PETROLEUM TRAINING REPORT

Submitted by:
LECTURE 3
DATE OF THE LECTURE: 31th May 2020
TOPIC OF THE LECTURE: Fire and Safety in Refinery
LECTURE BY: Sh. A.K.Singh
TIME AND DURATION OF THE LECTURE: 7:30pm to 9:00 pm. 90 minutes
SUMMARY:
The main aim of this lecture was get the knowledge for the reduction of losses due to fire
explosion and provide safe environment in the refinery. The lecture dealt with various parts
like risk with petroleum refinery , hazard, fire explosion,, causes of fire, protection from fire,
safety system in Gujarat refinery etc. all the important information before during and after the
fire were explained. A case study was also shared.
INTRODUCTION:
 Refinery major potential Hazard:
 Fire & Explosion hazard
 Toxic gas ( H2S, Cl2, SO2, CO ) release hazard
 Hazardous chemical ( H2SO4, HCL, Sodium Hydroxide, IPN, Benzene, Mercaptan,
Sodium ,Hipo-chloride, additives and blending agents etc spill hazards.
 Oil spillage from process vessels, lines, storage tanks, tanks wagons, POL road
tankers etc
 Radiation hazard during radiography of welded lines and equipment during S/D and
construction
 Vapor cloud formation and UCVCE
 BLEVE in case of LPG
 Electrical hazard
 Fall from height
 Vehicle accidents
 Hazards of Natural calamities like Flood and storm , lightening etc

 DEFINITIONS:
 HAZARD :Situation with a potential for damage to men, machines and
environment.
 Ex : Fire / explosion in LPG storage , Toxicity in chlorine storage
 RISK :Combination of hazard consequence and its probability of occurrence.
o Ex : Likely death of two persons in 100 years due to loading hose failure.
 FLASH POINT
 The flash point of a liquid is the lowest temperature at which sufficient vapour given
off to flash on the application of flame in the presence of air.
 AUTO – IGNITION
 The lowest temperature to which a solid, liquid or gas requires to be raised to cause
self-sustained combustion without initiation by a spark or flame.
 EXPLOSIVE LIMITS
 Explosive limits are those concentrations of a vapor or gas in air below or above
which propagation of a flame does not occur on contact with a source of ignition.
 The lower explosive limit is the minimum concentration below which the vapor air
mixture is too lean to burn or explode.
 The upper explosive limit is the maximum concentration above which the vapor air
mixture is too rich to burn or explode.

 FIRE AND FIRE RISK MANAGEMENT:

1.Fuel in the form of vapour, liquid or solid.
2. A source of ignition sufficient to initiate & propagate the fire.
3.Oxygen in sufficient proportion to form a combustible mixture.
Combustion process is observed in two modes.
For FLAMING COMBUSTION to occur, solid or liquid fuel must be converted into
a vapour, which then mixes with air and reacts with oxygen.
SMOLDERING COMBUSTION: On the other hand, involves a reaction between
oxygen and the surface of the fuel.This is a complex process and in general occurs
with solid fuels which char on heating.
 Petroleum refinery stores and handles large quantity of flammable materials
pose threat to the surrounding in addition to its own safety. It therefore,
necessitates the introduction of inbuilt fire prevention & fire protection
facilities.
 It is impractical and prohibitively costly to design fire protection facilities to
control all catastrophic fires. Usual requirement of a good system is to prevent
emergencies from developing into major threat to the installations and
surroundings.
 There are fire triangle, tetrahedron and dust pentagon to analyze the fire
explosions in case various fire due to elcelticity, fuel etc.
 There also the classes of fire:
 As per Indian Standards IS-2190:
 CLASS A : Fires involving ordinary combustible material like wood, paper,
textiles etc. Where the cooling effect of water is essential for extinguishments
of fire.
 EXTINGUISHING MEDIA - Water
 CLASS B : Fires in flammable liquids like oils, solvents, petroleum products,
paints etc. Where a blanketing effect is essential to extinguish the fire.
 EXTINGUISHING MEDIA - Foam, Carbon Dioxide, Dry Chemical
Powder.
 CLASS C : Fires involving gases or liquefied gases in the form of a liquid
spillage, or a liquid or gas leak. Here it is necessary to dilute the burning gas
at a very fast rate with an inert gas or powder.
  CLASS D : Fires involving metals like magnesium, aluminum, zinc,
potassium etc. Where the burning metal is reactive to water and which require
special extinguishing media.
 EXTINGUISHING MEDIA- Special dry powder.
 ELECTRICAL FIRE : Electrical fires are not treated as a class of their own,
since any fire involving, or started by, electrical equipment must, in fact, fall
into one of the other categories.
 The normal procedure for dealing with an electrical fire is to cut off electricity
and use an extinguishing media appropriate to what is burning.

