Independent Protection Layers and Other Safeguards

Management and verification of independent protection layers is a critical task that is often not given adequate focus in chemical facilities. This session will look at best practices for identification, maintenance, and verification of independent layers. These can vary from Safety Instrumented System proof testing to a weekly check of tattletale gauges for verification of rupture disk integrity. Equally as critical is follow-up and root cause evaluation of protection layer failures during inspection or following an incident. Included would be a discussion of what constitutes an independent protection layer and how much credit can be taken for a given layer.