ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH AND SAFETY

STIPULATIONS IN PRODUCTION OPERATIONS

HEALTH, SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT

Safe activities
Organization
Culture
Health.

Reporting and records

Intimation concerning offshore
installation
Oceanographic and meteorological data
Notice of accident
Decommissioning plan

CONSENT AND INTIMATION

Design
Fixed, mobile , fixed and mobile
RISK MANAGEMENT
SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Risk assessment and emergency
preparedness analyses
Verification of fitness of offshore installation

Offshore Installation Manager

Safety Officer
Safety Committee
Responsibility in respect of contractors and service
providers
Transport and offshore stay
Medical fitness of offshore going employees
Onboard Medical Officer
Measures against toxic emissions and Ionizing
radiation

Food and drinking water

Hours of work and rest
Helideck operation
Establishment of safety zones
Monitoring of safety zones
Alert and intimation in connection with entry
into safety zone
Measures against intruding vessels or objects

EMERGENCY RESPONSE SYSTEM

Establishing emergency preparedness
Emergency preparedness organization
structure
Emergency preparedness plans.
Standby vessels.Co-ordination
Handling of situations of hazard and
accident

Equipment for rescue of overboard personnel

Life jackets and life buoys
Communication
Muster areas
Means of evacuation
Arrangement for recovery and rescue.Drills
Reliability and condition of emergency
response equipment

FACILITIES DESIGN
Placing of facilities GAD
Safety devices
Noise and acoustics
Vibrations
Lighting
Pipeline systems
Electrical systems

API HAZARD TREE

Production facilities usually operate according to design.

During this process, everything operates according to plan.
Occasionally, problems occur, things breakdown,
malfunctions happen, settings of instruments change,
alarms go off, and sometimes shut-ins take place. Such
problems usually can be solved quickly and easily without
negative consequences. But sometimes , some problems
have the potential for serious consequences such as injury
to personnel, pollution of the environment, and loss of
company assets. Understanding, preventing, or minimizing
potential negative consequences requires a fundamental
understanding of basic protection concepts and safety
analysis.

Concept: Threats to safety from production involve the release of

hydrocarbons. Analysis and design of a production-facility safety system
should emphasize on preventing such leakes, stopping the flow of
hydrocarbons to a leak if it occurs, and minimizing the effects of
hydrocarbons if they are released.
Prevention. Ideally, hydrocarbon releases should never occur.Process
component is protected with two levels of protection: primary and
secondary. The reason for two levels of protection is that if the first level
fails to function properly, a secondary level of protection is available.
Shut-In. If hydrocarbon releases occur (and, in spite of best efforts,
they sometimes do), inflow to the release site must be shut off as soon
as possible. The problem should not be aggravated by continued
release of additional hydrocarbons. Protective shut-in action is achieved
by both the surface safety system (SSS) and the emergency support
system (ESS).

Minimizing. If hydrocarbons are released, their

effects should be minimized as much as possible.
This can be accomplished through the use of
ignition-prevention measures and ESSs(i.e., the
liquid-containment system). If oil spills from a
process component, a release of hydrocarbons has
occurred. A spill is never good, but component
skids and deck drains (in case of offshore
operations) minimize the effect of a bad situation
when the spill would otherwise go into a
freshwater stream or offshore waters.

Hazard Tree: A hazard tree identifies likely hazards, determines

the conditions necessary for a hazard to exist, determines
sources that could create this condition, and breaks the chain
leading to the hazard by eliminating the conditions and sources.
Because complete elimination is normally not possible, the goal
is to reduce the likelihood of occurrence. The effect of a safety
procedure or device that reduces the probability of a condition or
source occurring also can be quantified with this. A hazard tree is
somewhat subjective. Different people may classify conditions
and sources differently or they may carry the analysis to further
levels of sources. The hazard tree helps the investigator focus
attention on all of the aspects to be considered. No matter how
the tree is formulated, conclusions reached concerning the
design, maintenance, lighting, etc., shall be similar.

