Chapter 36. Both Design and Operations Could Have Been Better
You can't solve problems with the same level of knowledge that created them.—Albert Einstein
Many of the incidents in this book could have been prevented by better design, and many by better operations. Good operations can sometimes compensate for poor design and vice versa, but that is not something on which we should rely.
36.1. Water in Relief Valve Tailpipes
My first example is a simple one. Sections 35.1 and 35.2 describe several incidents in which relief valves discharged process material directly into the atmosphere instead of into a catchpot or other closed system such as a flarestack or scrubber. These were hardly unforeseen incidents. Relief valves are designed to lift, ...
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