OMV Exploration & Production GmbH

Philosophy
for
Escape, Evacuation and Rescue
Onshore

Document Number

TO-HQ-02-075-00

00

Final Issue

A2

Client Comments Incorporated

A1

DRAFT

Issue
Rev

Issue or Revision Description

WAM

31/05/05

JEA

31/05/05

WAM

9/12/04

GA

9/12/04

Origin
By

Date

Chkd
By

Date

PZ

03/06/05

MF

03/06/05

Appd
By

Date

Auth
By

Date

OMV Exploration & Production GmbH

Revision History
Revision

Description of revision

A2

Client Comments Incorporated

00

Final Issue

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CONTENTS
1.0 PREFACE .......................................................................................................................4
2.0 DEFINITIONS .................................................................................................................4
3.0 ABBREVIATIONS...........................................................................................................4
4.0 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................4
5.0 APPLICABLE CODES, STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS........................................5
5.1
5.2

Codes and Standards List ............................................................................................... 5

References ........................................................................................................................ 5

6.0 SYSTEM GOAL ..............................................................................................................6

7.0 SYSTEM BOUNDARIES ................................................................................................6
8.0 EER DESIGN PHILOSOPHY..........................................................................................7
8.1
8.2
8.3
8.4

General Considerations ................................................................................................... 7

Escape ............................................................................................................................... 8
Evacuation ...................................................................................................................... 11
Rescue............................................................................................................................. 11

9.0 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS .......................................................................................12

10.0 MAINTENANCE IN DESIGN ........................................................................................12
11.0 DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS.........................................................................12
12.0 CERTIFYING AUTHORITY REVIEW REQUIREMENTS..............................................13

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1.0

PREFACE
This Philosophy defines the OMV Exploration & Production GmbH corporate
policy on the design of Escape, Evacuation and Rescue (EER) facilities for
onshore hydrocarbon production and processing facilities. The document
specifies basic requirements and criteria, defines the appropriate codes and
standards, and assists in the standardisation of facilities design across all
onshore operations.
The design process needs to consider project specific factors such as the
location, production composition, production rates and pressures, the
process selected and the size of the plant. This philosophy aims to address
a wide range of the above variables, however it is recognised that not all
circumstances can be covered. In situations where project specific
considerations may justify deviation from this philosophy, a document
supporting the request for deviation shall be submitted to OMV E&P for
approval.
Reference should be made to the parent of this philosophy, document
number TO-HQ-02-001 for information on deviation procedures and
Technical Authorities, general requirements and definitions and
abbreviations not specific to this document.

2.0

DEFINITIONS
There are no definitions with particular relevance to this document.

3.0

ABBREVIATIONS
There are no abbreviations with particular relevance to this document.

4.0

INTRODUCTION
This document defines the OMV Exploration & Production GmbH corporate
policy for the design basis and philosophy of Escape, Evacuation and Rescue
(EER) facilities on its onshore facilities.
By specifying the basic requirements and criteria, and defining the appropriate
codes and standards, this philosophy intends to guide the selection and

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design of EER facilities and standardise this process across all onshore
facilities operated by OMV.
5.0

APPLICABLE CODES, STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS

Codes, standards and regulations referred to in this philosophy shall be of the
latest edition and shall be applied in the following order of precedence:

Local Regulations,

The provision of this document,

International standards (e.g. ISO, IEC etc),

National standards.

Design of the Escape, Evacuation and Rescue system shall comply with the
standards listed within this philosophy, however, for instances where local
standards are more onerous local standards shall apply.
5.1

5.2

Codes and Standards List

ISO 13702:1999

Petroleum and Natural Gas Industries Control

and Mitigation of Fires and Explosions on
Offshore Production Installations Requirements
and Guidelines

IP Model Code of Safe

Practice, Part 19

Fire Precautions at Petroleum Refineries and Bulk

Storage Installations

IP Model Code of Safe

Practice, Part 3

Refining

References
Handbook of Fire and Explosion Protection
Engineering Principles for Oil, Gas, Chemical and
Related Facilities, Dennis, P. and Nolan, P.E.,
Noyes Publications (1996)
ISO/CD 13702, Part 14 Control and Mitigation of
Fires and Explosion on Offshore Installations
TO-HQ-02-011

Philosophy for Electrical Design Onshore

TO-HQ-02-024

Philosophy for Emergency

Shutdown Systems Onshore

and

Process

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6.0

TO-HQ-02-025

Philosophy for Fire and Gas Systems Onshore

TO-HQ-02-072

Philosophy for Active Fire Protection Systems

Onshore

TO-HQ-02-073

Philosophy for Passive Fire Protection Systems

Onshore

TO-HQ-02-074

Philosophy for Life Saving Appliances Onshore

SYSTEM GOAL
The basic goals of the EER facilities are to alert personnel of a hazard and
allow them to Escape to a place of relative safety. The EER facilities shall
achieve this goal for all onsite personnel by means of the following:

7.0

Providing audible and visual alarm information to site personnel,

where considered to be needed, for personnel to take any necessary
action

Providing audible and visual alarm information to alert the Central

Control Room (CCR) to enable the operator to assess the situation

Maintaining the safety of personnel during their Escape by providing

measures to limit the effects or escalation of a hazardous
consequence

Providing temporary safe refuge/shelter where necessary

Facilitating the Rescue of personnel who are in distress or injured

Providing local and remote manual facilities for the operation of fixed
fire fighting systems.

