UNIT 2 SAFE WORKING PRACTICES

Structure
2.1 Introduction
Objectives
2.2 Procedure for Maintenance in Confined Space
2.3 Inherent Safety
2.4 Inherent Safety Indices
2.4.1 Different Events and Their Occurrence
2.4.2 Segregation of Incompatible Substance
2.5 Importance of Documents on Safe Work Practices
2.6 Let Us Sum Up
2.7 Key Words
2.8 Answer to SAQs
2.9 References and Future Studies

2.1 INTRODUCTION
Safe working practices are generally included in any industries which are set
of written instructions and methods that outline how to conduct a particular
task or job which involves minimum risk and threat to the employees, labours,
equipment, materials, nearby environment, as well as the opted processes.
Almost all the industries now-a-days are advised to opt and exercise safe
work practices in order to encounter the associated hazards or for redressing
different circumstances that might occur during functioning of the jobs and
this might furnish other liabilities for the industry. Industry’s approach
towards handing these hazards is represented by nature of handling them.
Since owners of the industries are the responsible persons who need to assure
that their staff and employees have a deep knowledge of performing their
allotted tasks in a safe way. This inculcates that they are aware of the possible
hazards which might occur or existing nearby their work station and job place,
and are also familiar with the method of how to control these mishappening.
All these instructions are provided in details in written form to the employee
that is called as safe working procedures. These safety procedures are nothing
but a set of guidelines to assist workers in performing their day-to-day tasks
step by step from beginning to end in a proper and efficient way with the
complete safety.
This unit will cover all the aspects of Safe working practices as well as safe
work procedures, which is provided to the workers for guiding them to work
in their work space with complete safety and hoe to deal with hazards when
they are in situation of risks or threat. Various types of practices that are
found to be useful while implementing safe work procedures are inculcated in
48
this chapter. You will also be introduced to the responsible personals that Safe Working
Practices
need to monitor the smooth running of and implication of safe working
practices at work places. This unit also lets you have knowledge about the
required procedure for conducting maintenance in confined space and
importance of documents on safe work practices. This unit will inform what
precautions and guidelines we should keep in mind while laying out the
machines or laying out the plant and what are the benefits of following those
principles.

Objectives
After studying this unit you should be able to:
 define the Safe working practices/ procedures;
 recognize proficient ways to outline the safe working procedures on
paper;
 discuss the utilization of safety measures in case of fire, explosion and
toxic gas cloud;
 describe the importance of safety manual, safety log for ensuring safety
in a plant

2.2 PROCEDURE FOR MAINTENANCE IN

CONFINED SPACE
Safety is a small word that encompasses a condition of being safe, free from
any kind of hazard, injury or risk to accident. There is another word called
reliability which is defined as a probability that component part, system or
dedicated equipment will satisfactorily conduct its intended functions under
the given situations for a specific period of time. In case of failure of any
equipment or any accident which might include simple spillage of oil on floor
or falls, slips, lockout etc., there comes the need for providing guidelines to
the workers and employees about such mishappening and how to overcome
and prevent these mishappening to reoccur in the plant. Before moving on to
safety procedures or processes it is imperative to understand the difference
between risk and safety. It all starts with the discussion of risk and eventually
ends up connecting risk and safety together at the end. Risk is broadly
categorized into two types namely;

 Individual risk

Individual risk is a probability of occurrence of death annually due to

exposure to an individual person at a certain distance from the hazardous
source. It mainly estimates in finding the risk of death. The individual
person who encounters or possess risk to his life are expressed via this
method. This evaluates fatality accident rate per year.

49
 Introduction to  Societal risk
Industrial Safety
Looking into another angle of risk called as societal risk is an estimation and
assessment of risk to a large group of people. By this number of people
affected by the entire incident can be calculated by using this method.
Societal risk builds relationship between the frequency and the total number
of people those suffer from hazard. By using FN curve the societal risks can
be expressed as relationship amongst cumulative frequency and number of
fatalities taking place. This type of study results into a convenient single
measure of group which is at risk.

Whenever a manufacturing activity is taking place there are always huge

chances of encountering accidents at the workplace. Therefore there is a great
need to design the system in such a way so that even if a worker is not
performing his duties according to the laid out principles in the manual, he
may not encounter any accident. Because if an accident takes place, it has
large number of implications like material loss, man hours loss, also the
person might face some injury. So it is desirable to take all these aspects into
account and have to design the systems in such a way that numbers of
accidents occurring in the work place are minimized to a great extent or are
closing to number zero. This is only possible if we design the system
effectively, educating the works through training about the safety norms and
practices as well as we keep into account that whenever there’s any accident
or some problem, that problem does not escalate into a catastrophic manner.

Sometime one accident leads to another accident and so on, such kinds of
effects need to be checked in advanced and conveyed to the workers for their
safety purpose. For this some principles must be designed whenever new
machine is laid out in the buildings, and if those principles are followed on
regular basis and religiously then the accident count is reduced and accident
prevention can be done to a great extent. In this main role is played by the
management people and they are aware of the costs involved in an accident,
as there are direct cost involved, indirect costs involved whenever there is
injury to any person, and as are the victims of the accidents. A person who is
victim and suffered some accident knows what cost they have been through
for their treatment, in case of severe injury they might lose some body part
which is undesirable from both industry point of view as well as workers
point of view also. The company has to bear other costs also for
troubleshooting the machine in case of break down machine or sometime
they may have to purchase a new machine in order to replace the obsolete
machine. Similarly company has to bear the cost of hospitalization of the
injured worker, and then there are other factors also like number of workers
involved in transferring the injured worker to the hospital, transportation
costs is affected, the man hour is lost, the productivity is reduced and there
are other indirect costs also that company may have to pay compensation
50 amount to the injured workers’ family or insurance company may come into
the picture at that time. So all in all, there are huge costs involved in case of Safe Working
Practices
occurrence of accidents in the workplace. So these problems need to resolve
by some means. So the question arises how these accidents can be minimized,
and how an individual worker can be made to realize importance of following
safety instructions. This can be done by getting the individual worker at the
point of operation to realize his personal responsibilities and duties. Also
these accidents can be reduced by organizing proper plant layout. But
maximum number of accidents usually takes place due to negligence of the
workers while performing their tasks or due to failure of the equipment.

