(160a) Process Safety Training for Operators

It is stipulated in Belgian law for high threshold Seveso plants and by corporate guidelines to revise the process safety study on a 5 yearly frequency.

In case of the Steamcracker plant in BASF Antwerp the expectations from the business unit were defined as followed: “Conceptual revision based on a new method of risk assessment. A method which would include all risk scenarios, risk classifications and countermeasures per process group. Additionally the information/data should be gathered as such that this can be used for review when plant is audited by the authorities (external objective) and for training purposes (internal objective).” The presentation will not focus on the actual results of revalidation of the process safety studies but on how a training package was set up towards the operators.

Process safety studies are well documented based on which method is followed; it is an overview of scenarios translated in typical guide words such as “more”, “less”, “other than”, … the result of the scenario is than summarized in deviation, cause, effect and the different countermeasures. Although this type of documentation is needed as reference for the plant, it’s not suitable as training material.

Setting up training material starts with defining the short and long term objectives of this training. Especially for plants running already for several decades, operators can play an important role in the evaluation and validation of some scenarios. The objectives can therefore be summarized as follows:

• Enhance knowledge on process safety concepts

• Workforce involvement by having operators participating in safety reviews

  This all will be illustrated using a distillation column. A distillation column covers many scenarios that are relevant for other process units such as loss of cooling, maximum heat input, exchanger leakage, etc. It’s also very useful to explain the different safeguarding concepts (intrinsic safe, mechanical, istrumentational).

  To conclude: This presentation will show that generic training is possible - as long as a recognizable unit is taken as reference. It makes process safety studies more accessible for operators and in this way they can make a valuable contribution during revalidations.