posted on 2010-01-20, 11:33authored byHong An, Paul Chung, Joe McDonald, Jim Madden
Unsafe maintenance in process plants can cause release of dangerous materials, pipe-work failure and deviations from normal operations, etc (Hale, et al., 1998). It is reported that 30% of accidents are maintenance-related and 50% of them release harmful substances (Wallace and Merritt, 2003). Therefore, it is important that systematic hazard identification is carried out and precaution is taken before maintenance work commences.
A computer-aided tool is developed as part of the HAZID system (a knowledge based software system used to identify hazards by emulating conventional HAZOP study) to help the task of identifying hazards related to maintenance work. This tool focuses on safe isolation. It serves two functions. One is to suggest an isolation boundary for maintenance. Given specific equipment items to be maintained, the system will analyze the process and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) to identify the boundary that needs to be closed off for safe maintenance. The other function is to identify the potential hazards related to the isolation tasks. This paper describes in detail how this tool is developed and a case study is used to illustrate how it works.
History
School
Science
Department
Computer Science
Citation
AN, H. ... et al, 2008. A computer tool to support safe isolation for maintenance. IN: Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center International Symposium, 2008 Proceedings: Beyond Regulatory Compliance : Making Safety Second Nature [2nd World Conference on Safety of Oil and Gas Industry, Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, College Station, Texas, October 28-29, 2008]. Texas : Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, pp. 406-415.
Publisher
Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center
Version
AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publication date
2008
Notes
This conference paper was presented at the 2nd World Conference on Safety of Oil and Gas Industry: http://psc.tamu.edu/symposia/2008