If individual worker knows that due to his negligence some particular type of
accident or mishappening may take place then if he is cautious and if he is
performing his duty and job religiously by following the safety instruction
during working hours then there are no chance that would lead to an accident
to occur in a workplace.

Although there are still many chances in which equipment may fail and some
accident may take place, which is beyond workers control. But the important
part is to educate and train the workforces, that they willingly take the
personal responsibility in preventing the accidents. The management person
also plays a crucial role in designing the whole system in such a way that
accident incidents are not likely to occur in workplace. So the designs of the
system, plant, or building have to be such that there are least chances of
accident cases. In order to fulfill these requirements there are few guidelines,
precautions, principles, rules and regulations need to be followed while
laying down the building or a plant.

The layout of the plant and the machines as well as the tools should be
designed by keeping the accident prevention criterion in mind so that the
chances of the accidents can be prevented. The general principles of the plant
layout that should be kept in mind while designing the plant layout are as
follows;

 Need to keep minimum distances for transfer of materials in between the

plant or storage units to reduce costs and risks. Minimum transportation
of the material within the plant because it adds to the cost as well as it
may result into accidents also at some point.
 The geographical limitations of the site.
 Interaction with other plants on site.
 The need to locate hazardous materials facilities as far as possible from
site boundaries and people living in the local neighborhood.
 The need for plant operability and maintainability.
 The need to prevent confinement where release of flammable substances
may occur. 51
 Introduction to  The need to provide access for emergency services.
Industrial Safety
 The need to provide emergency escape routes for on-site personnel. The
people who are working on the sites, they should be aware of the escape
route from which they can escape in the case of emergency. So in a plant
or industry whenever an emergency arises or whenever there is a
catastrophe that destructs the industry or the plant there should be escape
routes available. Workers should ensure the escape routes and there
should be know-how to the workers that what are the available escape
routes in case of emergency. Even on the floors also marking scan be
done, that can help the workers to go out of the plant in case of
emergency.

 The need to provide acceptable working conditions for operators.

At times whenever a problem is confronted or accident due to fire takes place

or whenever there is some explosion in the plant, leads to power cut off. So in
such cases where power is cut off due to mishappening and if employers are
performing their night shift, there would be complete darkness and the
workers wouldn’t be able to identify the direction in which they should
escape from the accidental arena. So, it is imperative that proper facilities to
be provided for the workers to escape in case of emergency like provision of
certain fluorescent path or some guidelines which would help the workers in
tracing the route and escaping the plant in case of emergency. So to providing
the escape route to onsite personals is very important whenever laying out the
plant design. Proper working conditions for operators need to be insured
because sometimes humidity levels are very high, in some plants the heat
generated is very high, so considering all the aspects the plant layout should
be such that acceptable working conditions are provided to the operators.
Sometimes the workers have to perform some minute tasks and if the
adequate lighting arrangement is not there then the worker may not feel
comfortable and his eyes may not be lasting for too long or his eyesight may
get defected or permanently impaired. So whenever a plant layout is planned
or designed, all above mentioned particular aspects must be taken into
account while planning any layout to provide acceptable working conditions
to the operator. So the main important point that must be kept into mind
while plotting any plant layout, there are certain guidelines and principles, if
we keep those principles in mind then there are always chances that number
of accidents that in a well-designed plant are minimal or are very close to
zero.

From Safety Point of View

 Prevent, limit and/or mitigate acceleration of adjacent events (domino

effect): this point states that in case that one event happens then it should
not lead to another event and so on. It should be prevented in its initial
52 phase only.
 Ensure safety within on-site occupied buildings: is signifies that if any Safe Working
Practices
single event occurs, it should not lead to another event in the workplace.
So it is very important to ensure and provide safety within the onsite
occupied infrastructure. Ultimately it is also important to accommodate
safety for those nearby buildings also.

 Control access of unauthorized personnel: it states that only authorized

persons should be allowed to enter the plant and they should have easy
access to emergency services.

 Facilities access for emergency services: This means the in case of

occurrence of accidents, workers should have information regarding the
escape plan as well as adequate access should be provided for making
the emergency services to enter the plant for the safety of people or
workers struck inside the plant in case of accident.

2.3 INHERENT SAFETY

 Intensification to reduce inventories

Keep only those resources inventories that are actually required.

Sometimes there are certain parts or materials that are still lying in the
inventory which at present time are not at all required or which were in
demand in past at some point of time and in present time those extra
inventories might lead to some kind of accidents. So here intensification
means that focus should be given to maintain the inventory to a proper
amount or minimize the inventory as excess inventory is not desirable.
From safety point of view also increased focus should be given on
reducing the inventory in the plant is the foremost point.

 Substitution of hazardous substances by less hazardous alternatives

In designing of the plant it is desirable to keep a spate space for keeping

hazardous substances and it should be kept away from work space, then
inherent safety says that if it is important to keep certain hazardous
substances due to frequent demands then keeping those substances that
are less hazardous will eliminate or reduce the risk of explosion to some
great extent. Replace the most hazardous substances with the less
hazardous substances to prevent the possibilities of mishappening.

