Life‐safety concerns in chemical plants

Abstract

The safety and health standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Act do not specifically address life safety in chemical plants, other than requiring owners and operators to “provide a safe place to work” and to ensure that “employees may evacuate the workplace safely.” NFPA 101 would classify chemical plants as high‐hazard industrial occupancies, and a primary concern is to ensure “minimal danger to occupants in case of fire or other emergency before they have time to use exits to escape.” NFPA 1 also requires that the design and operation of buildings and facilities “provide an environment for the occupants that is reasonably safe from fire and similar emergencies, for the amount of time needed to evacuate.” Thus, most life‐safety requirements are concerned with safe exit.There are, however, other life‐safety hazards that should be of concern to chemical plant owners and operators. They include many single‐exit locations, such as the upper levels on distillation/fractionation columns, scrubbers, and other tall equipment; elevated work platforms as atop multistory buildings and smokestacks; platforms above tank cars, tank trucks, and hopper cars; at the head of bucket elevators; work spaces above false ceilings; and ladder‐access roofs over operating areas. Also, chemical‐plant life‐safety hazards include flash fire (flammable vapors and combustible dusts); releases of toxic gases and vapors; and vessel rupture from runaway reaction or other causes of overpressure. This article presents practical countermeasures for these life‐safety hazards. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog 35: 18–25, 2016