Technical BlogDon’t Lose Sight of Your Process Safety Targets: The Critical Role of Pressure Relief Devices Pressure relief devices (PRDs) serve as the last line of defense in protecting industrial assets from catastrophic failures. Their effectiveness relies on rigorous inspection, testing, and maintenance to ensure they function as intended under all operating conditions. Neglecting these…
Technical BlogKnown Hazards, Unknown Risks: Closing the Gap in Process Safety In the world of process safety, we often find ourselves dealing with hazardous situations that are often discussed and well-documented yet still lead to unexpected incidents. The challenge isn’t necessarily in agreeing that certain situations contain hazards but rather in sifting through the myriad…
Technical BlogThe Importance of Flare Studies: Addressing Key Challenges & Optimizing Safety Flare systems play a vital role in industrial safety, particularly in the oil, gas, and chemical sectors, not only by handling relief fluids from overpressure events but also by managing excess gas during process upsets, depressurizing events, and specific modes of operation such…
Technical BlogStrategies for Optimizing Inspection Budgets With the ebbs and flows of any industry, many organizations face pressure to cut costs, including inspection budgets. When the fundamental driver for inspection is regulatory requirements and risk management, cutting inspection scopes can be challenging. The approach must be to optimize, not sacrifice. Inspection optimization doesn’t mean compromising…
Technical BlogAutomating Vibration Analysis to Support Condition-Based Maintenance Automating vibration analysis holds significant potential for improving condition-based maintenance (CBM) programs, but the path to full automation is not without its challenges. Vibration analysis has been a trusted method for understanding the health of rotating machinery for years, offering insights into machine performance without requiring deep…
Technical BlogEnhancing Process Safety: Integrating Mechanical Integrity into HAZOP/LOPA Studies In today’s complex industrial environments, ensuring process safety is more critical than ever. Traditional risk assessment methods, such as Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) studies and Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA), have long been the backbone of risk management. However, as industries evolve, so must our…
Over the past few decades, the Chemical and Oil & Gas industry has faced a relentless onslaught in the media, resulting in tangible consequences. The workforce is experiencing a decline in the influx of new engineers compared to the departure of seasoned professionals. This imbalance places the burden on fewer individuals with limited experience, expected…
It is easy to fixate on production goals and become complacent towards everyday hazards in a process unit. Process Hazard Analyses (PHAs) present a unique opportunity for teams of operators and engineers to sit down, think critically about their process, and identify hazards that may need additional measures to mitigate the operational risks to personnel.…
When the dust settles after completion of a facility’s relief system design revalidation, the difficult task of mitigating any identified deficiencies begins. The question inevitably arises as to which deficiencies to address first, and if your facility has recently undergone a unit wide or facility wide relief system revalidation, you may be wondering how to…
Some time ago, a client had a heat and material balance that they wanted recreated and scaled, but the only documentation the client had in regards to process chemistry was a set of PFDs with stream tables. Based on the flow rates and compositions on the page (what was appearing and disappearing), I had to…