 Attenuation to reduce hazardous process conditions i.e. temperature,

pressure

In cases where chances of rising temperatures are very high and it may
lead to some kind of accident, so attention must be given to those types
of conditions that such conditions do not prevail. Temperature and
pressures need to be controlled and monitored on regular basis so that
accidents do not take place due to these conditions. 53
 Introduction to  Simpler systems/processes to reduce potential loss of containment or
Industrial Safety
possibility of errors causing a hazardous event

Sometimes complex systems lead to a hazardous event. System need to

be designed in such a way that it is very simple and it does not lead to
any kind of accident. Simpler systems need to be designed in order to
reduce the potential loss of containment or possibility of errors
instigating a hazardous event.

 Fail-safe design e.g. valve position on failure

Fail-safe design means that even if some system failure intervenes in the
work place then there must be some sort of sensors or valves to check the
possibility of failure in that part during the functioning and attack the
problem before it tends to happen by stopping the equipment or machine
in order to prevent the accident.

2.4 INHERENT SAFETY INDICES

The inherent safety index is another imperative aspect that need be
understood thoroughly. Inherent safety index is the only one by which whole
process routes can be assessed, and consecutively the most suitable route for
further development can be found. There are many ways by which accidents
may take place, so there is huge need to provide for a particular system or for
particular working conditions in which the accidents do not take place and
the operators feels safe while working on their jobs and perform their duties
safely while working in the plant. There are still chances of accidents to
happen, in that case there is need to have a enumerated technique which
would help in checking and assessing the risk that how much is the risk
involved in that particular type of system or process. It is the most suitable
technique to minimize the risk. This method also compares the inherent
safety index of the plant with the cost of capital and production- it is believed
that inherently safe plants are cost-effective plants. Inherent safety index of
the plant and cost of capital and production are interrelated with each other,
so always there is risk involved with them and ultimate aim is to minimize
the risk. A plant is entitled as a cost effective plant when it is designed in
such a way that cumulative risks or chances of accidents associated with that
particular plant are minimum or lees in number. Cost effective plant in one
that do not involve direct or indirect cost of accidents.

Risk indices does not point out specific danger but it draws attention towards
those areas which are prone to risk and it provides the required in depth
analysis auxiliary-safety measures for those arena. So these risk indices are
found to be helpful in finding out or in identifying the areas where chances of
occurrence of risk is higher. It is but obvious that areas prone to higher risk
are at much greater risk of accidents. These risk indices helps in recognizing
54
areas that are most prone to incidents of accidents and assists in eliminating Safe Working
Practices
them from the plant. Risk indices are based on qualitative and quantitative
method. These methods are quite clear and cane be utilized quickly.
Quantitative means these risk indices will hold different numerical value for
different areas within the plant and this ultimately gives a lead to track out
that which area is having more chances of accidents and where are the least
chances of happening incidents. On the other hand quantitative technique
covers the range of hazardous materials process conditions and inventories.
So by making use of quantitative method of risk indices one can attain a
range by which person can point out that this thing is going to be hazardous.
This mainly covers the range hazards of materials process conditions and
inventory. There is another index which is called as OW-MOND index that
pin point particular type of hazards and also evaluates different indices
covering fire and other types of related explosions, in addition to overall
rating. This overall rating helps and gives conformity to the level of danger or
the level of risk associated with a particular area within the plant. So by
means of method that makes use of equations or graphs to locate the related
hazards. Comparatively graphs are easier to analyze and visualize. A
quantitative technique assesses the risks linked with the different stages of the
process and at different sites of the plant. Eventually these risk assessing
techniques are helpful in providing better understanding of the accident
prevention steps. As soon as these indices provide an idea of the area that is
more susceptible to accidents, preventive steps can be undertaken by the
management team to prevent that accident to happen. Accidental prevention
policies and procedures should be implemented for those areas that are more
prone to incidents of accidents. Risk indices are very important part of
industrial safety where chances of accidents are more. These risk indices
causes chances of occurrence of objectivity into the system in order to
counter the subjectivity. Ultimately to avoid occurrence of any accidents
these indices would aid in providing adequate management schemes for
undertaking preventive measures. These is one effect known as Domino
effect which could be better understood by considering an example of cycles
parked in a row. In case if we push one cycle then it will lead to fall of
second cycle, then circle and then ultimately all the cycles would fall with the
slightest push. This effect is termed as domino effect.

The loss of containment as well as chances of escalating the accident in any

form is monitored by assessment of the hazard in that particular plant layout.
It is imperative that supervisors and higher authorities are capable of ensuring
the escalation chances of the accidents by this it means that in case of
occurrence of single incident, it should not lead to other incidents in chain.
Also provision for some valve or some sensor control system is provided at
the site of hazard in case of occurrence of two events which needs to be
ignored. If these protective steps are not provided in advanced and some
incident takes place then the Domino’s effect will come into account and it
55
 Introduction to will lead to further catastrophe in the plant. It is very critical to conduct the
Industrial Safety
hazard assessment of the plant or site layout in a plant to insure the minimum
escalation of the incident. Event of fire, toxic gas cloud or explosion might
lead to Domino effect at the site.

2.3.1 Different Events and their Occurrence

In subsequent sections different events (fire, explosion and toxic gas
cloud) are discussed in a manner of their occurrence

1. Fire

Incident of fire and its spreading can take place owing to following factors;

 Direct burning (including running liquid fires)

 Convention

 Radiation

 Conduction

By splitting of vertical and horizontal sections by employing fire resisting

walls as well as floors the spreading of fire from its originating source can be
prohibited to a great extent. In this case compartmentation is another term
which can be used to avoid spreading of fire. For example, in case a large
hall is there in any plant and in that if any incident of fire happens at one
specific area then it is clear that this fire will be spread to the entire hall. But
this escalation of fire can be prevented if entire hall is divided by providing
different compartments like four to five compartments in a single hall that too
built with fire resistant walls and fire resistant roof. Then fire occurring at
one specific area will not be able to proceed or spread into other areas due to
splitting of entire hall in the form of fire proof compartments. Ultimately fire
will remain in that specific compartment only thereby reducing the risks to
other places. In this way fire can be arrested to one specific area of the plant.

