1

I N T R O D U C T I O N

1.1. OBJECTIVE

The objective of this volume is to provide, under one cover, guidance in

performing many basic operations encountered in chemical facilities in a safe
and professional manner. The book endeavors to achieve the following:
Provide a comprehensive reference for certain fundamental operations.
Provide guidance in applying appropriate practices to prevent accidents.
Indicate unsafe and inadequate practices that should be avoided.
The audience visualized in the preparation of this book is the personnel
of an independent chemical operation located in the United States that may
lack a full complement of specialists. Such plants may tend to be below median
size and to emphasize batch processing. The equipment selected for specific
discussion reflects this orientation.
1.2. SCOPE

The book selectively discusses operations not extensively covered in readily

available publications. These operations are usually covered by proprietary
safety standards and operating procedures which are not generally accessible
to the public. The book cannot possibly include every conceivable safety
fundamental and therefore focuses on the more obvious and more frequently
occurring operations.
The book emphasizes general principles and the fundamentals of organizing a safety program. From the vast literature on this subject, we have chosen
to emphasize the material most widely used and most readily available to an
operation without complete library facilities. Accordingly, there are many
references to recognized standards and published US government regulations. The reader is assumed to have a general familiarity with these sources,

but one section of the book lists relevant agencies and societies along with their
addresses. Many of the primary references are to material published in the
Federal Register (FR) or the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Typically, these

are referred to by their location in the CFR in the abbreviated form (title
number)-"CFR"-(section number), for example, 29CFR1910.
1.3. ORGANIZATION

Chapter 2, Materials/Chemicals Handling, discusses handling of chemical

substances and materials. Safe handling requires knowledge of the material's
hazardous properties and conditions created during storage, transport, and
processing, and one section covers general material hazards. Liquids, solids,
gases, and waste materials then are covered separately.
Chapter 3, Process Equipment and Procedures, covers safety considerations in the design, installation, operation, and maintenance of selected process equipment and auxiliary systems.
Design considerations are those which pertain to the various types of
equipment covered in the chapter. Safety in design should begin at the earliest
stages by considering a facility as a whole and striving for inherent safety [I].
Chapter 4, General Topics, deals with safety topics not directly related to
specific operations. Principal subjects include the inspection and maintenance
of equipment, spare parts handling, storage and warehousing, plant modifications, hazardous work, and worker protection.
Chapter 5, Cleanup and Process Changeover, identifies potential problems associated with safe and efficient cleanup operations. It addresses process planning, the cleaning process, the problem of changeover, and methods
of equipment preparation.
Chapter 6, Training, stresses the need for educating operating personnel.
Applying appropriate methods in the performance of their jobs is a key
component in promoting plant safety.
Chapter 7, Plant Safety Programs and Auxiliary Topics, covers plantwide
systems and more general programs whose purpose is the improvement of
the overall plant safety performance.
A glossary and a compilation of abbreviations and acronyms are also
provided.
REFERENCES
1. Englund, S. M., Opportunities in the Design of Inherently Safer Chemical Plants.
In Advances in Chemical Engineering, Vol. 15, pp. 73-135, Academic Press, San
Diego, 1990.