Recommended Practice (RP) guidance document ‘Human Factors Engineering in Projects (OGP Report no. 454). In this presentation we will introduce and discuss the key content of the new guidance which is aimed at Project Managers, Safety and Technical Leads and Senior Engineers within oil & gas organizations who are responsible for planning and managing engineering projects. The guidance provides an overview of the process to be followed for the successful application of Human Factors Engineering (HFE) in projects. The presentation will focus particularly on the issues to be considered during the early stage of HFE screening, including:
- Determining what HFE activities may need to be undertaken on a particular project;
- Identifying required Human Factor (HF) roles and competencies, including any
- requirements for HF Specialist support;
- Establishing an appropriate and proportionate project HFE strategy.
- A suggested approach and tools for HFE screening will be discussed, along with guidance on the suggested content of a Human Factors Integration Plan (HFIP).
Moving Beyond Concept - Overcoming Barriers to ORM Digital Twin Adoption
Speaker
Abhilash Menon
Abstract Summary
Digital Twins are the next big thing in Operational Risk Management (ORM) for their ability to help model and simulate the Operational and Process Safety performance of industrial facilities.
In fact, according to Verdantix, over 89% agree Digital Twins will transform the approach to Operational Excellence over the next five years. Asset-intensive operators have the most to gain from increased efficiency, safety and productivity as a result of Digital Twin technology. But they also have the most to lose.
The greatest barriers are knowing how to articulate the business case and translating the concept into operational practice. Learn how industry trailblazers are overcoming barriers to transform the way they manage operations, reduce downtime and prevent wear and tear that could result in asset failure and improve Process Safety performance.
In the session we will offer tips on how companies can accelerate their digital vision for Operational Risk Management through ORM Digital Twin technology.
Plant Safety Override Assessment: An Effective Step Towards Zero-Override at Kuwait Oil Company
Speaker
Ahmed Qabazard & Bala Siva Srikanth Adivi
Abstract Summary
Safety Overrides are a key element of the safe operation of every facility, which also constitutes one of the important elements of Process Safety Management. Bypassing protective plant safety functions, also known as plant safety overrides, are inevitable in any process facilities considering the complexities of operations, maintenance activities, necessity for continuity in production, etc. It may also be noted that, excessive bypassing of protective functions has a substantial impact on the overall operational safety of any operational facility, especially in Oil & Gas facilities. Proper management of plant safety overrides during process plant operation can be challenging and could compromise process safety if the safety function is overridden longer than its suitable maximum time interval.
In order to address the issues adequately and appropriately, there is an established procedure being followed at Kuwait Oil Company, which monitor closely on override logs until those are closed/ restored back to original functions. However in practice, safety override management can be difficult due to long-term overrides emerging out of project activities, frequent process upsets, certain design issues, production throughput demand, etc.
In order to overcome above concerns and to ensure safety override status verification & assessment in compliance to existing functional procedure including to facilitate the early closure of overrides through risk based approach, an initiative of conducting “Multi-Team Comprehensive Surveys” through a collaborative approach at various facilities at North Kuwait Directorate of Kuwait Oil Company, Kuwait.
The above compressive survey process includes multi-layer verification / assessment conducted by experienced experts from the concerned teams and confirmation status of various safety overrides carried out in various phases, not only at plant level, but also stretch beyond to identify the gaps and provide suitable recommendations to ensure early closer.
This paper/presentation will describe how this assessment has been carried out for 7 operational Oil & Gas facilities in three phased manner by integrating the expertise capability with the operational aspects to speed up the implementation of normalization, for ease of operation and effective implementation of Company’s established Plant Safety Override Procedures under HSSE Management System.
Dust Explosion Prevention in Polymer Additive Areas
Speaker
Mohammad Alkhairallah
Abstract Summary
In any polymer plant that handles additive mixtures, dust explosion is an inherent hazard of plant operation. The design of a polymer plant includes some areas that must address all edges of the dust explosion pentagon. Buildings, silos, dust collectors and additive systems are all potential areas of concern. This effort focuses on dust explosion prevention by reducing the probability of two sides of the dust explosion pentagon: dust accumulation and the presence of an ignition source.
One such ignition source is the buildup of static electricity when handling solid materials where there is inadequate grounding and bonding. Additive bag dumping to the additive feed systems was identified as a high potential area where static electricity could lead to the presence of an ignition source. S-Chem improved the grounding practice for the additive bags to include two grounding cables and independent procedural verification step.
A project has been initiated to install a grounding verification instrument to comply with NFPA 654 standard requirement. In the area of housekeeping, S-Chem is conducting a review of the central vacuum system in addition to monthly management housekeeping audits as mitigation methods to avoid dust accumulation.
Process Safety Management Governance
Speaker
Mohammed Al-Zahrani
Abstract Summary
As an organization, we have developed a governance structure around process safety management where we assure 2-way communication from the top of the organization to the bottom. This was done be identifying several KPIs (70+) both leading and lagging in line with API 754. Later, these KPIs were addressed at different levels depending on how critical they were.
Committees of each element were also lunched and the main role of each committee was to assure compliance, understanding and training of the element is sufficient across the organization. Must importunately the committee would analyze data from each element, audit and recommend changes as results to the element owner.
We went down to operation levels where we added monitoring of Standard operation conditions and Safe operating limits as part of the shift hand over report. We also share dashboard of key critical KPIs to assure all organization have a visual feedback on PSM performance of the organization.
This was all part of changing the culture to a more PSM focused culture to identify issues within the organization and address them through the right communication channel.