Policy Area: Occupational Health & Safety

Standard: S503-Functional SHE Standard: Fire tube/shell Boilers

Effective from: January 2020

Revision & date: Version 4, December 2019

Document Owner: Unilever Health & Safety at Work Committee

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This document has been prepared by Unilever’s Health & Safety at Work Committee
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by the Unilever Group. The information contained in this document constitutes
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accurate or complete statement of the practices to be followed. No other person may
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and their associated companies

S503-Functional SHE Standard: Fire tube/shell Boilers 1

Summary

Boilers pose a potentially significant major process safety risk. This standard defines
Unilever’s mandatory process safety requirements regarding the design, construction,
installation, commissioning, operation, maintenance and repair of boilers.

The principle risk is one of accidental loss of containment and/or explosion.

Scope

The scope of this specific standard is restricted to ‘Boilers’ at all Unilever owned locations,
even if the operation, maintenance or equipment ownership has been outsourced to a third
party.

When existing, or second hand, systems and components do not fully comply with this
standard, an improvement plan must be put in place to bring the system into compliance with
this standard, or alternative measures must be taken to ensure an equivalent level of safety is
achieved, proven by a specific risk assessment.

In countries where there exist stricter national regulatory requirements than described here,
then these must take precedence over Unilever requirements.

Definitions

The following definitions apply:

- ‘Competent Person’ means a person who possesses sufficient technical knowledge and
experience of the boiler, relevant local legislation, Hazard Assessments, maintenance
and who is able to ensure that the equipment operates safely.

- ‘Pressure’ means pressure relative to atmospheric pressure, i.e. gauge pressure.

This standard addresses following Pressure Equipment:

1. Steam or pressurized hot water boilers

2. Steam or pressurized hot water distribution and control network that have not been
built to strict international standards or those that have been modified locally without
reference to the original fabrication standards

* Extract from the Unilever PSMS Guidance Document : A major process safety incident is defined as an incident
resulting in multiple fatalities, multiple serious occupational injuries/illnesses, a threat to the health and well being
of the people living in the local community or any major fire, explosion, loss of containment etc., which could
foreseeably attract the sustained (> 1 day) interest of the national media or damage the long term corporate
reputation of Unilever or of one of its major Brands.

Risk management

All Boilers:

A risk management programme must be in place for all Boilers, covering at least the following
areas:

• A Competent Person must be nominated in writing by the most senior person on site
(normally the Works Director) to have overall responsibility for the implementation of the
risk management programme. This person may be supported by other named individuals
with specific support roles.

S503-Functional SHE Standard: Fire tube/shell Boilers 2

• The organisation’s management team must be guided by this Competent Person and must
consult that person when undertaking the annual Positive Assurance Review (PAR) for
boilers.

• A detailed hazard analysis must be executed in order to identify and record all boilers on
the site.

• Before starting the operation of a new, significantly extended, modified or repaired system,
all boilers must be identified, and a hazard analysis must be carried out. Corrective
actions must be completed, and the results must be approved and filed by the Competent
Person.

• Hazard analysis must be revisited following any significant system change or at a

frequency determined by the original / last study team but not less frequently than every 5
years.

• Where required, the eMOC. Approval system must be used in support of management of
change processes.

Design and Manufacture

All Boilers:

• Packaged boilers must be designed and built to a recognised national or international

standard. For boilers, British Standard 2790, European Standard EN 12953, American
ASME Standards (Sections I and IV), and German TRD Standards are examples of
acceptable standards.

• Packaged Fire tube/shell boilers must be of “wet back design” (totally water-cooled
submerged reversal chamber) and have maximum furnace tube and reversal chamber
metal temperature of 400C. The ends of the smoke tubes must be fitted into the tube
plate of the wet back reversal chamber by welding with a V or a J preparation.

• In new installations blow down vessels must be used in preference to blow down pits.

• For all boilers a detailed hazard analysis must be carried out and the outputs used in the
design and specification of the system to identify critical items and to define control points
in their manufacture.

• Inspection for conformity with relevant design and manufacturing standards (e.g. ASME I,
IV, VIII and X, PED, European Standard EN 13445) must be carried out during fabrication,
and validated fully before the equipment is accepted.

• In all cases, the design of the boilers must make provision for the use of appropriate
examination / inspection techniques necessary to maintain safe and reliable working.

• Safety devices and controls must be identified for all boilers in order to mitigate risks in the
hazard analysis.

• All boilers must be fitted with at least one pressure relief device, the size of which must be
such as can discharge the maximum quantity of fluid which can be supplied to the equipment
without causing a rise in vessel pressure of more than 10% above design pressure.

• The discharge location of pressure relief valves must be determined during the detailed risk
assessment such that any venting is to a safe location.

• All safety devices protecting boilers must be examined and tested for functionality at least
annually or at the same time as boiler itself, whichever is the more frequent.

S503-Functional SHE Standard: Fire tube/shell Boilers 3

Commissioning

Commissioning must be undertaken by competent persons only before starting the operations
of the boiler after construction, extension or any modifications.

Operation

• Specific operating and maintenance procedures must be available.

• A high standard of housekeeping must be maintained in the boiler plant areas.

• A document control system must exist for all essential boiler procedures, manuals and
drawings.

• Boiler plants must only be operated by competent and approved operators.

• As a minimum requirement, all Boiler plants must have at least all safety controls (alarms)
fully automated, even if the plants are always manned.

• The stack temperature or the soot level must be checked and recorded periodically.

• The burner and boiler auxiliaries must be maintained on at least an annual basis by the
burner supplier, a specialist 3rd party or specifically trained internal staff.