Another thing is that more emphasis should be laid on the spread of

flammable materials by means of ventilation systems, channels and pipes. In
case of occurrence of fire the provision must be provided to deliver this fire
from one place to another place through a proper channel like via ducts,
drains or ventilation system to ensure the safety of employers and other
personals working in the vicinity of the fire area. Consideration of these
provisions must be taken into account while designing the layout of the plant
or the building. Dispersed flammable gases and vapors are considered as a
means of eruption sources that may promote the fire incident leading to
Domino effect in one site where fire has taken place. So proper monitoring is
necessary to check and ensure the flammable gases and vapors from leading
further fire enhancement. Therefore, inherent safety principle helps in
56
protecting and preventing the Domino effect happening due to convention,
conduction and radiation. By following the guidelines and principles Safe Working
Practices
provided during laying out the plant helps in reducing the Domino effect and
ultimately huge damage that could be caused due to fire can be prevented. In
other words the magnitude of destruction can be reduced to a great extent.
Other modes include Active and/or Passive fire protection measures. Active
and/or Passive fire protection measures are different in their working
methods yet they are very important in providing the overall fire safety in a
building or plant. The equipment or techniques utilized under active and
passive fire protection measures are enlisted in Table 2.1.
Table 2.1: Fire protection measures: Active and Passive Fire protection
Measures

Active fire protection measures generally include manually operated or

equipments that require some amount of action to be performed like portable
fire extinguishers, water sprinklers. Others protection equipments included
under AFP are fire/smoke alarm system, fire extinguishers (automatic) and
sprinkler systems. Fire extinguishers are employed to shut down the fire
altogether whereas fire/smoke alarms are employed to sense the presence of
any fire or smoke related event inside the building. Similarly sprinkler
systems aids in slowing down the fire till firefighters arrive at the incident
site. AFP aids in taking action against putting out the fire but this system may
confront failure sometimes at the time of operation. For example, sprinklers
may fail due to frozen pipes which restrict water supply and adequate water
pressure, lack of maintenance.
On the other hand, it is much more than just fire extinguishers and water
sprinklers. Owing to maintenance issues water sprinklers might fail so in that
case passive fire protection measures come into role. Passive fire protection
team generally begins its work by compartmentalizing the entire building into
different sections which prevents or slows down the growth of fire from one
part to the other parts of the building. The preventive equipments that come
into PFP include fire resistant doors, walls, roofs, floors and fire/smoke
dampers. The coating of fire resistant material with fire protective coats is
57
 Introduction to also included in PFP preventive measures. Dampers generally help in
Industrial Safety
preventing the outburst of fire throughout the building via ducts or drains.
Providing photo luminescent path helps workers to escape the plant safely in
case of fire event. However, PFP does not take any kind of preventive step
by itself but with the assistance of AFP these both can be much helpful in
preventing and spreading the fire in the building. The total duration of
exposure determines the most suitable system for protection during the fire
event. The passive fire protection measure is effective only for short duration
of time, mostly one to two hours. But if fire exposure is for longer duration
like more than 3 hours then active fire protection measures come into role.
Which safety measure (active or passive fire protection system) is to be
undertaken depends upon the site factors. Site factors usually includes
substance possessing fire hazards, substances’ toxicity and the smoke/fumes
produced, size of inventory, frequency of hazardous operations. The hazard
possessed by substance will decide which type of protection system needs to
be used whether it will require active or passive or a combination of both
mode of protection. Therefore, it is also desirable to necessitate the need for
conducting fire safety audit in plant once in every month. Figure 2.1 depicts
all the checks that are conducted during fire safety audits.

Water Based Fire Life Safety

Fighting System Fire Extinguisher

Gas
FIRE SAFETY Passive for Protection
Suppression AUDIT
System

Fire Hazard Identification

Fire Detection and Alarm
System

Figue 2.1: Diagram for Fire Safety Audit at a Plant

There are other criteria also which should be kept in mind while adopting the
type of safety (active or passive) measures, like substances’ toxicity and
fumes produced during the fire. Similarly the size of the inventory also plays
important role while adopting the type of preventive measures. Suppose fire
outbursts into the plant and if it is not controlled within three to four hours
then active fire protection systems are called for emergency services e.g.
sprinklers. But if that fire is shut down within half to one hour then passive
fire protection services could be thought of adopting in that time. Other than
this there are other criteria also that should be kept in mind like frequency of
hazardous operation, distance between different hazardous installations, and

58
available resources to fire brigade. All these parameters need to be kept in Safe Working
Practices
mind while calling for active or passive fire protection services.
2. Explosion
Some guidelines and principles must be followed to safeguard the plants or
buildings against the incidents of explosion. The plant and related system
should be safe whenever any explosion takes place. Pressure waves or
missiles usually lead to explosion propagation. It is imperative to make a note
of it that explosion going to occur, what are the possible causes and
consequently what are the basic principles or guidelines that must be kept in
mind while designing a building or a plant to safeguard it against explosion.
As we have seen in case of fire in previous part that fire may spread from one
starting point to another point via different modes of conduction, convention
and radiation then similarly measures must be taken in case of explosion
casualties also. A lot of factors promote the incident of explosion, like
presence of combustible source, confinement of dust, dispersion of dust,
oxidants, ignition sources etc. as shown in Figure 2.2. Preventive measures in
case of explosion might include blast walls that prevent transfer of explosion
from one site of the plant to the other part of the plant. In order to prevent
severe damages caused due to explosion adequate safety procedures must be
undertaken like some valves or sensors or some accident control devices that
will not allow the explosion to occur or in case of explosion it will prevent
the progress of explosion to the other parts of the building.

