Safeguarding Drawings - An Industry Standard Is Needed

The Safeguarding Drawing (SGD) should be a key drawing in the process hazards analysis documentation of a facility.  The question that arises is, exactly how is this drawing different from Process and Instrumentation Drawings (P&IDs) or the Process Flow Diagram (PFD)?  The SGD is different in that it exists primarily to represent the process equipment within the scope of a given process hazards analysis review, along with all safety critical devices that protect that equipment.  The SGD is a graphical record of the Process Safety Reviews that many businesses have undertaken to prevent Process Safety related incidents.  A properly depicted SGD should aim to make readily apparent all of the process hazards that can threaten the process. 

The use of SGDs is spreading across the asset management programs, such as Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) and Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS), and is becoming a core value to Safeguarding Review teams in the Canadian oil & gas industry.  However, there is much confusion in that industry about what is required on a SGD and what is not.  Some SGDs being produced for major oil & gas projects are essentially useless for their intended purpose.  

This paper introduces a recommended industry-wide standard for the creation of SGDs.  The standard is based on 20 years of constant application by a Canadian leader in process hazard analysis reviews.