EEMUA Conference 2017

8/3/2017 - 9/3/2017, Kenilworth, UK

A tank’s foundation is a critical part of its design. EEMUA has produced guidance in EEMUA 183: Prevention of tank bottom leakage - a guide for the design and repair of foundations and bottoms of vertical, cylindrical, steel storage tanks to assist operators. This workshop will invite members to discuss the latest technology and experiences including the requirements for soil investigations and soil engineering; the types of foundations with their pro’s and con’s; installation procedures and suitable materials for tank foundation. Attend this workshop if you wish to engage in meaningful debate regarding tank foundations.

The UK Regulator, HSE, has identified a number of incidents during its routine inspections of operators where equipment can be subject to excessive pressure even though it is believed by the operator that the process safety equipment is adequate. The Pressure Relieving Safety Systems committee (PRS) has been working with the HSE to develop guidance to help operators manage accumulation of excessive pressure where the overpressure protection system may be undersized or inadequate due to shortcomings or deficiencies in the original design. This workshop will present the current state of the guidance and will request the membership to provide input through personal examples within their plant.

What are the strategies to maximise whole life performance (reliability, availability, usable capacity) whilst minimising whole life cost? Also, when is it in your interest to seek the benefits of technological advances, and when is it just not worth it? The answers are not always clear cut, but a methodical approach can help greatly in the evaluation of options, as some examples will illustrate.

This presentation discusses the changes from an offshore oil and gas operator’s perspective, and the issues it raises with regards to existing process pipework and for future projects. ASME B31.3 no longer requires PWHT on carbon manganese steels if you apply a decent level of preheat. The EEMUA Piping Systems Committee (PSC) and Materials Technology Committee (MTC) plan to develop a new edition to the previously withdrawn EEMUA Publication 153: Supplement to ASME B31.3 to give the user additional guidelines on the considerations of post weld heat treatment (PWHT) to support the ASME code change.

The User Inspectorates Committee (UIC) is planning to produce an Information Sheet (IS) on the assessment and monitoring of inspector competence within the UK. The IS is intended to provide a summary of ways of delivering the training and competency assessment of inspectors that are acceptable to UKAS during their accreditation of User Inspectorates. The current draft includes a number of procedures covering the training and competency assessment of inspectors used by User Inspectorates within the EEMUA membership. This workshop will describe those and debate whether there are other processes or alternatives within the membership that should be included in the guidance.

Clear guidance exists for many things affecting workplace safety and the reduction of risk, but to date, not so for functional safety management of installed Safety Instrumented Systems. The requirements for function safety management are set out in IEC 61511, but the lifecycle described is focused on new SIS which may leave some conspicuous gaps in duty holders’ understanding of how best to manage existing installed SIS, especially where an installed system did not have conformance to IEC 61511 as an initial requirement. As will be explained, the UK HSE has been working with industry to develop a set of pragmatic guidelines to cover this situation.

Temporary repairs are now part and parcel of maintaining pipework. However, what constitutes a temporary repair can vary widely from plant to plant and industry to industry. All operators are agreed that good guidance will assist them in managing their plant. This workshop will examine what should be considered as temporary, how it should be inspected and managed and when it should be made more permanent. Output from the session will be used by the Piping Systems Committee (PSC) to develop guidance in the form of an EEMUA Publication.

ISO 17020 lays out the requirements for conformity assessment for various types of bodies performing inspection. It is used by UKAS as the underpinning document when accrediting and auditing those inspection bodies. The User Inspectorates Committee is undertaking the development of an Information Sheet to help inspection bodies design their auditing systems and prepare the necessary systems and procedures to maximise the chance of being awarded accreditation. This workshop will debate with all UI present what they believe is necessary and the correct process to undertake. Any UI accredited to ISO 17020 should attend this session.

Many industry specific and international regulations refer to the need for competence assessment and validation. However, in the UK, clearly the one from HSE is the most influential. Newer technology requiring new skills, frequent restructuring, retirement of knowledgeable staff, and movement of staff between roles are all drivers for companies to assess, train and validate the competence of individuals in their workforce. In this session, we will share and discuss important competence and training related issues and good practice gathered from members of EEMUA’s newly formed Competence and Training Forum in the context of the HSE’s 15 Principle Competence Model.

Non-return valves applications for machinery are a piping component but also one that has to be designed with the duty in mind. A review of a number of case histories where machine delivery non-return valves have failed to function as the design originally intended. This session will highlight the precautions that need to be taken when specifying non-return valves. It will also emphasise those type of equipment or duties where particular care is required for inspection to ensure that the non-return valves can perform their function without causing a safety incident.

Phased Array ultrasonics (PA) is an advanced method of ultrasonic testing that is becoming more widely adopted within the engineering industry. Many EEMUA members have either employed the technique or had it proposed by third party inspection organisations. This workshop will provide a brief overview of the technique before entering a debate on how those attending use PA, their degrees of success and the limitations they have identified.

TRIZ is the toolkit, made by engineers for engineers, for fast problem solving of safety, integrity, or compliance contradictions and conflicts. This capability was created at the same time as all quality toolkits (now known as Lean, Six Sigma, Systems Thinking, Value Engineering etc.) but in isolation in Russia. This session reveals how TRIZ offers fundamentally different but complementary approaches for genius thinking, solving contradictions and for quickly mobilising available resources for sustainability and cost savings. It also shows 'Thinking in Time and Scale' to plot the best routes forward even in the most complex situations.

