Some thoughts on strengthening the management of safety design in petroleum and chemical projects

Thread Content

In accordance with the requirements of laws, regulations, and standards such as the Work Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China (Decree No. 70), the Regulations on Work Safety Management in Construction Projects (Decree No. 393 of the State Council), and the Guidelines for Safety Design Management of Chemical Engineering Construction Projects issued by the State Administration of Work Safety (AQ/T 3033-2010), and with the aim of ensuring the intrinsic safety of engineering design products as well as work safety in construction projects, this paper puts forward some ideas regarding the enhancement of safety design for petroleum and chemical projects, drawing on practical experience in design management. I. Matters to Note in the Pre-design Phase (1) Data Collection: The focus of the preliminary phase is on gathering data for safety design and identifying the hazard sources associated with the design project. The collection of data follows the provisions of Chapter 5.5 in AQ/T 3033-2010. In addition to the standard basic information required for project design, from the perspective of safety design, special attention should be paid to collecting the following information: a) information on the manufacturing enterprises located around the construction site, the major hazard sources present in those enterprises, and the distances to any special or sensitive locations. Especially for renovation projects within existing plant sites, it is necessary to collect relevant information about those sites, including details on the storage and use of all hazardous substances. b) Process documentation, including the process route and process plan, production operating procedures, P&ID diagrams, the types of chemical reactions, all materials involved in the process (including raw materials, auxiliary materials, intermediates, by-products, final products, etc.) along with their usage levels, and MSDS information for all chemicals that may be involved. For old manufacturing processes and products, attention should be paid to collecting the operating procedures ； For new processes and products, it is important to collect data on process evaluation and product assessment. Regarding the process, it is necessary to check against the \"Notice of the State Administration for Work Safety on Publishing the List of the First Batch of Hazardous Chemical Processes Subject to Special Supervision\" (An Jian Zong Guan San 116), to determine whether it falls under the fifteen listed hazardous chemical processes, as well as to consider the contents of the \"Safety Control Requirements for Hazardous Chemical Processes, Key Monitoring Parameters, and Recommended Control Schemes\". (2) For data collection, each specialty prepares a list of items to be collected; the design manager is responsible for coordinating the collection process or organizing project team members to carry out the collection on-site. Other methods of collecting information include requesting it from the owner, conducting on-site inspections, having thorough discussions with the owner, and referring to similar enterprises, installations, or process flows. (3) The design manager organizes the relevant specialists to analyze the process hazards based on the collected data, and identifies the main hazard factors of the project as well as the control measures. As the content for design inputs in the next phase. The requirements for process hazard source analysis shall refer to Chapters 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4 of AQ/T 3033-2010. The analysis focuses on hazardous materials and dangerous chemical processes within the manufacturing process. As a result of the analysis and evaluation, the form \"List of Major Hazard Sources\" can be filled out, and a \"Management Plan for Major Hazard Sources\" for the design project can be developed. It focuses on the various safety precautions required for hazardous materials and hazardous chemical processes, and establishes the management requirements for scheme discussions and safety facility evaluations during the design process. II. Points to Note in Basic Design Work The main task of safety design during the basic design phase is to conduct a thorough analysis and assessment of hazard sources, and to propose safety measures to be taken during the design process. The basic requirements refer to the contents of Chapter 5.6 of AQ/T 3033-2010. And the following specific requirements are put forward. (1) The design manager should analyze in detail the contents of the \"Safety Pre-assessment Report for Project Establishment,\" and, taking into account the results of hazard identification conducted in the early stages of the project, include the \"List of Major Hazards\" and the \"Management Plan for Major Hazards\" in the \"Project Commencement Report.\" Specific requirements regarding safety design for various specialties should be outlined in this report. (2) During the overall plan review and the specialized plan reviews, discussions and analyses on the safety design aspects should be conducted specifically, and these should be clearly recorded in the plan review form. (3) The Process and Automation discipline should analyze and evaluate, in accordance with the requirements of Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP) for PID, the potential hazards and operational issues arising from deviations from the intended design of important process parameters in the system, as well as the safety measures that have been implemented in the design. The evaluation results form a professional safety design self-review record. At the same time, it is necessary to communicate with the owner in a timely manner to modify and improve the process design and control scheme. For projects with specific conditions, it is necessary to complete the HAZOP analysis forms in conjunction with the owner, as these forms serve as an important basis for the safety design of the processes and automatic control systems. (4) During the design verification and review stages prior to the output of the design documents, the reviewers should examine the aspects related to safety design, focusing on issues such as the safety of equipment layout, the safety of process control procedures, and the safety of material selection. They should also provide conclusive opinions on the countermeasures for safety design in the review form. (5) After completing the \"Special Section on Safety Facility Design,\" the project team should organize internal discussions and reviews of the safety design by various specialists, and keep records of these discussions. The requirements for review are in accordance with Chapter 7 of AQ/T 3033-2010. III. Matters to Note in the Detailed Design Phase The main task of safety design during the detailed design phase is to, based on the prior identification and analysis of hazard sources, specify various safety measures in the design documents, and conduct necessary reviews of the design for safety facilities at each stage of the design process. The basic requirements refer to Sections 5.7 and 7 of AQ/T 3033-2010. And the following specific requirements are put forward. (1) The design manager should supplement and complete the important information that was missing during the initial hazard assessment, and based on the \"Special Section on Safety Facility Design\" as well as the opinions of expert reviews, include the requirements for the project’s safety design in the \"Project Commencement Report\" to be distributed to all designers. Due to the requirements of the project implementation schedule, for projects for which the \"Special Report on Safety Facility Design\" has not yet been completed or that have not passed expert review, the project manager shall assess the impact of any changes to the safety facility design on the project and propose measures to address these risks in the project start-up report. (2) During the overall plan review and the specialized plan reviews, discussions and analyses on the safety design aspects should be conducted specifically, and these should be clearly recorded in the plan review form. (3) Each specialty should organize reviews of the main documents related to safety design in the project during the design process. Such as reviews of the process flow and material selection, reviews of the plant layout diagrams, reviews of the fire hazard zone classification maps for the project, and reviews of the instrument safety protection systems. The review results serve as an important basis for safety design, and a review summary is prepared to be archived as project documentation. (4) During the design verification and review stages prior to the submission of the design documents, the reviewers should examine the aspects related to safety design, focusing on safety in equipment layout, safety in the process control procedures, and safety in material selection. They should also provide conclusive opinions in the review form regarding the implementation of safety measures. (5) Before the detailed design documents are prepared, the design manager may, in accordance with the contents of Appendix C \"Safety Design Inspection Checklist for Chemical Engineering Construction Projects\" in AQ/T 3033-2010, and taking into account the actual conditions of the project, complete a project safety design inspection form to be archived as part of the project documentation. IV. Design safety tasks during the construction phase For design projects, the focus of safety management during the construction phase is design change management. Designers should strengthen the control of design changes in accordance with the requirements of Chapter 8 of AQ/T 3033-2010. Regarding the specific measures to be taken, in addition to strictly following the change procedures, designers should indicate on the \"Design Change Notice\" whether the changes involve aspects of the safety facility design. If the change involves the design of safety facilities, a review of the specific safety design changes should be conducted with the responsible professionals involved. Reviewers should pay special attention to safety design changes and specify them in their review comments. During the construction process, on-site design personnel should strengthen the inspection of the implementation of safety facilities and the construction quality. And cooperate with the **management department in conducting acceptance inspections of safety facilities, etc.