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…
Maintaining the integrity of the relief system design basis for a PSM covered facility is no easy task. Especially when a single facility, such as a refinery or chemical plant, can contain thousands of relief devices. However, as the old saying goes, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat”. Our clients have chosen…
A few years ago, I was having dinner with a colleague after completing a HAZOP for a client. As we discussed the PHA, the topic of safety culture came up. What are the hallmarks of a good safety culture, how have we been seeing it wax and wane among clients, and how have we experienced…
I recently finished the book Riding Rockets by Mike Mullane. The book is a memoir of the author’s time as an astronaut at NASA during the heyday of the Space Shuttle Program. With the recent 35th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, I could not help but reflect on some of the insights from the book.…
Alright; stop, grab a seat, and listen… It was COLD in Texas. REALLY cold. However, with simple planning for reliability, Texans could have possibly prevented multiple pipe-freezing failures that are continuing to plague many as we thaw out from Winter Storm Uri. Hopefully, my story and observations of our collective pipe-freezing situation will remind us…
Encourage employees and clients to ask why and listen with respect. Challenge everything. It shows you care, forces others to listen to their own convictions, and you’ll probably learn something. The corollary to this is it only works if you listen. If you wouldn’t let your kids do it, you shouldn’t do it. Process safety…
One of the elements of the PSM standard that most people are familiar with is Management of Change (MOC). The purpose of the MOC process is to provide a systematic way to manage changes to the process unit that are not “replacements in kind”. This process is managed differently by most companies, and sometimes, managed…
As the famous artist, Vincent Van Gogh, said, “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” The “small things” in process engineering are no different and can have a big influence on a project’s bottom line. The impact of process engineering on the economics of a capital project is often overlooked…
