Maintaining an Evergreen Pressure Relief Systems Analysis and Documentation

Maintaining an Evergreen Pressure Relief Systems Analysis and Documentation

Most oil and gas refining and petrochemical organizations have established a Process Safety Management (PSM) program.  Some organization has very extensive program that covers wide range of process safety elements and is managed via an integrated platform while others follow an ad hoc approach that does not span all of the key elements or is disjointed.  At the end, a PSM program is a reflection of organization’s process safety culture and commitment to improve process safety performance.

Maintaining accurate and current Process Safety Information (PSI) is a cumbersome and difficult task to accomplish due to the numerous sub-elements.  One of the key sub-elements of PSI maintenance is the management of pressure relief systems analysis and documentation.  Historically this is an element that has not been given the attention it deserves.  However, recent incidents in the industry have elevated the importance of maintaining accurate and current pressure relief systems documentation.

The ultimate goal is to allow all plant personnel to understand the basis of the current plant relief and flare header design and ensure that this current plant relief and flare header design provides adequate overpressure protection for all equipment.  In this presentation, a case study is discussed to demonstrate a best practice approach that has been implemented to maintain an evergreen pressure relief systems analysis and documentation.