Production-Facility Hazard. The major hazards are those of

oil pollution, fire/explosion, and injury.
Oil Pollution. Oil pollution may happen from an oil spill that can
be caused by one of the conditions displayed in hazard tree. If
an oil spill occurs, pollution can be avoided by installing
suitable and adequate containment or barrier. Tank dikes, drip
pans (in case of offshore operations), and sumps etc. reduce
the probability of oil pollution from majority of small spills.
Fire/Explosion. Oil spill or gas leak shall be a source of fuel for
a fire/explosion. An ignition source could be present in the
processing facility. Source of oxygen is always there in air. The
use of gas blankets minimize oxygen entry while good
electrical design minimizes ignition sources.

Injury: Injury can occur directly from an explosion, an outof-control fire. If there is sufficient warning before a fire
develops, there should be enough time to escape before
injury occurs. Either the fuel can be shut off and adequate
fire-fighting equipment is present to control the fire before
it becomes a large fire, the probability of injury is small.
The inability to escape increases the probability of injury
from any of these conditions. All the conditions are more
likely to lead to injury the longer personnel are exposed.
So, escape routes, lighting, appropriate survival
capsules/boats (in case of offshore operations), and fire
barriers all lead to a reduction in the probability of injury.

Sources
Overpressure: Can lead directly to all three hazards. It
can lead directly and immediately to injury; it can lead to
fire/explosion if there is an ignition source; and can lead to
pollution if there is insufficient containment. Because of the
hazard potential, a very good level of assurance is needed
that the probability of overpressure occurring is very small.
Fire Tubes: Fire tubes can lead to fire/explosion if there is
a leak of crude oil or glycol into the tubes or if there is a
failure of the burner controls. An explosion could be sudden
and lead directly to injury; therefore, a high degree of
safety is required.

Excess Temperature. Can cause premature equipment failure at a

pressure below its maximum design working pressure. Excess
temperature can create a leak, potentially leading to fire/explosion if
gas leaks or oil pollution if oil leaks. This type of failure shall be
gradual, giving warning as it develops, and thus does not require as
high a degree of protection as those mentioned previously.
Leaks. Leaks may not lead to personnel injury, but they can lead to
fire/explosion if there is an ignition source and to oil pollution if there
is inadequate containment. But if leak is of gas like H 2 S then it can
be vey serious depending on exposure time and concentration.
Inflow Exceeds Outflow. Inflow exceeding outflow can lead to oil
pollution if there is inadequate containment and can lead to
fire/explosion and, thus, to injury if an oil spill occurs. This can lead
to overflow.

Protection Devices: Hazard tree helps

identify other protection devices to include in
equipment design that will minimize the
possibility that a source will develop into a
hazardous condition. Additional protection
devices like flame arrestors, stack arrestors,
gas detectors, fire detectors,etc. can be
planned during design. A hazards
analysis(HAZOP) can determine the need for
safety devices and safety systems.

OCCUPATIONAL FACTORS

Physical Food
Chemical
Biological
Social
Psychological
Mechanical
Ergonomical

NON-OCCUPATIONAL
FACTORS

Food
Water
Clothing
Personal Habits
Smoking, Tabacoo
use
Alcohol in take

HEALTH AND HYGINE

S.N
O

HAZARD
OUS
MATERIA
L

PLANT / UNIT

1.

H 2S

2.

SO2

SRU

3.

Sulphur

SRU

HEALTH
HAZARDS

PREVENTIV
E
MEASURES

Lung Function
Gas Terminal,
SRU, GSU. CFU,
CWU

Use of Gas
Masks, BA
Sets, H2S
Monitors
Lung Function,
Eye Irritation

Use of Gas
Masks, BA
Sets

Eye Irritation, Skin

Hand
Irritation
Gloves, Gas
Masks;

S.N
O

HAZARD
OUS
MATERIA
L

6.

Chlorine

7.

NaOH

8.

