Peter Webb from Beyond Risk Ltd. and on behalf of the Energy Institute will be speaking at Hazardex Live 2024 about safe plant reinstatement following intrusive work.

Companies operating major hazard process facilities must plan for the non-routine modes under which the plant will operate during its life. Reinstatement following intrusive work, or breaking of containment, is one such mode. The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) previously expressed concern over the number of hydrocarbon releases which have been reported by UK offshore oil and gas operators, associated with poor control of reinstatement. Similar issues have been reported for onshore major hazard facilities in other industry sectors. The HSE identified the need for industry consensus and a document which describes what constitutes good practice. The Energy Institute (EI) has published guidance which seeks to meet this need. The document sets safe reinstatement within the context of a process for intrusive work.

Safe reinstatement can be achieved by systematically ensuring that risks are sufficiently managed, including managing disturbed joints throughout the work activity, leak testing and line walking to check readiness for start-up. The document provides principles and good practice for carrying out these activities. Since the activities are performed by people, it provides human factors guidance on how to identify and manage relevant risks arising from human vulnerabilities. The importance of leadership in managing major accident hazards has garnered increasing attention in recent years and the document provides guidance and a framework for effective leadership of reinstatement activities.

The intended scope of application of the document is major hazard facilities, onshore and offshore. The project to produce the EI guidance was carried out by a working group of industry and regulator participants under the supervision of the EI’s Process Safety Committee. Drafting was carried out by a technical author who is the author of this presentation.

The presentation will provide an overview of the risks which exist in reinstatement and the good practices which can be applied to manage them. It will illustrate what can go wrong with examples of incidents.

About the author:

Peter Webb is a fellow of the Institution on Chemical Engineers and is a chartered member of IOSH with experience of HSE leadership, manufacturing management and process technology in chemicals, petrochemicals and oil refining. Until recently he was Regional HSE Director for LyondellBasell, responsible for HSE performance in 25 sites in Europe, Asia and Australia. LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Since leaving LyondellBasell, he has worked independently on activities where he hopes he can make a difference. Having witnessed first hand serious incidents during reinstatement, he strongly believes that this new EI guidance ticks that box. This is his first time presenting at HazardEx, but he has previously presented at IChemE Hazards conferences and was the recipient of the Hazards 20 Burgoyne Memorial Lecture award, when his paper was selected as the keynote address.