Shell Safety Strategy

Shell is an extremely safe company, and there are reasons for this. Here is a link to an 8 page document that neatly sums up Shell's approach to safety and, more importantly, its safety culture.

 

http://www-static.shell.com/static/environment_society/downloads/safety/process_safety_in_shell_lr.pdf

CSB Says Natural Gas Blows Inherently Unsafe

It may sound strange, but it is currently common practice power plant construction to clean pipes through natural gas blows, which essentially means blasting natural gas through a pipe to remove any obstructions. It certainly may be convenient to purge lines with your readily available supply of natural gas, but this gas can be vented into unsafe areas and find an ignition source. This was revealed to be the primary cause of the explosion at Kleen Energy in Connecticut earlier this year. According to this article in EHS Today, the State of Connecticut has now banned this practice. CSB is also making recommendations to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to revise their existing codes to stop the practice of gas blows in favor of safer alternatives. CSB has more commentary on natural gas blows and the inherent risk thereof in its series of YouTube videos here.

ISA CAP Testing is Coming in September

And I am totally not prepared, but don't let that stop you from taking the test to get this important certification.

More information from ISA:

Upcoming CAP Exam Application Deadline

The application deadline for taking your CAP Exam in the final Testing Window for 2010 is 15 September. Testing Window 3 allows you to take your exam any time between 1 November and 31 December. Here is the link to apply

OSHA Testifies on Worker Safety in Process Industries

OSHA deputy assistant secretary testifies before Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety on worker safety in energy production industries

This is some powerful testimony from OSHA on the state of safety in our country's refineries and chemical plants. Definitely worth a read.

http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/osha/OSHA20100819.htm

"Not only are we finding a significant lack of compliance during our inspections, but time and again, our inspectors are finding the same violations in multiple refineries, including those with common ownership, and sometimes even in different units in the same refinery. This is a clear indication that essential safety lessons are not being communicated within the industry and often not even within a single corporation or facility. The old adage that those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it is as true in the refinery industry as it is elsewhere. So we are particularly disturbed to find even refineries that have already suffered serious incidents or received major OSHA citations making the same mistakes again."

IHS CERA Report Shows Continued Increase in Refinery Construction Costs

http://press.ihs.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=4265

HIS CERA does a very good report on capital project costs for process industries, and refining is chief among these. According to their latest report, "The costs for designing and constructing downstream refining and petrochemical projects rose 1.5 percent from Q3 2009 to Q1 2010, according to the latest edition of the IHS
CERA Downstream Capital Costs Index (DCCI). It was the second straight increase for the index since prices bottomed out at 9 percent below peak 2008 levels– costs are now just 6.5 percent below peak 2008 levels." Check out the link for the full press release.

A Guide to the Automation Body of Knowledge

I just got my hands on a copy of the Automation Body of Knowledge, edited by Vernon Trevathan. It's a great compendium of all the most important aspects of automation in today's plants and facilities. The second edition is updated to include information on continuous emissions monitoring systems and other topics. I highly recommend it. It's published by ISA and you can purchase it at the link:

http://www.isa.org/Template.cfm?Section=Books3&template=/Ecommerce/ProductDisplay.cfm&ProductID=8800

Dept. of Interior Issues Directive on Stronger Offshore Safety

http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Interior-Issues-Directive-to-Guide-Implementation-of-Stronger-Safety-Requirements-for-Offshore-Drilling.cfm

From US Department of the Interior. The moratorium on drilling in waters over 500 feet deep continues, but shallow water drilling is still go. Department of Interior has released a new set of safety guidelines that drillers must comply with if they want to continue drilling. You can read it all at the above link.