SYSTEM BOUNDARIES
The boundaries of the EER facilities are the following:

interface to F&G system

interface to the PAGA system

interface with AFP systems

interface with PFP systems

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8.0

EER DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

EER facilities shall be designed in accordance with the general provisions
detailed in ISO 13702, as applicable to onshore installations, and shall be based
on the Escape, Evacuation and Rescue Assessment (EERA) for the plant.
The provision of EER facilities should consider the following during the plant
design:

8.1

Plant layout

Manning levels and the manning distribution

Internal communications means of alerting personnel of a hazardous

event or potential hazardous event

Escape Routes

Muster Areas

Means of personnel Evacuation, where appropriate

Means to affect Rescue and recovery of personnel

General Considerations
The design and provision of EER facilities for an Onshore Plant shall consider
the interactions with those parameters outside the physical boundaries of the
facility, which could potentially impact on their design. Local geography,
topography, surrounding land-usage, meteorological and oceanographic data
(where appropriate), etc., should form the basis of these considerations.
Historical adverse weather conditions and natural events, such as: landslides,
ice, flooding, electrical storms, earthquakes, etc, which could negatively
impact the EER philosophy, should be understood at the conceptual stage and
contingency plans produced where appropriate.

8.1.1

Plant Layout
At its incipient stage, the design of an Onshore Plant will begin with its layout
and it will be beneficial at this time to be mindful of the appropriate hazards
associated with the plant and arrange the layout accordingly by identifying
hazardous and non-hazardous processes and placing them in segregated
areas.

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Access and egress routes for personnel should also be incorporated at an

early stage of design - for guidance on the design of access and egress routes
see sections 8.1.2 and 8.2.2 below.
The layout should facilitate ease of access by Emergency Response Teams
and Emergency Response vehicles, where appropriate, including external firefighting or Rescue units.
8.1.2

Manning Levels, Distribution and Control Systems

Manning levels at an Onshore Plant can be assumed to fluctuate on a day-today basis. However, more noticeable fluctuations will exist depending on the
stage of the plant life cycle, i.e. construction, operation, maintenance, etc.
However, a maximum number of allowable personnel on the site should be set
and the EER facilities designed for this maximum. This entails that all fixed
EER facilities, such as: the number and size of exits, Escape/Evacuation
Routes, etc, i.e. those which are not easily altered following construction,
should consider the entire manning life-cycle as its basis of design.
An accurate account of the manning levels and personnel distribution across
the plant at any one time is essential information for coordinating emergency
actions during a hazardous event. Therefore, a system should be put in place,
which will be active throughout the manning life cycle of the plant, which
effectively controls these factors and enables this information to be readily
available to those controlling emergency activities. Internal communications
are also a vital contingent of this control for further details refer to section
8.4.1.

8.2

Escape
Facilities shall be provided which enable personnel to Escape safely during a
hazardous event from all accessible areas on the plant. These facilities
should be capable of surviving a predetermined hazardous event appropriate
to their location and also provide redundancy in case of system failure.
The plant specific EERA will define the Escape and Evacuation time for that
site and shall be based on the most onerous, probable hazardous-event, such
that Escape relies on the availability of the redundancy of the Escape Routes
provided.
Escape and Evacuation time can be broken-down in to those periods required
for: alerting personnel; to physically move to a place of relative safety, and; for
personnel to muster and a roll-call to be taken.

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Escape and Evacuation time shall be used to define the survivability of the
Escape systems, that being, the duration required to affect the safe
Evacuation of all personnel, which will subsequently identify the level of
protection required to achieve this survivability.
8.2.1

Alerting Personnel
Alerting personnel should be by audible means, usually via the Public Address
and General Alarm (PAGA) system, and visual means (beacons) in areas of high
ambient noise. A suitable alarm appropriate to the hazard should be delivered to
those personnel in affected areas and a plant wide address for those considered
as being not immediately affected.
All alarm trip signals, either from automatic detection devices or Manually
Activated Call-points (MAC), shall be sent to the Central Control Room (CCR)
where the appropriate level of public address and emergency action will be
conducted.
Personnel should be made aware of the different alarm signals and their
appropriate response to them during their training and plant orientation.
The PAGA system shall be suitable for use in hazardous areas, where
applicable, and be capable of surviving a predetermined hazardous event
appropriate to their location and also provide redundancy in case of system
failure.

