Due to a particularly harsh and active hurricane season, the US Chemical Safety Board is urging chemical companies to properly prepare facilities for extreme weather as soon as possible.
With increasingly frequent and damaging weather on the rise due to climate change, it is important to have a plan in place for hurricanes and other natural disasters to protect the site personnel and people living in the surrounding area from harm and danger related to compromised production facilities.
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center updated their prediction about this year’s hurricane season from a near-normal level of activity to a 60% chance of an above-normal level this week. This, along with two incidents from 2017 and 2020 prompted the CSB’s statement about facility preparation for hurricanes.
Hurricanes aren’t the only culprits, with tornadoes destroying a North Carolina Pfizer plant in July and a Texas Deer Park chemicals facility in January. An earthquake caused a chemical spill at a Kennecott smelting refinery in Utah, also in January. These weather events and the damage they cause reminds us that all types of facilities should prepare for all natural disasters.
Prepare facilities near water for flooding
How to Prepare Facilities for Extreme Weather
Follow these steps from the Center for Chemical Process Safety Control’s monograph:
1. Identify Hazards – Determine which natural hazards are relevant to the facility using resources such as codes and standards, insurance reports, and site experience.
2. Gather Data – After identifying relevant hazards, gather data from sources such as experts from the facility’s insurance carrier, FEMA, USGS, ASCE, among others. This data includes the probability of occurrence and the severity level of different natural hazards. Use this data to evaluate facility design and designing for reliability in relation to natural hazards, assessing risks, and emergency planning.
Back up any data related to site conditions should and make it accessible on site and remotely at all times. Considering natural hazard data as “process safety information” is a good practice.
3. Identify Equipment to be Addressed in Natural Hazards Assessment– When preparing facilities for extreme weather, identify any equipment that is necessary for safe operations or that, if compromised, could lead to a process safety event or harm to the site personnel, surrounding community, or environment. Examples of this equipment include nitrogen generators, wastewater pumps, firewater pumps, process control and safety instrumented systems, and cooling systems.
Cooling systems are necessary for safe operation during an emergency
4. Evaluate Against Design Criteria – Evaluate the equipment identified in Step 1 and compare to the data gathered in Step 4 about likelihood and severity of the natural hazard. If the current or planned design doesn’t meet the standards of the design criteria for the hazard(s), address the gap in one or more of the following ways:
A challenge in preparing facilities for extreme weather is that systems and equipment (and existing layers of protection) may be affected by the same hazard at the same time, or in rapid succession. Keep this in mind when designing for weather hazards. Apply design criteria addressing natural hazards to new projects.
Getting Back on Your Feet
The last two steps cover how to come back from the aftermath of a natural disaster.
5. Recovery – Keep in mind that the site personnel will be dealing with damage to their homes and concerns for their families’ safety. Identify a process for the company to contact and/or in some way get messages to employees and families.
Assess and stabilize damage to consider potential hazards and protect against them to avoid injury.
Repair or upgrade damaged equipment. Use a management of change procedure to validate the decision to upgrade and to obtain necessary permits.
Address contamination.
Address hidden or silent features.
Identify new hazards associated with old equipment.
Handle typical startup challenges and focus training on recognizing anomalies in the startup sequence and how to correct them.
6. Recommissioning–Recommissioning involves preparing equipment and personnel again for all of the tasks associated with operating the facility. Develop a recommissioning plan for recovery from the specific natural hazard impacts such as wind and water damage. Things that may have worked properly before the disaster may not work after it. Don’t assume that equipment will perform as expected. Confirm it.
Conclusion
Take these steps into consideration if you are involved in preparing facilities for extreme weather. A facility designed with weather protections and emergency processes can help with cost related to damage caused by natural hazards, reduce downtime and lost production during the recovery and recommissioning period, and most important of all, provide a safer facility for the site personnel, the people in the surrounding community, and the environment.
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On the job accidents and injuries are most often a result of negligence and unsafe working conditions. In an effort to protect workers, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), created standards 1910.132 and 1910.133, to address requirements for providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and eye protection in the workplace. However, most employers find it hard to sort through the standards to get to the heart of what they really mean in everyday life.
