ENG305 Assignment 2
Process Plant Design and Operation : An Overview
Introduction
This assignment will be for you to look at the broad aspects of safety and design for safety in the establishment and operation of a manufacturing plant of electric vehicle. The detail of the plant is not required. The aim of this exercise is to get you thinking as broadly as possible (within the realms of probability). I have listed some possible topics to get you thinking; this is not an exhaustive list and you will need to add your own topics. This is intended to be an over view only at this stage. Later in the unit you will be shown more techniques to help you further analyse more deeply into this subject. This assignment is to help develop your thinking, mainly in breadth and get you used to asking questions.
You are the Safety Specialist at the very first meeting to discuss an industrial development proposal for the electric vehicle manufacturing plant. Your job at this meeting is to stimulate thinking about safety in the design and operation of the proposed plant at the preliminary stage by asking all and any questions so that your other colleagues can design safety and risk controls in, at the start rather than impose such measures in an ad hoc approach at the end.
Your task in this assignment is to ask 300 questions!
Possible issues/items of consideration ,
1. General access to plant ; restrictions, controls, management of people on site
2. Fire safety and management , alarms, drills, consequences and controls
3. Disposal of waste; hazards, handling, procedures, training of personnel, disposal sites and disposal equipment
4. On site disaster management and training, medical help, emergency equipment, proximity to outside help
5. On site operator training and facilities, procedures
6. Bunds, catchment, fences, warning signs, evacuation
7. Machine guards, accessibility to machine & process control equipment
8. Electrical safety and training
9. Proximity to residential or industrial areas, public parks, sports grounds
10. Plant emissions, odours, byproducts and potential risks from them
11. Weather protection of operators, drainage, runoff, leaching, flood potential
12. Power supply or supply failure, machine shutdown, restarts, process vulnerability to power failure
13. Energy efficiency and control of waste energy
14. Malicious action against the operators by external third parties
15. Plant construction/material, layout, spacing between stages, emergency access, maintenance access
16. Individual operator safety , exposure to heat, harmful processes/materials
17. Working at heights, depths, enclosed spaces, within harmful environments
You are not expected to be experts or experienced in this field. Rather this assignment may open your eyes to the size and complexity of this field, even in a relatively simple plant. The key exercise here is to let your thinking explore and visualize issues across the whole spectrum from the obvious to the highly improbable. Once these issues are on the table, the next step is implement control measure to either minimize or eliminate them. The next assignments will take you further down this path.
Please remember that this assignment is about asking questions, that later on, will prompt you think of control and mitigation strategies for hazards and risks.
This assignment DOES NOT LOOK FOR THE ANSWERS, ONLY THE QUESTIONS!
The answers will come at a later stage.
In an industry environment harm often follows because the right people do not pose enough of the right questions at the design/implementation stages. ( hint : allow for possible stupid or irresponsible behaviour ). The answers or mitigation responses are usually self evident if prompted by a timely and appropriate question early in the design cycle.
I want you to simulate a situation where you are the person who is tasked with drawing up a checklist which can be applied to any project, plant or workplace to both ask relevant questions as well as stimulate further relevant questions which enable a thorough examination of as many potential hazards and risks as you can think of which may be applicable.
NB : I want you to exercise some judgement about this i.e. you need not consider an invasion by extra terrestrials.
Marking is as follows
1. Innovative thinking in both breadth and depth 33.3%
2. Range and relevance of questions 33.3%
3. Compliance with brief 33.3%
Good luck with this assignment