Tanks A Lot – Trevor: For enduring process safety contributions

Trevor Kletz has left an indelible mark on worldwide chemical process safety. He generously shared his insight for decades and I have been fortunate to have spent my process safety career in the shadow of Trevor Kletz’s influence. In the early 1980s I purchased one of the first commercially available process safety awareness training modules. The module was entitled the “Hazards of Over and Under Pressurizing Tanks,” developed by Trevor, and distributed by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE). The module contained a collection of short case histories and each incident provided a message on fundamentals. It was an easy to use module with a couple of dozen vivid 35 mm slides and focused on the frail nature of tanks. This paper, “Tanks A Lot – Trevor” mimics the IChemE approach of three decades ago and could serve as an introductory awareness lesson for the newbie or trainee who desires to learn about the frail nature of tanks. But most likely, it will serve as a reminder to the seasoned reader of things he or she has previously seen or worse yet, experienced. Storage tanks in chemical plants, oil refineries, related distribution terminals and pressure vessels associated in these industries are vital components and a major investment within their facilities. These essential vessels come in all sizes and many shapes and are built to various codes. They may hold large inventories of hazardous materials. Tanks can and do very safely contain a wide variety of raw materials, intermediates and finished products for years. If the tank or its accessories are poorly designed, abused by operations or are neglected with respect to effective inspection and basic maintenance, bad things can happen. This paper includes a few tank system fundamentals as well as case histories of failures in design, operation, inspection and maintenance. Previous vessel incidents must be understood.