Safety Issues in Petroleum Refinery 1

[sgsuby]

1.Operating buses carrying shift employees through refinery process unit roads.

The shift employees in our Refineries are provided with bus transport for coming to work and going back after shift work. We are currently debating whether it is safe to permit the buses carrying these employees to ply along roads through process areas, so that the employees can be dropped near their place of work. We are not sure whether this is an accepted practice elsewhere internationally. Can you throw some light on the practices in other Refineries internationally in this matter? Are you aware of any non-conventional type of transportation (eg. solar-energized vehicles) being used anywhere for movement of people inside Refinery premises?

2.No. of air changes required for laboratories.

An oil testing laboratory generates lot of fumes during the process of heating the oil for testing. Sometimes gases are also present in the laboratory environment. Window air conditioners do not remove these fumes. I believe there is a practice of changing the entire atmosphere of laboratory every few minutes to sweep away all the fumes, and air-conditioning plant must have the capability to do this. Could you please tell me whether there is an industry standard for this.

3.Location of hydrocarbon gas detectors for LPG tank wagon loading gantries.

In some of our LPG tank wagon loading gantries at marketing terminals, the gas detectors are placed at grade level, while in some, they are placed at the platform level where the loading arms are located. The possibility of LPG leaking out is from flange/swivel joints of rigid loading arms. We would like to standardize location of the gas detectors at the platform level of the gantry. We would like to know whether there are any industry standards for this.

 

[khan101]

sggusby,
different labs have different standards for air change. Here is our standard, "A minimum of four air changes per hour is required in labs where hazardous chemicals are used in closed systems or in a fume hood. Where open use of hazardous chemicals is planned, 10 or more air changes per hour might be necessary".

Hydrocarbon gases tend to gather at the lowest point so near the floor is a good location for your LEL sensors. However if loading platform is solid floor and not grating then place one on that platform as well.

I can not answer the refinery bus solution but if that area has been gas tested regularly and no combustible gas is present on or around the road in under normal or abnormal condition and the vehicle is equipped with some kind of spark arrestor then it is ok for the bus to travel on those roads. But that is just common sense.

 

[DrillerNic]

I worked (briefly during a summer job) in a refinery where there were buses running. All the buses were diesel engined, with flame arrestors on the exhaust, and had had all the electrics removed: no headlights, indicators etc, including the starter motor.

 

[jmw]

Difficult question, my limited experience as a vistor, and not a refinery worker, suggests a high degree of variability between refineries in a country and from country to country.

In the UK, at one refinery I visited there is a minibus service, at another normal vehicles are allowed onto site (supervised).

In Italy a refinery visited had diesel vehicles with flame arrestors on the exhaust (there were also cigarette ends all over the ground in various places, armed gate guards at the gate but at break times a significant number of employees raced out for an expresso fix and brandies. In France, the morning expresso fix was often accompanied by Pernod.)

In Russia, a minibus service. Fuel? didn't notice. Flame arrestors? no. Vehicle heater? yes. Snow chains or snow tyres no. Lunatic drivers, always.

Most I have visited (except in Siberia) seemed to favour issuing bicycles for staff but visitors would be collected in mini-buses.

Likewise, some sites seemed determined to collect all lighters, matches, cigarettes, battery boperated equipment including car key fobs and on others no concerns at all. The policy on mobile/cell phones seems equally variable. The focus on visitor identity also is very variable. Photo ID in some places, a business card in others.

Some refineries have well constructed refuges and insist on chaperoning visitors, on visitors knowing the emergency sirens and what to do, on others far more lax.

I could also say that the site safety induction for visitors is also highly variable as is the policy on chaperoning visitors.

For workers, usually i noted them debussing at the gates and boarding refinery only buses inside. As a vistor it is only in Siberoia that i have been collected from airports and hotels by the refinery transport and where the refinery transport (that I noticed) roamed both inside and outside the refinery.


JMW

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[IFRs]

I've been to refineries where bicycles were the preferred mode of transportation.