 Thus these are various systems used in the fire management along with safety
management too. All the safety devices are uphold for any small case fire. All the
employees are given the fire acknowledgement for the safety purposes. There are Fire
Protection System which includes the ACTIVE and PASSIVE Systems. This would
ensure all the protective actions before, during and after the fire

SAFETY SYSTRM IN GUJARAT REFINERY:

 There are many various systems to keep the refineries working for the safety of the
employees and other staff members, there are procedures to be maintain in the system.
There are several system to be followed by the organization:
1. Observation of Monthly Safely Day on1st Day of each month
2. Safety Meetings/month Three tier- Shop floor(16), DGM/GM level(9)
Management level (MHSCM)
3. Practice of SAM (Safety Action Meeting) at unit level with participation of
executive & staff to find out solution to issues regarding routine activities through
brainstorming session and their implementation.
4. Observance of Monthly Safety Day on 1st working day of every month on various
Safety themes including discussion on lessons learnt from past incidents & hipo near
miss incidents.
5. Various safety awareness programs conducted during National safety day
week/Fire Service day /week involving participation of executive, staff and contractor
personnel.
6. During MHSCM rolling trophies are awarded to department contributing maximum
no. reporting and closing of NM and individual reporting maximum nos of NM.
7. Online Safety quizes are conducted during celebration of National safety day
week/Fire Service day /week and also on the monthly safety theme.
8. Reporting of unsafe conditions/acts and Near miss incidents for early compliance
through on line reporting system and receiving work permits .
9. Participation in preparation of Job Safety Analysis
 There are various protocols which are followed by the IOCL Gujarat Refinery for the
safety from the fire. There 14 standards taken by the organization to prevent the fire.
A new system which is called the Behaviour System which includes auditing, Process
Safety Information, Process Hazard Analysis, Quality Assurance, Training and
Performance etc.
 Indian oil corporation is committed to conduct business with strong environment
conscience ensuring sustainable development, safe workplaces and enrichment of
 quality of life of employees, customers and the community. we at Indianoil, believe
that good S,H&E performance is integral part of efficient and profitable business
management
 We shall :
 establish and maintain good standards for safety of the people, the processes and the
assets.
 Comply with all rules and regulations on safety, occupational health and environment
protection.
 Plan, design, operate and maintain all facilities, processes and procedures to secure
sustained safety, health and environmental protection.
 Remain trained, equipped and ready for effective and prompt response to accidents
and emergencies.
 Welcome audit of our S,H&E conduct by external body, so that stakeholder
confidence is safeguarded.
 Adopt and Promote Industry Best Practices To Avert Accidents And Improve Our
S,H&E Performance.
 Remain Committed to be a Leader in Safety, Occupational Health And Environment
Protection Through Continuing Improvement.
 Make efforts to preserve ecological balance and heritage.

CONCLUSION:
So at last , there are complete analysis of the system which explains the complete procedure
and how to handle the fire in various situation, the lecture put light through all major and
minor segments which are a part of this Fire System , Risk and Management.
NEXT LECTURE: Crude Distillation and Desalting By Sh D. Chakarborty