Abstract
There are several hazards associated with oil and gas plants, but fire and explosion are the most destructive events. To minimize the possibility and consequences of negative events and hazards, a variety of industries, such as oil and gas, require a substantial amount of health, safety, and environmental engineering expertise. Fire safety engineers play a very significant role in developing fire safety designs and analyses during the design stage. As part of this process, other departments, such as process, instrumentation, and piping, are consulted. While there has been a considerable amount of research conducted on safety-related issues in the past, including safety culture, management, risk assessment, safety instrumented systems (SIS), and inherent safety implementation, no study has addressed the role of safety engineers in preventing and mitigating fires. This review examines the roles and responsibilities of safety engineers during the design process of oil and gas plants in a comprehensive and general manner with the objective of preventing and mitigating fire hazards.
Similar content being viewed by others
Code or data availability
Not applicable to this paper.
References
Alnoaimi F, Mazzuchi T (2021) Risk management application in an oil and gas company for projects. Tech Manag Innov J 1(1):26–45
Baalisampang T, Abbassi R, Garaniya V, Khan F, Dadashzadeh M (2017) Modelling the impacts of fire in a typical FLNG processing facility. Proceedings of the international conference on safety and fire engineering (SAFE’17). Cochin University of Science and Technology, p C1
Bae JH, Shin SC, Park BC, Kim SY (2016) Design optimization of ESD (emergency shutdown) system for offshore process based on reliability analysis. MATEC Web Conf 52:02003
Baron H (2015) Oil and gas engineering guide, 2nd edn. Technip
Beyler CL (1983) Development and burning of a layer of products of incomplete combustion generated by a Buoyant diffusion flame (Fire Flashover). Harvard University
Bickerton J (2012) The fire triangle. Loss Prev Bull
Bottrill G, Cheyne D, Vijayaraghavan G (2005) Practical electrical equipment and installations in hazardous areas. Elsevier
Bozek A, Gordon C, Phillips N (2014) Electrical hazardous area classification design as a basis for safer operations. In: 2014 IEEE Petroleum and Chemical Industry Technical Conference (PCIC), IEEE, pp 459–464
Bryan A, Smith E, Mitchel K (2013) Fire and gas systems engineering handbook. Kenexis Consulting Cooperation, Columbus
Chettouh S, Hamzi R, Benaroua K (2016) Examination of fire and related accidents in Skikda Oil Refinery for the period 2002–2013. J Loss Prev Process Ind 41:186–193
Clark JD, Harris JW (1985) Fire and its roles in early hominid lifeways. Afr Archaeol Rev 3(1):3–27
Cullen LW (1993) The public inquiry into the Piper Alpha disaster. Drill Contract (united States) 49:4
Drysdale DD, Sylvester-Evans R (1998) The explosion and fire on the Piper Alpha platform, 6 July 1988. A case study. Philos Trans R Soc Lond 356(1748):2929–2951
Faller R (2004) Project experience with IEC 61508 and its consequences. Saf Sci 42(5):405–422
Fang L, Wu Z, Wei L, Liu J (2008) Design and development of safety instrumented system. In: 2008 IEEE International Conference on Automation and Logistics, IEEE, pp 2685–2690
Gisborne HT (2004) Fundamentals of fire behavior. Fire Manag Today 64(1):15–23
Goudsblom J (1992) Fire and civilization. Viking Adult. ISBN: 0140157972, pp.1–256
Gowlett JA (2016) The discovery of fire by humans: a long and convoluted process. Philos Trans R Soc B 371(1696):20150164
Harker SD (1998) The palingenesy of the Piper oil field, UK North Sea. Pet Geosci 4(3):271–286
Hartzell GE (1996) Overview of combustion toxicology. Toxicology 115(1–3):7–23
Hendershot DC (2011) Inherently a safer design an overview of key elements. American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), Professional Safety, pp 48–55
Hendershot DC (2012) Inherently a safer design. The fundamentals. American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AICHE), pp 40–42
Hoefer U, Gutmachera D (2012) Fire gas detection. Proced Eng 47:1446–1459
