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PCS Safety Beacon

Safety moments

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33 views1 page

PCS Safety Beacon

Safety moments

Uploaded by

guruhpermonoaji
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Beacon

Process Safety

Sponsored by
CCPS
Supporters Messages for Manufacturing Personnel
http://www.aiche.org/CCPS/Publications/Beacon/index.aspx

October 2007

We Have Liftoff!!!

What happened?
A plant was doing a pneumatic pressure test on a pipe connected to a tank. There was no blind flange between
the piping being tested and the tank. The tank was isolated from the pressurized piping with a closed block valve.
The block valve leaked, allowing the pressure from the pneumatic test to leak into the tank. The tank (which
either did not have a pressure relief device installed, or the pressure relief device was too small) was
overpressured, and it failed at the bottom. The tank lifted into the air and came to rest on the top of the plant.

What you can do


 During pressure tests, or any other maintenance or non-routine activities involving pressure, make sure that all
equipment is capable of withstanding the test pressure, is positively isolated from the source of pressure, or has
adequately sized pressure relief devices for the testing conditions.
 Equipment can be protected from being overpressured more reliably by using blinds, or by physically
disconnecting piping, rather than using valves to isolate the equipment from pressure.
 Do a process safety review before starting any non-routine operations to identify potential hazards and
required safeguards during the operation.
 Keep workers away from the area where pressure testing operations are being conducted.
 If possible, pressure test lines using liquid pressure (hydrostatic pressure) rather than pneumatic (gas) pressure
— the energy that can be released from a liquid overpressure is MUCH LESS than from a gas overpressure.

Isolate equipment from pressure — leave the rockets to the space program!
AIChE © 2007. All rights reserved. Reproduction for non-commercial, educational purposes is encouraged. However, reproduction for the
purpose of resale by anyone other than CCPS is strictly prohibited. Contact us at [email protected] or 212-591-7319.

The Beacon is usually available in Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian,
Japanese, Korean, Malay, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Thai. For more information, circle 103 on p. 83.

20 www.aiche.org/cep October 2007 CEP

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