Noise evaluation in oil and gas fields and associated risk assessment

Wahid Salem Alzamzam,Walid Bashir Alfaghi

doi:10.1007/s41207-021-00249-4

Abstract

This work investigates the noise levels in oil and gas fields and their impact on the health of operators, visitors, and trainees in these workplaces, as well as possible methods of maintaining that noise within acceptable levels. A risk assessment was performed to identify the noise hazards associated with particular activities or tasks in oil and gas fields. A case study focusing on sulfur recovery units (SRUs) at a gas processing complex consisting of three production plants was carried out. Many master points in these plants where workers present were selected at random. In order to accurately measure the noise level at each point, it was measured at different times during the period 2014–2017 and compared with the maximum safe noise level defined by OSHA (85 dB). Results show that most of the noise levels encountered in the field are above the maximum level. An Ishikawa diagram was created to analyze the causes and effects of excessive noise in the field. Causes included rotating machines, maintenance activities, steam leakages, fluid flows, and gas flares. Finally, the results of the risk assessment indicated that oil and gas fields can present high noise risk scores, implying that workers in those fields could be harmed by the noise.

Highlights

Noise is defined as unwanted sound (Wright SE et al, 2001)
Result shows that the noise survey for sulfur recovery unit has high noise level, which is almost exceeds the lower exposure level of 85 dB
Ishekwa diagram shows the main reasons of high level of noise inside sulfur recovery plants are steam leakages, pressure safety valves, vibration of fluids flow, flares, and rotating machine such as compressor, pumps and fan cooler

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Noise is defined as unwanted sound (Wright SE et al, 2001). Noise pollution is one of the important pollutant issues in workplaces and is almost one of the harmful agents for workers (Arefian S. et al, 2008). Place” since 1980s as the premier producing Mellitah Complex consists of three gas plants; all development off the coast of Libya. The likelihood of an occurrence means the probability of an event happened It ranges from "very likely" to "very unlikely" and according to measured field data in this study, Table (2) shows the likelihood rating with its description. The. Table (3) shows the severity level with its description, and according to noise effect, the impact rating in this study was based on the degree of danger of noise level. The risk score with respective action needed to be taken is shown in Table (4).The higher score obtained from the multiplication of likelihood and severity rating the higher risk level

RESULT

Conclusion and Recommendation