8.2.2

Escape Routes
Escape Routes shall be provided to the requirements defined below, in order to
facilitate the egress of personnel from any area affected by a hazardous incident
or as directed by PAGA (see section 8.2.1 above).
Those hazards which could potentially result in the impairment of Escape Routes
shall be identified during the project FERA, typically, impairment comes as a
result of jet fire impingement or high radiant heat levels at the Escape Routes.
The impairment criteria for radiant heat levels shall consider the applicable
codes, standards and regulations in Section 5.0 with respect to the maximum
allowable incident heat flux a target - be it personnel or equipment/structure
can sustain before the impairment of its function.

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The survivability of Escape ways shall consider the findings of the FERA and
EERA and shall be used to define their level of required protection, where
appropriate, with the use of active cooling and/or passive heat shielding. Their
availability shall be protected by means of redundancy below.
Number and Size
It is generally acceptable to provide a minimum of 2 Escape Routes from any
area, which is accessible by personnel; dead-end corridors greater than 7 m
should be provided with two means of Escape/exits.
The size of Escape Routes shall be appropriate to allow for the safe
unobstructed passage of the number of personnel as appropriate to the areas
through which they pass and as defined in section 8.2.1.
Access routes should also be sized considering the size of portable appliances
which may be expected to travel along them.
Lighting, Signage
Additional reference should be made to Document No TO-HQ-02-074 Philosophy for Safety Equipment Onshore.
All Escape Routes shall be sufficiently illuminated and provided with
emergency lighting to levels required by the local regulations (see Document
No TO-HQ-02-018 - Philosophy for Lighting and Trace Heating Onshore).
Appropriate signage and/or luminous floor markings showing the direction of
travel to be taken in order to reach a place of relative safety should be placed
in prominent positions and locations along every Escape Route, particularly at
locations at which the path changes direction or level.
Signage should also be provided indicating firefighting equipment or life saving
equipment with reference made to Document No TO-HQ-02-074 - Philosophy for
Safety Equipment Onshore.
Muster Areas
Muster Areas should be provided where personnel may be required to
temporarily muster prior to Evacuation.
Typically, the size of the Muster Area(s) should be equivalent to ~0.5m2/person.

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8.3

Evacuation
The provision of Evacuation systems is generally considered redundant for
Onshore Plants, in which the Escape facilities are usually considered to be
sufficient to affect the safe removal of personnel from a hazardous event.

8.4

Rescue
Rescue operations involve the following:

Recovery of personnel

Onsite medical assistance

Emergency Evacuation of seriously injured persons

Procedures shall be established during design for Rescue operations

employing the use of onsite fire brigades/firefighting teams or local authority
fire services should also be considered with respect to local authority
requirements and OMVs own philosophies.
8.4.1

Telecommunications
Communication systems shall be provided to allow personnel on the
installation to effectively execute their emergency duties and communicate
with the CCR during normal and emergency operations.

8.4.2

Recovery of Personnel
Onshore, the recovery of personnel is generally restricted to those who are
injured and who cannot affect their own Escape.

8.4.3

Onsite Medical Facilities

Onsite medical facilities are site specific and shall be in accordance with the
applicable codes, standards and regulations detailed in Section 5.0 and are to
be defined during the plant detailed design.

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9.0

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
The design of the EER facilities should take account of the following:

10.0

Human factors

Rescue operations involving external Rescue services, as detailed in

section 8.4 above

Selection and positioning of portable firefighting and life-saving

equipment, as detailed in Document No TO-HQ-02-072 - Philosophy for
Active Fire Protection Systems Onshore.

Relevant safety studies, e.g. EERA.

MAINTENANCE IN DESIGN
The EER facilities should be designed to consider maintainability by
simplifying the required maintenance procedures and reducing their costs
where practical.
The EER facilities should be designed to allow modifications and development
to be implemented whilst minimising disruption to the process or the reduction
in the levels of safety provided, the safety studies FERA, EERA and ESSA
should be taken into consideration.

11.0

DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS
The following project documents should be produced as a minimum to cover
the design of the EER facilities:

Conceptual/Front end engineering design (FEED)

Plant operational philosophy

Hierarchy drawing

Relevant safety studies

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Detailed design:

12.0

Documents listed under FEED above

Matrix layout drawing

General arrangement drawings

Escape Route layout drawings

Safety-sign specifications

CERTIFYING AUTHORITY REVIEW REQUIREMENTS

In the case where independent third part certification is required, the Certifying
Authority (CA) will require as a minimum the following documents for review:

Basis of Design Document

Functional design specification

General arrangement drawings

Escape Route layout drawings

Safety -sign specifications

These should be issued to the CA in a timely manner to obtain approval before

commencing construction.

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