Consulting

Layout Safety Review

The Layout Safety Review will broadly follow the guidance of API 521.

General principles:

Plant layout is often a compromise between a number of factors such as:

• The need to keep distances for transfer of materials between plant/storage units to a minimum to reduce costs and risks;
• The geographical limitations of the site;
• Interaction with existing or planned facilities on site such as existing roadways, drainage and utilities routings;
• Interaction with other plants on site;
• The need for plant operability and maintainability;
• The need to locate hazardous materials facilities as far as possible from site boundaries and people living in the local neighbourhood;
• The need to prevent confinement where release of flammable substances may occur;
• The need to provide access for emergency services;
• The need to provide emergency escape routes for on-site personnel;
• The need to provide acceptable working conditions for operators.

The most important factors of plant layout as far as safety aspects are concerned are those to:

• Prevent, limit and/or mitigate escalation of adjacent events (domino);
• Ensure safety within on-site occupied buildings;
• Control access of unauthorised personnel;
• Facilitate access for emergency services.

In determining plant layout the following is taken into account:

• Inherent safety
• Domino effects
• Fire
• Explosion
• Toxic gas releases
• Positioning of occupied buildings
• Aggregation / trapping of flammable vapours
• Segregation of incompatible substances (particularly in warehouses / storage areas)