Many process plants contain high speed rotating equipment – for example, compressors, centrifuges, and centrifugal extractors. Process safety management systems must include systems to identify these hazards, and ensure proper design, fabrication, inspection, and maintenance of high energy equipment. Some examples of hazardous energy that you might have in your plant include: Kinetic energy from high speed rotating equipment such as pumps, compressors, fans, centrifuges, or centrifugal extractors; electrical energy; high pressure, such as compressed air and other gases, or high pressure steam’ etc.
What Can You Do?
With your co-workers, make a list of all of the hazardous energy sources in your plant. Be sure that you all understand the operating, inspection, and preventive maintenance systems in place to manage the risk associated with those hazards.
Understand your role in ensuring that the hazardous energy safeguards in your plant are robust and functioning properly.
Many high speed machines have vibration sensors with alarms or shutdown interlocks. Make sure these are not bypassed without following your plant Temporary Management of Change procedures.
If you are responsible for inspecting or maintaining hazardous energy equipment, follow all of the specified procedures diligently, and report any concerns that you have to your management and technical staff.
