HSOH 4100 -

International Technical
Certificate in
Oil and Gas Operational
Safety

Instructor Name – Dr. Ravi Rangarajan

Room # 19.2.21
E-mail – [Link]@[Link]
Phone – 4495 2661
 Element 2:

Hydrocarbon Process Safety I

Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Learning Outcomes

➢ Contractor Management

➢ Process Safety Management (PSM)

➢ Key Principles of a Safe Shift Handover

➢ Permit-to-Work (PTW) Procedures

➢ Start Up and Shut Down

➢ Plant Operations and Maintenance

Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Contractor Management
➢ Contractors play an important part in oil and gas operations, and we must understand the
scale of contractor use, contractor management, ownership and supervision, and
ensuring a safe handover.

➢ A contractor is anyone who you bring into the organization, who is not an employee, to
carry out work on your behalf.

➢ Accidents in areas involving contractors are common, and it is not unusual to have more
than one contractor on an installation at any one time.

➢ The scale of contractor use within the process industries is significant, with many
organizations using contractors to deliver the following types of service:

➢ Support vessels

➢ Diving services

➢ Work on drilling and exploration rigs

Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Contractor Management
➢ The following criteria can be used to assess the suitability of a contractor and assess
their competence:

➢ Experience in the type of work required, as the hazards of the process industry may be
substantially different from construction sites, for instance.
➢ Trained and experienced in specific safety requirements of the environment, eg
offshore requirements may include specific offshore survival training.
➢ Suitability of the organization's health and safety policy;
➢ Suitability and quality of their risk assessments; examples could be requested for
assessment purposes;
➢ Suitability and level of detail provided in method statements;
➢ Accident history and statistics, including first-aid and near-miss reporting;
➢ Enforcement history and prosecutions;
➢ Details of how health and safety performance is monitored on site, including site
inspections;
➢ Qualifications of workers throughout the organisation, including competency;
➢ Membership of a professional body or trade association;
➢ Procedures for the selection and management of subcontractors;
➢ Details and levels of insurance cover;
➢ References from previous clients
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Contractor Management
➢ To achieve safe working with contractors:

➢ Risk-assess the contractor’s job, and hazards of their job identified

➢ Ensure contractors follow site rules

➢ Good communications - ensure all contractor employees know procedures, identity

of site contact person (and how to contact)

➢ Include contractors in safe working procedures/ permit-to-work (PTW) systems

Poor communication is one of the major accident causes for contractors working
on a site or installation, especially if employees are not aware of who the
contractors are and what they are doing there.

For these reasons, contractors must be included in all health and safety
procedures of the operation, and are required to adhere to employers’ working
practices and procedures, permit-to-work systems, etc
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Contractor Management
➢ Effective Contractor management involves the following steps:

• Planning
1

• Choosing a contractor
2

• Contractors working on site

3

• Keeping a check
4

• Reviewing the Work

5
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Contractor Management
➢ Effective Contractor management involves the following steps:

HSE document ‘HSG159 – Managing

Contractors: A Guide for Employers’
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Contractor Management
➢ Contractor induction and Employer obligation:

➢ It is essential that all of the relevant information is communicated to the

individual workers. This is usually carried out by the use of a site induction.

➢ The site induction is a training and awareness session provided for all
contractors working on a site, and includes information such as:

➢ Sign in/out procedures;

➢ Emergency procedures (fire, first aid, gas release, etc);
➢ Site rules, such as transport safety, smoking, work at height rules, etc;
➢ Specific site hazards, eg flammable atmospheres, chemicals, asbestos;
➢ PPE requirements;
➢ Permit-to-work requirements;
➢ Accident reporting procedures;
➢ Near-miss and hazard reporting, etc.
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Contractor Management
➢ Periodic review of contractor safety performance:

➢ It is important to maintain a close working relationship with contractors,

and to be comfortable and satisfied with their safety performance.

➢ This will require regular reviews of the activities of contractors, which may
include:

➢ Carrying out site inspections to check compliance with the method statements
and risk assessments;
➢ Carrying out safety tours to monitor general standards, including housekeeping;
➢ Attending regular meetings with contractors to discuss any issues and review
accident
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Contractor Management
➢ Auditing contractor performance:

➢ Before work starts:

➢ initial assessment of
paperwork.

➢ During the work:

➢ monitoring working
practices.

➢ After completion:

➢ review performance,
including accident history (to
be carried out between client
and contractor).
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Contractor Management
➢ Contractor handover and Safe-Shift Handover:

➢ Enough time allowed for shift handover?

➢ Are Formal shift-handover meetings held?
➢ Conflict between the shifts (how much the off-going shift actually
achieved, etc.)?
➢ Off-going shift left work they don’t want to do? Tendency for the off-
going shift to leave work they don’t want to do
➢ Failure to meet face-to-face to discuss the issues
➢ Failure to use adequate written communication
➢ Shifts do not keep good shift records
➢ Off-going shift fails to hand over records, or leaves things out
➢ No continuation between parties to ensure permits-to-work are handed
over properly
➢ Lack of continuity with contractors
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Process Safety Management
➢ Fire hazard analysis

➢ Should identify separate hazards and determine suitable preventive

measures where losses could occur from events such as:

➢ The concentration of combustible materials both in storage and in use

➢ The configuration of combustible materials, buildings and furnishings that
allow fire spread

➢ Exposure to fire, heat, smoke, steam, etc. that may require areas to be
evacuated for safety functions
➢ Fires occurring in control rooms, or other safety-critical areas

➢ Lack of (or poor) access that affects fire-fighting in safety-critical areas

➢ Lack of (or poor) smoke removal or control in safety-critical areas
➢ Lack of explosion prevention or relief measures

➢ Failure or loss of electrical supplies

➢ Inadvertent operation of fire suppression systems
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Process Safety Management
➢ Methodologies used to classify Fire and Explosion risk:

➢ Dow Fire and Explosion Hazard Index (DF&EI)

➢ Mond Fire and Explosion and Toxicity Index (MFETI)

➢ Dow and Mond are rapid hazard assessment methods used on chemical plant
during process and plant development, and in the design of plant layout.