On the job accidents and injuries are most often a result of negligence and unsafe working conditions. In an effort to protect workers, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), created standards 1910.132 and 1910.133, to address requirements for providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and eye protection in the workplace. However, most employers find it hard to sort through the standards to get to the heart of what they really mean in everyday life.
Significant engineering and test efforts
have been undertaken in the last few years into the area of arc flash/blast hazards in electrical equipment. The result has been a better understanding of arcing faults and how to prevent and/or minimize the hazards to personnel and equipment. This paper highlights some of the findings that may help in safety management and equipment selection. This paper concludes with some design considerations that will help reduce the hazards of arcing faults.
Significant engineering and test efforts
have been undertaken in the last few years into the area of arc flash/blast hazards in electrical equipment. The result has been a better understanding of arcing faults and how to prevent and/or minimize the hazards to personnel and equipment. This paper highlights some of the findings that may help in safety management and equipment selection. This paper concludes with some design considerations that will help reduce the hazards of arcing faults.
A confined space is defined as a workspace that is fully or partially enclosed, is not designed or intended for continuous human occupancy and has limited or restricted access, exiting or an internal configuration that can complicate provisions of first aid, evacuation, rescue or other emergency response services. Confined spaces can be found in almost all industries in Canada, which include tunnels, mines, grain silos, hydro vaults, shipping compartments, pump stations, boilers, chemical tanks and more. Every confined space is considered to be hazardous unless deemed not so by a competent person through a hazard identification and risk assessment.
A confined space is defined as a workspace that is fully or partially enclosed, is not designed or intended for continuous human occupancy and has limited or restricted access, exiting or an internal configuration that can complicate provisions of first aid, evacuation, rescue or other emergency response services. Confined spaces can be found in almost all industries in Canada, which include tunnels, mines, grain silos, hydro vaults, shipping compartments, pump stations, boilers, chemical tanks and more. Every confined space is considered to be hazardous unless deemed not so by a competent person through a hazard identification and risk assessment.
One of the hot topics in electrical and mechanical training classes is the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 70E. Students question what 70E is and how it relates to the National Electrical Code (NEC), if 70E is a new regulation and if not why are they just now hearing about it, and if companies are required to comply with 70E. This article will take some of the mystery out of 70E.
One of the hot topics in electrical and mechanical training classes is the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 70E. Students question what 70E is and how it relates to the National Electrical Code (NEC), if 70E is a new regulation and if not why are they just now hearing about it, and if companies are required to comply with 70E. This article will take some of the mystery out of 70E.
There are three basic electrical hazards that cause injury and death: shock, arc-flash, and arc-blast. Following these safety principles can result in a safer work environment and prevent injuries or even death.
There are three basic electrical hazards that cause injury and death: shock, arc-flash, and arc-blast. Following these safety principles can result in a safer work environment and prevent injuries or even death.
In 2001, close to 100,000 people were treated in U.S. Hospital emergency rooms for eye injuries related to the workplace, yet this figure actually only represents a small portion of the total number of injuries. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, each day, as many as 2,000 workers incur eye injuries related to their jobs. According to Prevent Blindness America (PBA), 90% of these injuries are preventable.
In 2001, close to 100,000 people were treated in U.S. Hospital emergency rooms for eye injuries related to the workplace, yet this figure actually only represents a small portion of the total number of injuries. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, each day, as many as 2,000 workers incur eye injuries related to their jobs. According to Prevent Blindness America (PBA), 90% of these injuries are preventable.
In this advisory, we are going to demonstrate how hazardous, documented, service, repair, and troubleshooting recommendations have proliferated the fluid power industry, leaving unsuspecting persons vulnerable to possible injury or death. Unsafe service, repair, and troubleshooting recommendations are running rampant throughout the fluid power industry - and there is no end in sight!
In this advisory, we are going to demonstrate how hazardous, documented, service, repair, and troubleshooting recommendations have proliferated the fluid power industry, leaving unsuspecting persons vulnerable to possible injury or death. Unsafe service, repair, and troubleshooting recommendations are running rampant throughout the fluid power industry - and there is no end in sight!
