Suggestions for what needs to be put into a final report dealing with safety (for a class project)?

Question

Basically designing an addition to an olefins plant all year. Pretending there is some new awesome technology that lets us produce propylene for a profit. Designed the pumps..about 6 distillation columns, compressors...heat ex...etc.

Suppose to treat this like its the real world.....in the final process of putting together the report we would give to our boss (prof in this case).

Prof likes to pretend he is the real boss and says in real life you wouldn't ask your boss questions.....so he's not really available to answer them.

ANyways...this is what it says to include in our final presentation in terms of safety.

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Discuss some of the Safety and Environmental aspects of the process. Include both process operating concerns as well as toxicity/flammability for specific chemicals.
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What sort of things do you think this would entail....
this is worth 10% of the final project...which has to be about 400 or so pages. So not sure how indepth to go

Obviously flammability triangles.....toxicity data....

Would i go into detail at each distillation tower... what could screw up and how to alleviate this???

Would i go as far as to present a strategy incase someone is exposed....

I spent an entire semester doing a safety course and its suppose to be taken after this class i'm in now, not before....so i don't think some of the things are in the scope of the project.

Answer 1

Sounds like a plant design report. I did the safety and environmental impact for my report when I was an undergrad. I would suggest the following:

1-Pull the MSDS sheets for every chemical in the plant. This will give you your saf-t-data info, health concerns, fire fighting measures, employee safety gear, environmental (aquatic,biological,etc) issues, disposal and also transportation information.

2-Write up a 1-2 page summary of the MSDS for each chemical. Include all the areas listed above.

3-Make an outline of the safety standards for each piece of equipment in the plant. Include these items: Hazards associated, Risks posed, Precautions to eliminate, and Protective Equip.

4-Include start-up/shut-down procedures for each piece of equipment along with an additional set for the entire plant.

5-Use the OSHA website to do a hazop analysis on the process and also design a safety program that fulfills the 14 points of compliance. (see esho.com for a easy to understand version)

6-Develop a control scheme to limit risk and also design emergency procedures. There is also an excellent powerpoint available through AICHE produced by LSU about risk assessment.

This should be cover all your bases, but also keep you very busy.

Answer 2

Here is one area of consideration.
Following the disaster in Bophal ,India, where thousands were killed from a chemical spill, the following guidelines were proposed for the Chemical industry regarding toxic and flammable materials. Here are a few.
Acknowledge your responsibility to provide a safe workplace and to protect the community from the hazardous consequences of your enterprise.
Evaluate the worst-case scenerios for each facility and process using a hazardous material.
Redesign the processes to either eliminate or reduce to the minimum the need for such hazardous materials.
Train your employees regarding the hazardous materials and the proper safety procedures required.
Provide sensors and both automatic and manual safety shutoff into processes handling hazardous materials
Design so that equipment valve and motor failures will result in the least hazardous mode.
Have safety and hazardous event plans. This includes the operating employees, the other employees, the community.
Maintain the training and monitor its application.
Have haxardous release and fire drills for all employees.
Have on-site the necessary equipment and trained personnel to respond to any feasible hazardous event to contain and control the hazard. Have a mutual response and back-up arrangement with the local government.
Have an in-plant personnel warning system.
Have a community contact warning system.
Do not store more than you need.
Separate flammable storage facilities.
Separate haxardous materials storage from both in-plant and community populations. If you can't readily move the facility, move the people.
Protect the storage site with dikes to contain each volume of each vessel.
Store flammable materials in underground or underground-like sites with leak detection and maintenance capability.
Have emergency power supply.
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