Facility and Pipeline Safety

What you'll learn

• Describe the equipment and purpose of batteries, compressor stations, sour gas plants and the main types of pipeline, and identify where each holds flammable, toxic and pressurized inventory.
• Map the rules that apply to facilities and pipelines in the US, including OSHA's general industry standards and PSM, EPA's RMP rule, state oil and gas agencies, PHMSA's 49 CFR 192 and 195, TSA security directives, state boiler laws and the ASME code, and explain who holds which duty.
• Distinguish operating pressure, design pressure, MAWP, relief set pressure, accumulation and test pressure, recognize common causes of overpressure such as gas blowby and trapped liquid, and protect relief and shutdown systems.
• Explain how corrosion, sour service cracking, erosion, hydrates, deposits and mechanical damage threaten integrity, calculate corrosion rates and remaining life, and handle hydrate plugs and freeze-ups safely.
• Identify the hazards of amine, sulfur recovery, glycol dehydration, methanol and treatment chemicals, mercury, NORM and pyrophoric iron sulfide, and add service-specific questions to task hazard assessments.
• Describe the fittings that protect field tanks, control vapor, static and lightning hazards during gauging and loading, and explain how flare systems work, why flame-outs matter and how radiation limits work near flares.
• Explain the elements of process safety management and the field worker's part in them, including safe operating limits, management of change, bypass and alarm control and process safety event indicators.
• Describe levels of process isolation, explain why valves pass and pressure is trapped, apply safe practices at the first break and recognize the hazards of nitrogen, steam and air purging and of blinds and reinstatement.
• Apply Barlow's formula and class location design factors, describe coatings, cathodic protection, in-line inspection, integrity management, SCADA and leak detection, and explain the lessons of control room failures.
• Manage work near pipeline rights-of-way, including 811 one-call requirements, tolerance zones, crossings, the effect of depth of cover on loads, induced voltage and the response to a strike.
• Explain why pipelines are pigged, the parts and hazards of launchers and receivers, how to confirm zero pressure before opening a closure, how to plan for liquid slugs and debris, and the hazards of digs, repairs, hot taps and blowdowns.
• Respond to facility and pipeline emergencies, draw lessons from major failures, and carry out and rank a hazard review with actions, owners and interim measures.