BOILER SAFETY article by P Mohan NIFS

There have been a spate of boiler accidents in recent months in major companies highlighting the need of a comprehensive safety on boilers, Boiler accidents are catastrophic and they bring out a huge loss on both human front and the production front. Boiler is a closed vessel where two important processes happens

• Heat generation during Combustion process(fuel burning process)
• Water getting converted to steam

Depending upon the type of boiler and fuel type used, these two processes creates substantial amounts of temperatures and pressure which are to be controlled and used for the required plant operations, If there is a inherent equipment damage, or failure to operate safely (or) the safety controls fail, then the boiler accident happens. The main problems arise out of boiler operations are agglomeration, scaling, fouling, slagging, embrittlement, corrosion, fatigue failure. Regularly following Safety precautions and safe operating procedures without any deviations will help prevent boiler accidents.

• Preventive maintenance schedule need to be done without any deviation and the preventive maintenance check list should be comprehensive which covers all the safety aspects related to the boiler attachments and boiler cleaning,
• Boiler log to be updated and to be checked and analyzed day wise for trends and any deviation observed in the parameters to be corrected and prevented. (Example like increase trend in exit gas temperatures indicates heat inside the boiler is not getting exchanged properly)
• Preservation of boilers to be done as per the requirement of the boiler as Shutdown/Start up procedure plays a vital role in eliminating start up accidents
• Ash deposits (either by fouling or slagging) to be prevented by timely maintenance and cleaning and integrating new cleaning technologies with help of boiler manufacturer.
• External and internal treatment of boiler feed water to be done to maintain water quality standards to prevent corrosion and scaling
• Water hammering to be avoided as continuous water hammering leads to fatigue cracks and lead to explosion.

Chemicals if not managed properly will lead to accidents. These accidents trigger fire, explosions and toxic gases are released into the atmosphere. Chemical hazards should be well understood in terms of stability, reactivity and incompatibility during transportation, handling and storage. The chemical and physical interaction hazards and risks should be clearly understood, documented, solutions to be implemented and carefully monitored. Unintended and uncontrolled reactions will lead to runaway reactions sharply raising the temperatures and if this happens in closed reactors or vessels will lead to dangerous pressure increase leading to rupture and release of toxic fumes.

The most important reasons for chemical accidents and their prevention are

1. Most chemical accidents are due to lack of awareness of reactive hazards. The storage of chemicals, segregation and handling based on the reactive hazards is of utmost safety importance in any factory dealing with multiple chemicals in different lot sizes.

• 2.Effective training to be given for both permanent employees and contract employees on safe handling and storage of chemicals on a continuous basis to enforce the importance of safety.
• 3.Mechanical integrity ensures that important critical plant equipment like storage tanks, vent systems, emergency shutdown systems, interlocks, sensors and safety valves are all functioning properly as per the process safety requirements

NIFS VISAKHAPATNAM 85+ CENTERS ACROSS INDIA NIFS, Institute of Fire & Safety Engineering, Advanced Diploma in Fire & Safety, Diploma in Health & Safety Environment Call for Admissions : +91 - 837 (434) 0999