EXPLOSION

Figure 2.2: Factors Leading to Explosion

The plant damage can be prevented by providing vessels possessing thicker

walls so that the damage caused due to explosion is least. Other important
point to note regarding explosion prevention measure is that the explosion
relief vents must be directed away from vulnerable areas like nearby other
industries or buildings, roadways passing by site boundaries. By providing
these explosions relief vents the damage caused due to explosion can be
prevented to a great extent. 59
 Introduction to 3. Toxic Gas Cloud or Release
Industrial Safety
Other type of hazard linked to the explosion is discharge of toxic gases in the
environment that may lead to Domino effect by rendering neighboring
industries, adjacent sites, plants and injuring workers working in the vicinity
and leading to accidents. This type of Domino effect can be controlled by
preventing, mitigating hazards associated with the explosion through the
utilization of automatic control systems by adopting inherently safer
guidelines and principles and a convenient control room for conducting all
these required preventive steps. Ultimate requirement is stop these kinds of
damages or hazards that may take place due to explosion. Explosion usually
takes place due to release of gases and these leaked gases can be detected by
using some sort of gas detector implanted in the areas prone to gas leakages.
These gas detectors alerts the employers working in that area by generating
an alarm and will warn the security checkers to take preventive steps in case
of leakage of toxic gas in the environment. The control mechanism can be
effective in that case where the defect or gas leakage is detected in shortest
possible time. Consequently the damage will be minimal leading to the
prevention of the possible damage and reduction of consequences of event on
and off site.
The first foremost thing to keep in mind for reducing the consequences of
event on and off site is storage of flammable or toxic materials well outside
the processing areas. By locating all the high-volume storage of flammable or
toxic substances at a distance from the processing areas can help in reducing
the chances of explosion in the working area. Other thing to be noted is the
plants those deal with the hazardous materials should be located far away
from the main roadways and should be isolated from other nearby
functioning industries. The consequences of the events can be minimized by
placing and implanting remote actuated isolation valves where high
inventories of hazardous materials can be discharged into vulnerable areas.
By providing such provisions of control mechanism the number of accidents
occurring due to high volume storage of hazardous materials can be
obstructed. Ditches, embankments, dykes and slope terrain are provided to
contain and control the release of toxic liquid from spreading from one point
to other site of the plant and ultimately limiting the safety and environmental
effects thereby reducing the resultant consequences of the event. Another
preventive measure that can be taken for preventing explosion is by siting the
plant as secondary containment within the building. The plants must be sited
in open air so that even if any small leakage of gases and vapors tends to
happen in the building rapid dispersion will be ensured for those released
gases thus preventing the incidents of flash fire and explosion. It means that
plants should be sited in open atmosphere conditions for easy release of
flammable gases through provisions of vents.

60
Also when part in a plant is suspected with some toxic substances or Safe Working
Practices
flammable substances, then it will lead to creation of atmosphere full of those
flammable gases. This will lead to an accident or huge explosion if
preventive measures are not carried out on time. For preventing these
incidents of explosion, open air ventilation should be provided in a plant for
easy evacuation of vapors, flames, gases and dusts. In addition to these
measures, care should be taken to avoid actions of ignition at these suspected
areas. For the sake of example if a person visits any petrol pump, authorities
advises all visiting customers not to smoke or light a match stick there, it is
because such ignition sources might lead to the incident of fire explosion.
Figure 2.3 is enclosing all the necessary preventive steps that are required and
must be adopted for avoiding possible hazards that might be confronted while
working at work sites.
Identify Hazards/Threats

Mitigate Hazards

Recognize other hazards

Keep trying

Recognize other hazards

Evaluate Hazards

Audit and Revise Identify Possible

Resources

Evaluate those
Conduct Mock Drills Resources

Integrate with Develop Emergency

Community Response Plan

Communicate to Train Responsible

Public Persons

Figure 2.3: Preventive Steps for Avoiding Hazards at Work site

61
 Introduction to There are other methods also that can be opted for checking the leaks related
Industrial Safety
to cylinders like soapy water solution for flammable gas leak check, testing
with inert gas for toxic corrosive gas.
Adequate positioning of occupied buildings is also one such concern that is
correlated with the incidents of accidents and taken into account while talking
about the aspects of industrial safety. In order to evaluate and decrease the
dangers associated with the events of fire, explosion and toxic gas release
there is huge need for governing the distance between the occupied building
as well as the plant building. The distance required for maintaining between
the occupied building and plant building will be solely dependent upon the
hazard and risk involved in fire, explosion, and toxicity.
Also poor plant layout may suppress the evacuation or escape route which
might lead to catastrophe in case of accidents related to fire, explosion, and
gas leak. Also the monitoring person should be aware of the escape route and
his sitting should be provided in the building sited in non-hazard area. Also
the responsible personal who has been assigned with the site responsibilities
should be located near to main entrance. Non-hazard area should be occupied
by all the authorities those holds the control of all safety regulations of the
plants. Another aspect to be kept in mind while laying out plant is that the
building where sitting of responsible personals are there it should not be sited
downwind of the hazardous plant parts as it may lead to the Domino effect
which has been discussed in previous section.
In case of absence of proper ventilations there are chances of trapping of
flammable vapors, suffocation and explosion in the plants. So either forced
ventilation or natural ventilation there should be provision for ventilation in a
plant in all the parts for the smooth functioning of plant and labors working
in hazardous environment.

