Are you taking a pragmatic safety approach to design?
Often in design, there are inherent assumptions made about a process which can lead to overly cautious or pessimistic design.
Sometimes the most basic questions need to be asked again.
On a recent project there was the assumption throughout the early stages of design and scoping that the material processed was to be treated as flammable. By disproving this basic assumption we may be able to completely change the design based on the actual hazards of the process.
In this case the questions we could ask were:
❓ Do we even know the actual flash point of the fluid?
❓Will the material be close to flash point?
❓Can it maintain a safe margin below flashpoint, what does that do for the design?
❓What design features can we introduce to ensure we maintain that safe margin?
We still don’t have all the answers, but by challenging the basic assumptions you can flip a design on it’s head and change, or simplify, the solution.
In this case, the OpEx and CapEx savings of installing and maintaining a non ATEX rated system may be worth the added process complexity to maintain the intended basis of safety.
What’s your basis of safety and is it correct?
Should you be challenging it?