• The water level must be controlled automatically by a closed loop control system which
must as a minimum standard be based on an external float control incorporating a hard-
wired low low (extra-low) level burner cut-out which requires manual re-setting after
activation.

• For gas-fired or oil-fired boilers an electronic flame failure detection device which triggers
an audible alarm must be installed on the burner.

Maintenance and Repairs

• The risks associated with any repair procedures, and the implications of all repairs and
modifications must be fully evaluated for their effects on boiler integrity and safety and
approved by a Competent Person who is fully familiar with the equipment and all of the
risks associated with the repairs and/or modifications proposed, prior to any activity taking
place.

• The feed water for steam boilers must be pre-processed to achieve a boiler water quality
consistent with the boiler manufacturer’s specifications.

• Chemicals must be dosed to control residual hardness in the boiler water at an acceptable
level.

• An oxygen scavenger must be dosed into the boiler water to maintain zero oxygen levels
in the boiler.

• A bottom blow down to remove boiler sludge must be carried out according to a fixed
schedule.

• A top blow down must be carried out periodically in response to water quality
measurements.

• Chemical cleaning can damage and reduce the life of a boiler and must only be used
where other alternatives have failed. If chemical cleaning is required it must never be used

S503-Functional SHE Standard: Fire tube/shell Boilers 4

 more frequently than once every two years, and professional advice must be sought
regarding improving water treatment to prevent the problems from recurring.

Periodic inspection, testing and corrective actions

• A routine inspection includes at least the monitoring of the major plant parameters must be
carried out in accordance with the boiler supplier's recommendations or local legislative
requirements whichever are stricter, and the results recorded.

• A written inspection plan, approved by a Competent Person, must be in place for.

• Boilers with a special focus on safety devices and critical instrumentation, must be
inspected and calibrated in a manner appropriate to the risk posed by a failure of the
system. The scope of the inspection must address all recognised failure modes and must
include tests which guarantee the continued safety of the installation until the next
inspection is due.

• The minimum inspections as summarised in Table 1 must be followed. Further guidance is

available on the UPC OH&S Section - Guidelines.

Marking, coding and labelling

• All boilers must be permanently marked, either on the vessel itself or on a plate attached to
the equipment, with at least the following: manufacturer's name, serial number, year of
manufacture, maximum and minimum allowable pressure and design temperature.

Documents and procedures

• There must be one full and up-to-date register of all boilers on site. This register must
contain as a minimum the name plate information as above together with the date of the
most recent and next statutory inspection.

• For each item of boiler, the site must have an up to date Process & Instrumentation
Diagram.

• There must be an up to date logbook (on paper or electronically) that records as a

minimum: relevant operating conditions (pressures, temperatures, water levels), any
abnormal events, results of regular inspections, repairs and maintenance activities.

• Specific working procedures must be in place and accessible for standard operation and
maintenance activities concerning every component of boiler.

Skills, competencies and training

• Required skills and competencies for operational, maintenance and

supervision/management staff must be clearly defined.

• Actual skills and competencies of staff involved with boilers must be checked at least
annually against the defined requirements, and any corrective actions necessary
implemented immediately.

• Skills and competencies of contractors and suppliers working on boilers must be assessed
and the results recorded.

• Boiler operators must be routinely trained in line with the national regulations regarding
boiler operations.

• There must be a periodic Boiler Plant Safety Awareness Training for relevant staff.

S503-Functional SHE Standard: Fire tube/shell Boilers 5

Monitoring and Internal Auditing

There must be a management system in place to check and monitor compliance with the
requirements of this standard, with involvement of an independent competent person (e.g.,
senior manager, third party or colleague from another Unilever site). Refer to Specific SHE
Standard: SHE Management Systems PAR Verification/Auditing.

Supporting documentation

• Guideline Document: G503-01 Guideline for Boiler Inspections

• Guideline Document: G503-02 Guidance - Critical Pressure Equipment - shell boiler - table
inspections-V090309

• ASME, BS, TRD standards, European Standard EN 12953

• BS ( www.bsi.org.uk )

• PED ( http://ped.eurodyn.com )

S503-Functional SHE Standard: Fire tube/shell Boilers 6

TABLE 1 Fire tube/Shell boilers: Summary of areas that must be inspected, frequency of
inspection (after start first operation) and techniques that must be used. Only the annual
inspection is required for the first 4 years of a boiler’s operating life, then the boiler inspections
must conform to the schedule below. There is currently no maximum age after which a boiler in
good condition must be retired.

Area Feature Annual 2-3 yearly 5-6 yearly

Inspection Inspection Inspection

Tube plates Surface condition V V V

Internal condition Not required Not required UT
Plate to shell welds V MT UT
Plate to tube welds V MT MT/UT
Plate to furnace tube V MT UT

All tubes; furnace, smoke Surface and general V V V

and stay condition
Wall thickness Not required V/UT V/UT
Straightness V V V
Absence of cracking V MT MT

Reversal and flue Surface condition V V V

chambers
Integrity of welds V V MT
Integrity of refractory V V V

Shell Longitudinal welds Not required V UT

Circumferential welds Not required V UT
Plate condition including V V UT
thickness
Branch and nozzle V V UT/MT
connections
Other structural welds Not required V V/UT/MT
(e.g. gusset stays, tie
rods)
Cradle welds/plinths etc V V V

The legends used above are: V = Visual inspection

UT= Ultrasonic inspection
MT= Magnetic particle inspection
FM = Field Metallography

S503-Functional SHE Standard: Fire tube/shell Boilers 7