Plant Hazard Analysis and Safety Instrumentation Systems

4.0. Plant Emergencies

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [13]: “A workplace emergency is an unforeseen situation that threatens your employees, customers, or the public; disrupts or shuts down your operations; or causes physical or environmental damage.” There could be a number of reasons why this is so, such as:

• Natural calamity, for example, flood, earthquake, heavy storm

• Fires

• Toxic gas releases

• Chemical spills

• Accidents caused by radiation

• Explosions

• Sociological/political disturbances

Another important issue here is that there shall be suitable means to alert all concerned about the emergency situation. For this, alarm systems, public address systems, and emergency communication systems are usually deployed. ...