Petroleum is a rich fuel, and there are many valuable properties in it. It is one of the conventional fuels from which products are extracted. The industries that facilitate the extraction are termed as petrochemical industries.
The extraction and processing of petroleum constitute the midstream or downstream of the petroleum industry.
Midstream is concerned with processing and refining of the petroleum products, and downstream is involved with the marketing of these same products. The same properties are also present in products from fossil fuels like oil and natural gas.
All these industries operate with hazardous fuels and need to be handled with caution and too much safety. Below are some of the safety measures that need to be in place at such huge petrochemical industries.
1] Induction
Any new worker or employee being hired at the petrochemical factory must go through proper installation. This induction should involve all the safety measures explained in detail to the employees by the professionals.
They should be made aware of the consequences and how much impact the oversight in any manner can cause. This induction should be made compulsory for all the employees.
2] Inspection
Inspection is a significant step. There should be timely inspections of all the things that are involved in the process. All the machinery involved in the process is big and complicated. It should be thoroughly inspected from time to time.
Any equipment, big or small, should be checked by professionals to ensure there is no gap or anything which can cause a significant incident in the coming future. There could be something that might be degrading slowly and can be caught through this process.
3] Drill
The industry should be ready for emergencies. While you can teach 100 things theoretically, it will not create the impact a practical thing would. So all these procedures should be tested by way of drill. It could be a bi-yearly or quarterly thing.
The maneuvers would involve the emergency being created and employees acting as they have been told to act procedurally. This could show and present any loopholes that were hidden while forming the procedure.
4] Evacuation Technique
While the industries have the exact procedures that they make to overcome the possible calamities, there could be some calamities which cannot be foreseen. While all emergencies call for attention, there are some which need an absolute quick reflex to save everything.
So having an evacuation technique in the form of an immediate shutdown button is probably one of the best solutions. If there is something that is happening because of a machine, shutting it down might do the trick.
5] Chemical Exposure
While the petrochemical industries are not faced with any of the harmful radiations, it involves significant risk in the form that these chemicals, if inhaled beyond measure, can lead to fatal diseases.
So to ensure safety, all the people at the risk of exposure should be covered appropriately. No job is above life, and life should be valued the most. All the employees or anyone visiting should have the required covers.
6] Refreshers
While the induction covers a lot, there should also be refreshers. The human mind is fickle and can erase things from memory, no matter how deep the memory is. So the refreshers are needed. These sessions should be compulsory for all and should be taken by professionals.
People should be involved, and this should be made an interactive session to check the knowledge and understanding level of people.
7] Replacement Of Equipment
The entire list of inventory should be kept updated at all times. There should be a proper record of when and which equipment was bought. This helps to check the depreciation and the life of the machine.
Then that is used in such places cannot be risked to be used above their lifetime. So tracking them and replacing them when need be is the optimum safety measure.
8] Valve Checking
The entire machinery and process of petrochemical industries are based on pipes and flows of fuels. These are started, controlled, and stopped based on the use of innumerable valves.
All these valves need to check for any gaps or breakage thoroughly. This check should be done timely so that the incidents can be stopped. Valves keep the process going, and although small they should never be ignored.
9] Good Quality
All the equipment and valves used should be of excellent and assured quality. These should be purchased from places that are approved and known so that they can be relied upon.
The entire industry works on the working of these instruments and their quality. The brand should be chosen with a lot of research and care. For valves, the brand should be XHVAL. They are reliable, legacy, and a good quality brand.
10] Daily Checks
All these chemical industries have regular and timely checks. These checks involve monitoring if all the pressure and valves are as per usual so that anything abnormal can be spotted and highlighted. These checks can pick up an impending calamity sooner and save damage and lives too. It is imperative that these are followed very diligently.
Safety instructions are of utmost importance. At the industries that are working and operating at such a colossal scale and dealing with products that are so risky, safety should be given absolute priority. Safe precautions and optimum usage should be given the attention that they deserve.
Conclusion
There is no way to explain in words how vital safety is. Any petrochemical industry works with a lot of risk and criticality. Any single oversight can cause an accident or even an explosion. Through strict safety measure and ensuring they are followed diligently, these accidents can be minimized.
This will lead to an actual saving of loss of lives. These industries operate on perishable resources. So unspecified accidents can also lead to loss of these resources which are already depleting.