2.3.2 Segregation of Incompatible Substance

This is another major aspect which should be taken under consideration
before laying out any plant and should be inculcated in the inherent safety of
plant. There are many industries that make use of different substances but
they do not know their chemical reactions, properties and how these can
affect the labors working nearby those substances. Provisions are provided
for workers to make them understand the guidelines and precautions that
must be undertaken to handle those hazardous substances, but there are many
newly joined personals also that do not have much knowledge about handling
that particular substance, so their proper training is a must before appointing
them their jobs. Mishandling of these hazardous substances might lead to
accidents. So proper measures must be undertaken while mixing such
substances, the worker must have ample knowledge about the consequences
of mixing such substances and their related Domino effects. There are
sometimes chances that the worker who is mixing two substances does not
62
have knowledge about the reaction that would take place and as a result of Safe Working
Practices
mixing explosion might take place. So to avoid these accidents trained
employers must be allowed to perform such tasks and they should have that
kind of know how guidelines while working with those type of substances.
This same thing applies for the quality of the product manufactured. If a
product is manufactured and its quality aspects are not ensured by the quality
checking team then it may result in disaster that may be in the form of fire or
explosion. Or sometimes it also can result in the form of vapors which may
lead into a total failure along with the release of toxic gases leading to big
hazard and ultimately leading to the incident of accident.
That’s why segregation of incompatible substances is also considered as one
of the most important aspect that needs attention in industrial safety. This can
be done by adopting inventory management technique for managing the
materials and substances for preventing accidents occurring to them.

2.5 IMPORTANCE OF DOCUMENTS ON SAFE

WORK PRACTICES
Documentation of safe work instructions plays a vital role in any industry as
these act as the foundation for that particular work place. A local
management personal enrolled, is generally responsible for developing and
implementing safe work practices in an industry. Figure 2.4 depicts all the
possible checks that are conducted by safety management department in a
plant. Safe work practicing is nothing but a set of instructions that are usually
recommended for undertaking any process or activity safely. Those industries
who have their safe working instructions in written format possesses safe
working system, also they conforms overall health and safety of their
employers.
Risk Assessment

Workstation Inspection

Incident Tracking

SAFETY
MANAGEMNET

Employee Qualification
Action Item Tracking

Employee Safety Training

Figure 2.4: Role of Safety Management Department in a Plant

63
 Introduction to These safety instructions in written format are an essential part of the system
Industrial Safety
for ensuring safe working conditions during actual operation. Management
team takes the responsibility of conducting and ensuring safe working
environment for the employers. For achieving this motto, management team
provides multiple safety trainings, orientation programs and induction
trainings to the newly appointed workers as well as to the newly shifted
workers.
Safe work practices can be categorized into following three basic practices
that must be undertaken to minimize the incidents of accidents and inhibit
injuries:
 Task Hazard Analysis: this generally compiles the processes that are
responsible for analyzing and finding all the possible hazards associated
with the current task, the details of the control actions that must be
adopted in case of mishappening and circulating the safety practice
instruction manual amongst the workers that need to be followed to
reduce the possibility of accidents and injury.
 Safe Work Procedures: this category generally addresses and
introduces the step-by-step and systematic procedures to the employers
for making them aware of hazardous tasks that they are working for
completing the task. The risks possessed with high hazard tasks are
eliminated from day to day working sites by providing step-by-step
procedures to the workers, so that they can follow those instructions
while conducting their desired job and can complete their work with
hundred percent safeties.
 Codes of Practice: this usually involves reviewing of those tasks that are
identified as high or medium risk level tasks and development of safe
work procedures and providing these manuals to the workers working
with those tasks. Some risk level determination matrix is developed
under this category and some guidelines associated with the identified
risks are provided for proper safety precautions. These codes of practice
gives practical solutions and guidance to the personals those are
responsible for conducting some risk related work or business and makes
them to understand their desired duties in case of accident. These
practices can be applied to any type of workplaces whether it is remote,
mobile or outdoors. These codes of practices gives information regarding
first aid kits, related procedures, facilities and providing training for first
aid providers.
The recording of safe procedures in documents form provides details
regarding following;
 Details regarding policies, rule, regulations, guidelines and necessary
procedures.

64
 Maintaining consistency and uniformity in the safety concerns of Safe Working
Practices
workplace.
 Checking for the up to date version available for the safety instruction
manual.
 Evidence of past happenings or accidents, and information related to
them for avoiding reoccurrence of such incidents again in future.
 Proper record handling and their management.
 Record retention time and their proper disposal in case of newly
developed safety record manual. Obsolete documents and manuals must
be discarded properly.
 It should also provide emergency escape routes.
 First aid treatments techniques must also be incorporated.
 Hazard/ Incident reports could also be enclosed.
 Training and induction programs checklist should be included.
 Performance management related plans.

These instructions once prepared can be recorded in hard copy or electronic

media form for easy access and effective retrieval or replacement by an
authorized personal for confronting purposes like examination/analysis,
internal and external assessment, and evidence of legal compliance,
evaluation as well as review, and training needs. The media in which the data
related to safety are recorded must be useable, reliable and must be preserved
for as long as required.

Emergency plan should also be provided in the safety booklet for ensuring
easy escape routes to the employers. The role of first aider in case of
emergency must be assigned in accordance to their acquired qualification and
competence. The employers should be informed about the first aider so they
are aware of what to do and who to communicate in case of sickness or injury
while working in a plant. The information provided must be in easy
understandable language, must be accessible and it must consider the literacy
level of labours working there.

Different modes can be used for explaining the instructions like verbal
methods or visual methods. A verbal method takes into account the methods
of explanations and demonstrations whereas a visual method addresses
instructions via posters and videos.

If a person is working in hazardous environment, the following (Figure 2.5)

two types of permit procedures need to be kept in mind;

First air instruction and information must include few points like first air
equipment location and dedicated facilities, name of affected person and

65
 Introduction to location of that person, the required step-by-step procedure to be followed in
Industrial Safety
case of first aid requirement.