KOH

PLANT / UNIT

HEALTH
HAZARDS

PREVENTIV
E
MEASURES

Cooling Towers
Eye & Respiratory
Irritation
Caustic Wash
Unit

Skin Irritation

SRU

Skin Irritation

Gas Mask,
Fixed
Chlorine
Detectors
Safety
Goggles,
Hand
Gloves, PVC
Suits
Safety

HAZARDOUS AREA CLASSIFICATION

INTRODUCTION:
Use of chemicals is indispensable if the growth of civilization is to
continue unabated.Though most of the chemicals are hazardous
in nature, left no alternative to the mankind, but to live with
them as they are closely connected with our health, clothing,
education, crop
protection, defense, industrialization, electricity generation and
batter living etc. Safe handling, storage, transportation of such
materials is mandatory to avoid catastrophic and
traumatic incidents. Some of the major hazards in handling,
storage and transport of the hazardous chemicals are due to the
lack of knowledge about the possible hazards, lack of trained
personnel, lack of foolproof control and maintenance system and
due to the failure of strict safety enforcement by the concerns.

The numbers of hazardous chemicals are in use and

the number of hazards that they can cause to the
health of workmen and to the environment is so vast
that the systematization of the hazard preventive
measure is itself a staging problem According to an
ILO report, it will take some 80 years to assess the
toxic properties of all the new chemicals in use.
Under the circumstances efforts must be made to
prevent leaks and spillage, fires and explosions to the
unknown toxicity of the hazardous chemicals during
their handling and transportation.

All the chemicals whether used as raw materials or

produced as intermediates or products are hazardous
to a smaller or larger degree in one or more ways. The
nature of danger may be established from the
information on hazardous characteristics of the
materials, which may. take the form of flammability,
explosiveness, instability, reactivity, corrosives,
toxicity, "or fire promoting properties. Process and
constructional materials must all be compatible. The
size of inventory, working pressure and temperature of
equipment and storage gives an indication of the
theoretical danger or severity of the hazards.

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS Chemicals,

which are flammable, toxic, potentially
explosive, corrosive or reactive, are
considered to be hazardous materials.
Any materials when compressed,
extremely hot, very cold or present, in
large quantity may be classified as per
UN CLASSIFICATION is presented in
table 1,Table 2 lists out the collecting
information required on hazardous

TABLE : 1
UN CLASSIFICATION
Class: 1 EXPLOSIVE
Class: 2 GASES COMPRESSED, LIQUIFIED OR DISSOLED
UNDER PRESSURE.
Class: 3 INFLAMMABLE LIQUIDS.
Class: 4 INFLAMMABLE SOLIDS.
Class: 5 OXIDIZING SUBSTANCES 'ORGANICPEROXIDES.
Class: 6 POISONOUS (TOXIC) AND INFECTIOUS SUBSTANCES.
Class: 7 RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES
Class:
8 CORROSIVE SUBSTASCES.
Class: 9 MISCELLENEOUS DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES

TABLE: 2
TYPE OF INFORMATION REQUIRED ON HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Name of chemical and uses
Characteristics: Evaluate as appropriate under all process conditions.
Chemical formula, purity, physical state, appearance, odor taste.
Physical characteristics: Molecular weight, vapour density, specific
gravity, melting point, boiling point, solubility, viscosity, particle size,
foaming, emulsification characteristics, critical temperature/pressure,
expansion coefficient, surface tension, joule thermal effect, caking
properties.
Corrosivity: Contamination factors, oxidizing, or reducing agent,
dangerous reaction.
Flammability information: Flash point, fire point,'flammable limits,,
ignition point, spontaneous ignition, electrical resistivity, electrical group,
explosion properties, etc.