Huang Y, Jiang S, Liang R, Sun P, Hai Y, Zhang L (2020) Thermal-triggered insulating fireproof layers: a novel fire-extinguishing MXene composites coating. Chem Eng J 391:123621
Iakovlev IV, Pesterev AP (2022) Labor Safety in the Oil and Gas Industry. IOP Conf Ser 988(2):022038
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61508 (2010) Functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety-related systems, Part 1: General requirements, 2nd edn. IEC, Geneva
Ishii M, Ito Y, Yamamoto M, Harada H, Iwasaki M (1989) An automatic recognition system for piping and instrument diagrams. Syst Comput Jpn 20(3):32–46
Jafarov E, Tishkin D, Vagin A, Limonov B, Dorozhkin A, Actorsky Y (2021) Causes and consequences of fire emergencies on oil and gas platforms. Rev Geintec-Gestao Inov E Tecnol 11(2):1253–1258
Jin H, Lundteigen MA, Rausand M (2011) Reliability performance of safety instrumented systems: A common approach for both low-and high-demand mode of operation. Reliab Eng Syst Saf 96(3):365–373
Jinzhang J, Fengxiao W (2022) Study on emergency escape route planning under fire accidents in the Burtai coal mine. Sci Rep 12(1):1–9
Kashwani G, Nielsen Y (2017) Evaluation of safety engineering system in oil and gas construction projects in UAE. GEOMATE J 12(29):178–185
Khan FI, Amyotte PR (2002) Inherent safety in offshore oil and gas activities: a review of the present status and future directions. J Loss Prev Process Ind 15(4):279–289
Khan F, Rathnayaka S, Ahmed S (2015) Methods and models in process safety and risk management: Past, present and future. Process Saf Environ Prot 98:116–147
Lecheheb N, Abbas A, Nedjar M (2006) Adgas LNG plant pre-fire plans. SPE international health safety and environment conference. OnePetro
Lyon RK, Cole JA (2000) Unmixed combustion: an alternative to fire. Combust Flame 121(1–2):249–261
Mearns K, Yule S (2009) The role of national culture in determining safety performance: Challenges for the global oil and gas industry. Saf Sci 47(6):777–785
Miller K (1991) Piper alpha and the Cullen report. Indus LJ 20:176
Naik SB, Kallurkar S (2016) A literature review on efficient plant layout design. Int J Ind Eng 7(2):43–51
Nnadi U, El-Hassan Z, Smyth D, Mooney J (2007) Lack of proper safety management systems in Nigeria oil and gas pipelines. Delta
Nolan DP (2011) Fire fighting pumping systems at industrial facilities. William Andrew
Nolan DP (2014) Handbook of fire and explosion protection engineering principles: for oil, gas, chemical and related facilities. William Andrew
Ojuola J, Mostafa S, Mohamed S (2020) Investigating the role of leadership in safety outcomes within oil and gas organisations. Saf Reliab 39(2):121–133
Oubre HJ, Thurman R, Vallee JC (1977) Emergency shutdown systems-evolution and status. Offshore Europe. OnePetro
Panchal TS (2014) Science of Fire tetrahedron & Chain reaction of fire mechanism. Fire Eng 39(2):7–9
Pédrot PM, Tabareau N (2020) The Fire Triangle. Proc ACM Program Lang 4:1–28
Peterka P, Hagarová M, Krešák J, Vojtko M, Baranová G (2022) Failure analysis of the industrial water piping system leakage. Eng Fail Anal 131:105843
Petrovskiy EA, Buryukin FA, Bukhtiyarov VV, Savich IV, Gagina MV (2015) The FMEA-Risk analysis of oil and gas process facilities with hazard assessment based on fuzzy logic. Mod Appl Sci 9(5):25
Popescu CM, Pfriem A (2020) Treatments and modification to improve the reaction to fire of wood and wood based products—an overview. Fire Mater 44(1):100–111
Pula R, Khan FI, Veitch B, Amyotte PR (2005) Revised fire consequence models for offshore quantitative risk assessment. J Loss Prev Process Ind 18(4–6):443–454
Purkiss JA, Li LY (2013) Fire safety engineering design of structures. CRC Press
Pyne SJ (2019) Fire: a brief history. University of Washington Press
Rankin B (2007) Electrical equipment in hazardous areas: field inspections. Hazard Areas Conf-IDC Technol 2:2–16
Rao RS, Mkvsg K, Subrahmanyam A (2014) Challenges in oil and gas industry for major fire and gas leaks-risk reduction methods. Int J Res Eng Technol 3:16
Reddy PKA, Reddy ES, Bhaskar TNSS, Yadav BP, Singh AK (2020) Design of fire and gas detection system for a process plant: a review. Advances in industrial safety. Springer, pp 271–280