Figure 2.5: Types of Permit Procedures

All these information need to be delivered to the workers during induction

training.
There is another way of recording day to day activities for ensuring safety
aspects of workplace which is called as safety checklists or safety logs. A
safety log is indeed a very essential record that should be provided to each
and every employee of the industry for assessing their daily basis activities,
their machines on which they are working for ensuring the smooth run of that
machine. Safety should be considered as the first most priority which should
be taken into consideration by each industrialist.
No matter what, it is responsibility of the management team to ensure the
safety at workplace and safety or employer working in that work station. A
workplace is said to have effective safety system when it consists of up-to-
date safety checklists along with safety manual. These safety checklists
encompass written steps for both the events of a work day as well as the
training, and day activities.
A safety log may be comprise of different audits, inspections, sessions as
well as other relevant information that may be related to weather and total
workers working on a machine or project or work floor. There are many
benefits that are associated with writing these safety logs on daily basis like:
 It aids in verifying the adopted safety measures
 It makes a list of factors influencing the safety of workers
 It provides information related to the factors that are confronted before,
during and after an event has occurred
 Recorded information on safe log could be utilized during prosecution
66 which might be faced in future.
  This record could be used as information for detecting weaknesses and Safe Working
Practices
faults that could be avoided in future.

Labour Attitudes: Workers are not interested or are obstructive

51 Percent (%)
Staff does not analyze the risks or problems at worksite

36 Percent (%)

Least involvement of workers in health and safety

33 Percent (%)

Organizational resistance to change

33 Percent (%)

Lacking Safety Culture

32 Percent (%)

Figure 2.6: Main Barriers Confronted by Health and Safety Practices at Worksite

There are few obstructions that are confronted in attaining safety and health
practices in a workstation. Figure 2.6 enlists various types of factors along
with percentages that are leading to increase in number of accidents at plants.
A variety of factors contribute to organizational safety performance. The
culture of organization is also affected by company values and beliefs.
Organizational culture aids in recognizing and handling hazards via effective
safety methods which indirectly helps in identifying and eradicating injuries
and illness which might affect the organizations safety and health if not
solved prior to actual happening. The overall safety and accident prevention
is monitored by senior management’s leaders and desired actions are taken up
under their supervisions.
SAQ 1
a) State True or False T/F

i) Individual risk is a probability of occurrence of death

quarterly due to exposure to an individual person at a
certain distance from the hazardous source.
ii) Societal risk is an estimation and assessment of risk to a
large group of people.
iii) While laying down the building, consideration of
guidelines, precautions, principles, rules and regulations is
not required.
iv) Blast walls that prevent transfer of explosion from one site
of the plant to the other part of the plant.
67
 Introduction to
Industrial Safety
b) It all starts with the discussion of risk and eventually ends
up connecting risk and safety together at the end. Explain
types of risk associated with the manufacturing activity.
c) Write down general principles which should be kept in
mind while laying out the plant layout.
d) Explain different events (fire, explosion and toxic gas
cloud) in a manner of their occurrence.
e) Explain inherent safety indices.
f) Why documentation of safe work instructions plays a vital
role in any industry?
g) Write down the barriers that are confronted by health and
safety practices at work site.

2.6 LET US SUM UP

An industry providing importance and greatly determining the safety culture
is considered to be more employers’ safety environment. Safety Manual
focuses on accident prevention on a priority basis and preventing employees
against injury or harm. A company’s performance can be escalated by
appointing dedicated supervisor for regularly monitoring, devoting and
arranging training sessions for making understand labours, employees and
new comers about safety aspects via orientation programs. When
organization is systematic and organized its productivity and performance are
automatically enhanced owing to providing training to employees,
opportunity and right to participate during decision making process.

2.7 KEY WORDS

Dangerous goods – Also referred to as hazardous materials. Any solid,
liquid, or gas that can harm people, other living organisms, property, or the
environment.
Fire precautions: The measures taken and the fire protection features
provided in a building (e.g. design, systems, equipment and procedures) to
minimise the risk to the occupants from the outbreak of fire.
Fire prevention: The concept of preventing outbreaks of fire, of reducing the
risk of fire spreading and of avoiding danger to persons and property from fire.
First aid: The skilled application of accepted principles of treatment on the
occurrence of an accident or in the case of sudden illness, using facilities or
materials available at the time.

68
OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration – A government Safe Working
Practices
agency in the department of Labor to maintain a safe and health work
environment.
Safety Manager – Provides cost savings and staffing flexibility while
ensuring you’re in compliance with safety regulations.
Safety Strategy – The act of being safe, understand how strategy affects
structure and how the choice of structure affects efficiency and effectiveness.
Active System - A system that uses mechanical means to satisfy load
demand as opposed to passive systems.
Risk -When we refer to risk in relation to occupational safety and health the
most commonly used definition is 'risk is the likelihood that a person may be
harmed or suffers adverse health effects if exposed to a hazard.
Explosion -An explosion is the result, not the cause, of a rapid expansion of
gases. It may occur from physical or mechanical change.
Toxic- It is a chemical that has a median lethal concentration (LC50) in air of
more than 200 parts per million (ppm) but not more than 2,000 parts per
million by volume of gas or vapor, or more than 2 milligrams per liter but not
more than 20 milligrams per liter of mist, fume or dust, when administered
by continuous inhalation for 1 hour.

