ATEX - Compulsion, Option or Need of the hour?

Let us talk about another misconception which is rooting in the minds of some people.

If my company is not in Europe, why should we perform an ATEX risk assessment? It's not applicable in my country, why should I perform modification to the existing equipment and fittings?

All risk assessments should follow the simple hierarchical ‘Three Rules of ATEX/DSEAR’ approach:

1. Do not have a flammable atmosphere, but if you do...
2. Do not ignite it, but if you do…
3. Do not hurt anyone.

ATEX intentions are simply to provide a coherent focus for controlling risks from:

1. Substances with flammable, explosive and oxidising properties. ATEX also covers Corrosives and compressed gases.
2. Substances which can create potentially explosive atmospheres
3. Controlling work activities involving other substances that could create a fire or an explosion

If you are in a country where ATEX/ DSEAR is not applicable, then you can consider this as a good engineering practice that you are reviewing your plants' operations to establish a Basis of Safety for each and every operation.

Risk Ranking:Essence of any Hazard Analysis

Recently, I was giving training on HAZOP and I got a question "Why do you say that our HAZOP is incomplete without risk ranking? We are doing the study since so long and no auditor or authorities have ever questioned us for the same." 

So this question has made me think about the situation Process Safety is facing. We know that oil & gas has developed more than other sectors including FMCG, Pharmaceutical, Chemical (Bulk & Speciality), etc. with far better standards for performing safety studies including PHAs. So, here I am writing this post to share the importance of risk ranking in any hazard analysis technique.

When is risk low enough : Risk Acceptance and ALARP

I would like to thank you all for continued interest in the blog posts. Keep reading and do like, share and comment. In this blog, we will be discussing what is the risk acceptance criteria and what is ALARP to define When is the risk low enough.

No activity is entirely free of risk in an industrial plant and hence it is imperative that safety risks are reduced to acceptable levels. The key question that remains is what level of risk is considered to be acceptable?