➢ Dow and Mond give a realistic view of potential fire and explosion risks in each
individual process unit.
Risk Classifications from the Dow index
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Process Safety Management
➢ Dow Fire and Explosion Hazard Index (DF&EI)

➢ Developed by Dow chemical in 1964

➢ The most frequently used method to evaluate hazards of fire and explosion in plant
and installations.

➢ It divides plant into units and calculates the hazards in each unit from chemical
substances.

➢ Mond Fire and Explosion and Toxicity Index (MFETI)

➢ Similar to Dow and introduces toxicity as an additional factor.

➢ The overall index uses calculations for general and special process hazards, hazards
from quantities of materials, hazards posed by layout, and hazards to health from toxic
substances (which may be materials or products of combustion, or both).

➢ The Mond index also considers cost (of the installed equipment and its replacement).
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Process Safety Management
➢ Dow Index Calculations

➢ Awards a characteristic for each

factor in the fire/explosion hazard
analysis:

➢ Main items (material factor): MF

➢ General process hazards factor: F1
➢ Special process hazards factor: F2

➢ Process unit hazards factor: F3 (F3

= F1 x F2)

➢ Fire & Explosion Index: (F&EI) =

F3 x MF
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Process Safety Management
➢ Dow Index Calculations

➢ Awards a characteristic for

each factor in the
fire/explosion hazard analysis:

➢ Main items (material

factor): MF
➢ General process hazards
factor: F1
➢ Special process hazards
factor: F2

➢ Process unit hazards

factor: F3 (F3 = F1 x F2)

➢ Fire & Explosion Index:

(F&EI) = F3 x MF
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Process Safety Management
➢ Dow Index Calculations

Advantages Disadvantages
Reproducible Intended for designer use at early
stages
Requires evaluation of all aspects of Harder to apply to existing plant
a process unit that increases the
potential severity of a fire or explosion

Easy to use Not good at determining normal

expected loss
Based on actual loss experience Interpretation requires judgement

Recognised by industry as good for

ranking chemical process risks
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Process Safety Management
➢ Management of Change

➢ An MOC is used to ensure that the environmental, health, and safety risks are
carefully evaluated and controlled prior to implementing significant changes.

➢ The MOC process gives employers a chance to identify potential new hazards
that could result from these changes.

➢ Analysis will allow designers and engineers to minimise the potential for fire on
the installation at an early stage.

➢ MOC involves controls/mitigation including risk assessment and

authorisation of changes by competent persons.

➢ The opportunity for initiating changes should be widely available to people

associated with the process systems.
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Process Safety Management
➢ Management of Change Proposal Document

➢ The Change proposal document should clearly identify the following:

➢ Description of the proposed change

➢ Date of proposal

➢ Reasoning for the change (why needed, etc).

➢ Authorisation (personnel) for different types of change

➢ Involve competent personnel to assess changes

➢ Monitoring of adherence to procedures

➢ Independent auditing of safety management systems (SMS)

Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Process Safety Management
➢ Management of Change Procedures

➢ MoC Procedures should identify:

➢ the scope of the changes (what needs to change)

➢ the roles and responsibilities of those managing and making the changes
➢ how risk analysis is to be undertaken
➢ methods used to communicate the changes
➢ training of personnel involved

➢ Formal written procedures should be put in place that ensure all changes to
process systems are assessed.

➢ Modifications to hardware and software may be needed to effect changes, and

all changes that are not already part of the process system design should
undergo change control
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Process Safety Management
➢ Management of Change Evaluation

➢ Documentation that may be involved in the MoC evaluation:

➢ Original process system designs (basis for design)

➢ Process flow diagrams

➢ Cause and effect diagrams

➢ List of control, alarm and trip settings

➢ Equipment specifications

➢ Drawings detailing classification of hazardous areas

Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Process Safety Management
➢ Management of Change Controls

➢ MoC control will be needed when?

➢ Equipment is replaced with non-identical parts

➢ New items or equipment are added to the system
➢ Changes are made to the operating procedures (if outside established design basis
and safe operating envelope)

➢ The control/mitigations used can include:

➢ Limiting any inventories of flammable or combustible materials to absolute minimum.

➢ Spacing of operating plant - separating redundant safety-related units so that one fire
cannot affect all units in operation.
➢ Positioning and protection of control rooms and critical equipment - isolating
critical areas from non-critical areas so that a single fire in a non-critical area cannot
adversely affect performance in any other areas.
➢ Putting in place administrative management systems and procedures to control
hazardous operations
Hydrocarbon Process Safety I
Process Safety Management
➢ Management of Change Roles and Responsibilities

➢ Gaps can be prevented by careful mapping of the organizational changes.

➢ Personnel and their skills must be matched to the requirements of the task,
which will identify the need for further training. It is useful to phase the
changes (rather than do everything in one change) to ensure transfer is made
safely and competence of operators is matched to the level and phase of
the change.

➢ In process safety management, it is important to do the following:

➢ Map the organisational changes (prevent gaps)

➢ Match personnel and skills to the task (further training?)

➢ Phase the changes (i.e. Phase I, II, III, etc…) better than doing all tasks in one
change.