Engineering Design for Safety: Petrochemical Process Plant Design Considerations

It's Monday morning. You're sitting in your office drinking a cup of coffee. It's quiet and peaceful The company president strolls in and you exchange stories about the weekend's activities. Nonchalantly, he asks, "Based on what you know, what would you do if you had the opportunity to design a brand new facility?" You pause, knowing there isn't an infinite supply of money, and ask, "What's my budget?" "Enough to do the really important things," he responds. The opportunity to innovatively design-in an inherently safe workplace and design-out hazards doesn't come along every day. It's a process that requires much research and forethought. Before embarking on such an effort, the design team must determine the level of acceptable risk; identify the budget available so that funds zoili be spent wisely; identify applicable standards; research historical data from management of change (MOC) procedures, process hazard analyses (PHAs) and pre-startup safety reviews (PSSRs) to identify items that can be designed out; and review incident/accident investigation reports that have identified root causes and outlined engineering changes implemented to prevent recurrence.