Reactivity (instability information): Acceleration rate,

differential thermal analysis, impact test, thermal
stability, explosion propagation with detonation, thermal
decomposition test, self-acceleration temperature etc.
Toxicity information: Toxic hazard rating, threshold limit
value, maximum allowable concentration, lethal
concentration etc.
Biological properties:
1) Exposure effect: Inhalation, respiratory, irritation, and
ingestion skin/eye irritation.
2) Radiation information: Radiation survey,
Alpha/Beta/Gamma/Neutron exposure' and contamination.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF HANDLING HAZARDOUS

MATERIALS
i)To ensure safety and absence of risk to life and properties in use,
storage and transportation of raw materials and products.
ii)To prevent the loss of material in quality and quantity.
iii)To protect the environment.
To achieve the objectives the safety must begin at the process
selection and design itself. The enforcement agencies should
ensure that at different stages of implementation of project, the
safety aspects that are absolutely necessary are incorporated.
Financial institutions should be liberal in giving loans at substantial
subsidy to incorporate safety system though they are
nonproductive. The government and industry should be strict in
implementing safety measures to protect the environment.

PHYSICAL/CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Boiling Point: The temperature at which a liquid boils and rapidly
changes into vapour, generally at a pressure of 1 atmosphere
(ambient pressure at sea level). In general, the lower the boiling
point of a flammable liquid, the greater the fire hazard.
Melting Point: The temperature at which a solid substance changes
into a liquid state. :
Vapour pressure: The pressure exerted on the inside of a container
by the vapour in the space above the liquid. Most chemicals exert
vapour pressure inside a container even if the container is not
artificially pressurized. Vapour pressure, described by a number, has
several applications in assessing hazards.

Vapour pressure increase as temperature increases as

can be seen. Incase of fire, the vapour pressure inside
intact container may reach a point (where the container
reposes violently, spewing the contents and releasing
dangerous protractile. Each liquid chemical has its o|wn
unique vapour pressure.Vapour pressure is an indicator
of the volatility of the chemical. The higher the vapour
pressure, the higher will be the rate of evaporation
from a liquid release. The vapour pressure of
Trichlroethane is 100 millimeter of mercury (mm Hg).
This pressure indicates a relatively volatile chemical.

Vapour Density: The relative density or weight of a vapour or gas

(with no air present) compared to an equal volume of air at ambient
temperature. With air rated at 1.0, a density graterthan 1.0 indicates a
vapour or gas heavier than air. For example Trichlroethane produces
vapour 4.55 times as heavy as air, and we would predict that those
vapour which are heavier than air would take much time for displacing
the air, and to disperse in case of spillage of liquid and posing the
threat of asphyxiation to unpredicted responders.
Unfortunately, assessing the hazard presented by heavier than air
vapour is not thus simple, since it describes the density of pure vapour
which cannot exist in open air. A pure vapour would contain 1 million
ppm of this product, but this cannot happen in open air, even in a low
lying area, because of natural dilution by the air. For easy estimation
of vapour migration, remember that the closer the density of the pure
vapour is to 1.0, the more likely it is to become dilate and float away.

Solubility in water: The percentage of a material that will dissolve in

water at a given temperature. Solubility information can be useful in
determining spill procedure and fire extinguishing agents and
methods. An insoluble chemical like TRICHLOROETHANE can be
expected to form a separate layer in water, its location dependant on
its specific gravity.
Specific gravity: The ratio of the mass of the product compared to
the mass of an equal volume of water. This is an expression of the
density of the product relative to the density of water. Insoluble
materials with a specific gravity of less than 1.00 tend to float in or on
water, while those with a specific gravity of more than 1.00 tend to
sink in water, most flammable liquids will float on water, which is an
important consideration in fire fighting. The specific gravity of
TRICHLOROETHANE is 1.3, since it is heavier than water (water=1.00)
it will sink in a container of water.

Appearance and Odor: A brief description of the

material under normal room temperature and
atmospheric pressure. Nothing whether the appearance of
an identified chemical matches its description provides an
additional indication of the accuracy of the identification.
PH Value: The degree of acidity or alkalinity of a solution,
with neutrality indicated as 7, the lower the number below
7 the more acidic the solution, the higher the number
above 7, the more alkaline or basic the solution. Only
aqueous (water) solutions have a PH. Since
TRICHLOROETHANE is a hydrocarbon solvent, not a water
solution, no PH is listed for it.