Effective Relief System Evaluation through Process Safety Information Optimization

Process Safety Information (PSI) is a vital element of Process Safety Management (PSM) per Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 1910.119 (d). An engineer needs a variety of PSI documents, such as Process and Instrumentation Diagrams (PIDs), Process Flow Diagrams (PFDs), manufacturer data reports, relief device specification sheets, pump specification sheets, equipment vendor drawings, Heat and Material Balance, Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) documentation, Management of Change (MOC) documentation, etc., for relief system evaluation. Obtaining accurate PSI can be a daunting task for a relief system engineer. Process safety optimization can be achieved by an efficient and reliable data repository that can save valuable engineering time. Such a repository can be built by aggregating equipment information from multiple data repositories into a single user interface. This paper describes the use of a data aggregation and validation tool and outlines other PSI needs for effective relief system evaluation.