2.8 ANSWERS TO SAQs

SAQ 1
a)
i) F
ii) T
iii) F
iv) F
b) Individual risk
Individual risk is a probability of occurrence of death annually due to
exposure to an individual person at a certain distance from the
hazardous source. It mainly estimates in finding the risk of death. The
individual person who encounters or possess risk to his life are
expressed via this method. This evaluates fatality accident rate per
year.
 Societal risk
Looking into another angle of risk called as societal risk is an
estimation and assessment of risk to a large group of people. By this
number of people affected by the entire incident can be calculated by
69
 Introduction to using this method. Societal risk builds relationship between the
Industrial Safety
frequency and the total number of people those suffer from hazard. By
using FN curve the societal risks can be expressed as relationship
amongst cumulative frequency and number of fatalities taking place.
This type of study results into a convenient single measure of group
which is at risk.
c) The general principles of the plant layout that should be kept in mind
while designing the plant layout are as follows;
 Need to keep minimum distances for transfer of materials in
between the plant or storage units to reduce costs and risks.
Minimum transportation of the material within the plant because it
adds to the cost as well as it may result into accidents also at some
point.
 The geographical limitations of the site.
 Interaction with other plants on site.
 The need to locate hazardous materials facilities as far as possible
from site boundaries and people living in the local neighborhood.
 The need for plant operability and maintainability.
 The need to prevent confinement where release of flammable
substances may occur.
 The need to provide access for emergency services.
 The need to provide emergency escape routes for on-site personnel.
The people who are working on the sites, they should be aware of
the escape route from which they can escape in the case of
emergency. So in a plant or industry whenever an emergency arises
or whenever there is a catastrophe that destructs the industry or the
plant there should be escape routes available. Workers should ensure
the escape routes and there should be know-how to the workers that
what are the available escape routes in case of emergency. Even on
the floors also marking scan be done, that can help the workers to go
out of the plant in case of emergency.
 The need to provide acceptable working conditions for operators.
d) Fire: Incident of fire and its spreading can take place owing to following
factors;
 Direct burning (including running liquid fires)
 Convention
 Radiation
 Conduction

70
 By splitting of vertical and horizontal sections by employing fire Safe Working
Practices
resisting walls as well as floors the spreading of fire from its originating
source can be prohibited to a great extent. In this case compartmentation
is another term which can be used to avoid spreading of fire. For
example, in case a large hall is there in any plant and in that if any
incident of fire happens at one specific area then it is clear that this fire
will be spread to the entire hall. But this escalation of fire can be
prevented if entire hall is divided by providing different compartments
like four to five compartments in a single hall that too built with fire
resistant walls and fire resistant roof.
i) Explosion: Some guidelines and principles must be followed to
safeguard the plants or buildings against the incidents of explosion.
The plant and related system should be safe whenever any explosion
takes place. Pressure waves or missiles usually lead to explosion
propagation. It is imperative to make a note of it that explosion
going to occur, what are the possible causes and consequently what
are the basic principles or guidelines that must be kept in mind while
designing a building or a plant to safeguard it against explosion.
ii) Release of toxic gases: Other type of hazard linked to the explosion
is discharge of toxic gases in the environment that may lead to
Domino effect by rendering neighboring industries, adjacent sites,
plants and injuring workers working in the vicinity and leading to
accidents. This type of Domino effect can be controlled by
preventing, mitigating hazards associated with the explosion through
the utilization of automatic control systems by adopting inherently
safer guidelines and principles and a convenient control room for
conducting all these required preventive steps. Ultimate requirement
is stop these kinds of damages or hazards that may take place due to
explosion. Explosion usually takes place due to release of gases and
these leaked gases can be detected by using some sort of gas
detector implanted in the areas prone to gas leakages. These gas
detectors alerts the employers working in that area by generating an
alarm and will warn the security checkers to take preventive steps in
case of leakage of toxic gas in the environment.
e) The inherent safety index is another imperative aspect that need be
understood thoroughly. Inherent safety index is the only one by which
whole process routes can be assessed, and consecutively the most
suitable route for further development can be found. There are many
ways by which accidents may take place, so there is huge need to
provide for a particular system or for particular working conditions in
which the accidents do not take place and the operators feels safe while
working on their jobs and perform their duties safely while working in
the plant. There are still chances of accidents to happen, in that case there
71
 Introduction to is need to have a enumerated technique which would help in checking
Industrial Safety
and assessing the risk that how much is the risk involved in that
particular type of system or process. It is the most suitable technique to
minimize the risk. This method also compares the inherent safety index
of the plant with the cost of capital and production- it is believed that
inherently safe plants are cost-effective plants. Inherent safety index of
the plant and cost of capital and production are interrelated with each
other, so always there is risk involved with them and ultimate aim is to
minimize the risk.
f) Documentation of safe work instructions plays a vital role in any
industry as these act as the foundation for that particular work place. A
local management personal enrolled, is generally responsible for
developing and implementing safe work practices in an industry. Figure
2.4 depicts all the possible checks that are conducted by safety
management department in a plant. Safe work practicing is nothing but a
set of instructions that are usually recommended for undertaking any
process or activity safely. Those industries who have their safe working
instructions in written format possesses safe working system, also they
conforms overall health and safety of their employers. These safety
instructions in written format are an essential part of the system for
ensuring safe working conditions during actual operation. Management
team takes the responsibility of conducting and ensuring safe working
environment for the employers. For achieving this motto, management
team provides multiple safety trainings, orientation programs and
induction trainings to the newly appointed workers as well as to the
newly shifted workers.
g) Labour Attitudes: Workers are not interested or are obstructive
ii) Staff does not analyze the risks or problems at worksite
iii) Least involvement of workers in health and safety procedures
iv) Organizational resistance to change
v) Lacking Safety Culture

2.9 REFERENCES AND FURTHER STUDIES

1. www.oshacampus.com
2. www.safeopedia.com
3. Marcel Simard, Alain Marchand, “A multilevel analysis of
organizational factors related to the taking of safety initiatives by work
groups” vol. 1, pp. 5-9, (1995).
4. Marc A. Rose, “Engineering Health and Safety Module and Case
Studies”, vol. 1, pp. 1-9, July (2004).

72
5. “Management of Industrial Accident Prevention and Preparedness” A Safe Working
Training Resource Package UNEP, vol. 1, pp. 55-97, June (19 Practices

73