Plastic tanks used for chemical bulk storage applications have typically been regarded as “fit and forget” items, with lifetimes based purely on manufacturers' recommendations. This often does not take into account the specific conditions of tank usage, leading both to tank failure in service, and the unnecessary scrapping of serviceable tanks. EEMUA Publication 225 will address issues around the specification, installation, commissioning, inspection, maintenance, repair and disposal of plastic storage tanks, giving practical, pragmatic guidance for owners and operators of plastic tanks which will help reduce the risk of failure in service and enable the extension of service life where appropriate. This presentation will review the approaches taken.

Reliability-centred maintenance for the industry is a methodology intended to give guidance for maintenance programmes focused on reliability and risk management. This is in contrast with traditional methods that are based on consequence management. The basics of the methodology, as described in EEMUA 159, will be outlined as well as its applicability to other areas of the industry.

Recent events have shown that cyber attacks on industrial installations are a significant and growing threat.  HSE has been working with industry to produce a Cyber Security Operational Guidance document. This represents the CA / HSE interpretation of current standards on industrial communication network and system security, and functional safety as they relate to the control of major hazards for safety to people and the environment. The guidance will be useful to duty holders of major hazard workplaces who own / operate IACS but also of use to IACS manufacturers and system integrators.This Operational Guidance could form one method of demonstrating compliance with relevant Health and Safety legislation, in order to demonstrate ALARP. Alternative equivalent means may also be used to demonstrate compliance. The primary purpose of the document is to facilitate consistency in Functional Safety inspection of COMAH and other sites where malicious cyber activity could pose a major accident risk to the health and / or safety of employees and / or members of the public and / or environment.

As part of its work programme the Pressure Relieving Safety Systems committee (PRS) conducted a members’ survey to identify the most important issues faced in process safety. High on the list was the on-line testing of relief valves. This workshop will set out the position that the PRS is taking in providing guidance and develop a debate amongst those present on how members are currently approaching the issue of on-line testing.

The ECUI membership includes representatives from seven different European countries. One would expect all inspectors within Europe to have equal competence so that inspections can be carried out with the same skills and capabilities. As part of its remit to promote the safe, reliable, and optimal use of process equipment by European industry the ECUI members have compared the processes each has adopted to guarantee the competency of their inspectors. This paper presented by the ECUI Chairman will summarise those processes and compare the approaches.

The discussion will be about Valero Pembroke’s approach to competency management, to ensure it has an actively managed succession plan for each discipline and each role within those disciplines as an effective tool for career development within the company.

The CompEx Scheme’s Ex14 Responsible Person module introduced in 2016 a top-down approach to having a competent workforce and highlights the responsibilities and requirements to maintain an accurate asset register, the importance of recording the initial inspection results as well as the ongoing inspection schedules and managing the defect inventory to a manageable level. The session will expand on the experiences gained by candidates who have taken the Ex14 module and the benefits that it has brought to them. A short update regarding the worldwide growth of the CompEx Scheme will also be included.

As highlighted at the EEMUA Conference 2015, the design, inspection and maintenance of civil and structural facilities is crucial for the safe operability of process plants and industrial assets. Building on this, the EEMUA Structural and Civil Engineering Forum is currently developing an information sheet on a systematic civil facilities management process. This workshop will discuss how this process can allow civil facilities to be robustly managed for inspection; based on asset planning, roles and responsibilities, “criticality” and risk evaluations. A risk-based matrix is then presented to highlight how post inspection maintenance and repairs can then be prioritised, taking into account criticality and the particular hazards and degradation mechanisms that affect civil structures. Civil facilities and infrastructure are vital in any asset, but, their criticality is often misunderstood. This session will be useful to asset owners on how more informed risk-based decisions can be made for the overall management of such facilities to ensure fitness in service.

On-line process analysers are frequently grouped together and installed in enclosed walk-in environmentally controlled analyser houses to ensure optimum conditions for performance and maintenance. However this creates some specific safety risks as flammable, toxic and potentially asphyxiating materials continuously flow into an enclosed space where electrical equipment is operating and which plant personnel frequently need to enter for maintenance of the analysers. The correct design and operation of the analyser house is essential to mitigate these risks. The presentation discusses the specific design criteria, monitoring, alarms and operating procedures required to reduce the risks together with details of other mitigating steps that can be used. The session also provides an overview of the international standards and EEMUA publications that are available to aid in the correct design and operation of analyser houses.

EN 1591 Part 1 “Flanges and their joints. Design rules for gasketed circular flange connections. Calculation” was developed in 2001 to provide a more comprehensive method of assessing the leak tightness and strength criteria of bolted joints, and to better consider the complete behaviour and interaction of the flange/bolt and gasket assembly. ASME PCC-1 was first published in 2000 and later updated in 2010 and 2013 to include Appendix O Assembly Bolt Stress determination”. This method is largely based on WRC 538 Determination of Pressure Boundary Joint Assembly Bolt Loads and in many ways is similar in approach to the EN 1591 Pt 1 method. This presentation will outline some of the main considerations of ASME PCC-1 Appendix O/WRC 538 and how it is currently being applied in practice. 

This workshop will examine the management of stainless steel pipework systems operating in the range from 0 to 200°C. There are significant quantities of pipework in this category in the power generation, oil and gas sectors. This session aims to explore and understand the methodologies for risk assessment for elevated temperature stainless steel pipework subject to CUI - SCC.

With Brexit looming, concerns have been raised as to whether the UK will be able to keep manufacturing to European Standards and Directives. The European Directives such as ATEX, EMC, Machinery, Eco-design are legal directives that member states have to adopt into their legal systems. British Standards (BS), European Standards (EN) and International Standards (IEC and ISO) are sometimes adopted and lead to directives, sometimes follow legal requirements, or may have no mandatory requirement. Will UK manufacturers still need to manufacture to meet the directives? Will importers still have to abide by some or all of the directives? Will the UK notified bodies still be able to test and certify equipment that conforms to the ATEX directive, CE mark?