Hazard Awareness and Operational Discipline

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Which of the four given felt leadership components listed at the end of the article do you believe is the most important? Justify your choice in 1-2 sentences.

I think that the most important of the listed leadership components is the belief that process safety is a core business value (integral to the existence of the organization). This leadership component prioritizes safety as a central aspect of process design and operation and establishes process safety as a key constituent of the organization’s workplace culture.

If you are a leader of an organization, state three ways you can make safety a core business value and one that is integral to the business.
  • Devote money, personnel, and resources to safety training and oversight. Do not try to save money by cutting funding for safety.
  • Require that individuals and groups in the organization write regular safety reports and present safety findings to you and others in the organization.
  • Establish clear and measurable safety goals for groups and the organization as a whole.
  • Establish consequences for people who do not follow safety protocol. <\li>
  • Establish rewards for groups who achieve safety goals.
  • Tie raises/bonuses to safety record and make sure people are aware that their bonus/raise are affected by their safety record.
  • Be physically present during safety meetings to convey to others that safety is a high priority.
You are an experienced chemical engineer at a pesticide production facility. Part of the production process involves the conveyance of methyl mercaptans between process equipment. Methyl mercaptans is a highly toxic substance (especially in the vapor phase) and known to form hydrates, solid compounds formed from mixing with water and capable of causing pipe blockages. Explain the importance of the awareness of the hazards of hydrate formation to plant safety and incident prevention/mitigation. You may find this resource 
helpful.

Hydrate removal potentially requires the opening of pipes or process equipment containing toxic, flammable, reactive, combustible, and/or high pressure material. Awareness of these hazards is necessary for the design of a process with:

  • Features which prevent hydrate formation, including the introduction of an inhibitor, heat tracing of pipes, maintaining low pressure throughout piping to avoid pressure regions conducive to hydrate formation.
  • Safeguards against the hazards of working with toxic, flammable, reactive, combustible, and/or high pressure material.

Plant personnel should be educated on the hazards of hydrate formation and safe standard operating procedures for hydrate removal in the event of a blockage.