Reinhardt ED, Keane RE, Brown JK (2001) Modeling fire effects. Int J Wildland Fire 10(4):373–380
Roland HE, Moriarty B (1991) System safety engineering and management. John Wiley & Sons
Rosenberger R (2017) On the hermeneutics of everyday things: or, the philosophy of fire hydrants. AI Soc 32(2):233–241
Sanders RE (2015) Chemical process safety: learning from case histories. Butterworth-Heinemann
SKY Bray (2022) Safety management. https://www.skybrary.aero/articles/safety-management. Accessed 17 Dec 2022
Smith DJ, Simpson KG (2020) The safety critical systems handbook: a straightforward guide to functional safety: IEC 61508 (2010 Edition), IEC 61511 (2015 edition) and related guidance. Butterworth-Heinemann
Sotoodeh K (2018) Why are butterfly valves a good alternative to ball valves for utility services in the offshore industry? Am J Ind Eng 5(1):36–40. https://doi.org/10.12691/ajie-5-1-6
Spitzenberger C, Johnson C, Le M, Mshelia A, Pitblado R (2016) Strike the right balance between active and passive fire protection. CEP, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, pp 61–68
Srivastava A, Gupta JP (2010) New methodologies for security risk assessment of oil and gas industry. Process Saf Environ Prot 88(6):407–412
Stein L (2011) The triangle fire. The triangle fire. Cornell University Press, Cham
Suardin JA, McPhate AJ Jr, Sipkema A, Childs M, Mannan MS (2009) Fire and explosion assessment on oil and gas floating production storage offloading (FPSO): an effective screening and comparison tool. Process Saf Environ Prot 87(3):147–160
Suzuki A, Fuchino T, Muraki M, Hayakawa T (1991) An evolutionary method of arranging the plot plan for process plant layout. J Chem Eng Jpn 24(2):226–231
Toghraei M (2015) Plot plan design: process requirements. Chem Eng 122(1):52
Toghraei M (2019) Piping and instrumentation diagram development. John Wiley & Sons, USA
Tommasini R (2013) The classification of hazardous areas where explosive gas atmospheres may be present. Saf Sci 58:53–58
Tong SJ, Wu ZZ, Wang RJ, Wu H (2016) Fire risk study of long-distance oil and gas pipeline based on QRA. Proced Eng 135:369–375
Trollope WSW (1984) Fire behaviour. Ecological effects of fire in South African ecosystems. Springer, Berlin, pp 199–217
Tugnoli A, Cozzani V, Di Padova A, Barbaresi T, Tallone F (2012) Mitigation of fire damage and escalation by fireproofing: a risk-based strategy. Reliab Eng Syst Saf 105:25–35
Van Thuyet N, Ogunlana SO, Dey PK (2007) Risk management in oil and gas construction projects in Vietnam. Int J Energy Sect Manag. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203887059-13
Verma AK, Ajit S, Karanki DR (2010) Reliability and safety engineering, 43rd edn. Springer, pp 373–392
Wang CP, Shih BJ (2018) Research on the integration of fire water supply. Proced Eng 211:778–787
Watanapa A, Kajondecha P, Duangpitakwong P, Wiyaratn W (2011) Analysis plant layout design for effective production. Proc Int Multi Conf Eng Comput Sci 2:543–559
Yang X, Haugen S, Paltrinieri N (2018) Clarifying the concept of operational risk assessment in the oil and gas industry. Saf Sci 108:259–268
Yutao Z, Yuanbo Z, Yaqing L, Xueqiang S, Yujie Z (2021) Heat effects and kinetics of coal spontaneous combustion at various oxygen contents. Energy 234:121299
Zhu P, Liyanage JP, Panesar SS, Kumar R (2020) Review of workflows of emergency shutdown systems in the Norwegian oil and gas industry. Saf Sci 121:594–602
Zuccaro G (2012) A case of choice of passive fire protection (pfp) in an oil and gas epc project. Chem Eng Trans 26:315–320
Acknowledgements
Not applicable to this paper.
Funding
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
The manuscript is written by only one author, KS.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
Ethical approval
Not applicable to this paper.
Consent to participate
Not applicable to this paper.
Consent for publication
Not applicable to this paper.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Sotoodeh, K. Review of the role of safety engineers in the prevention and mitigation of fires during oil and gas plant design. Life Cycle Reliab Saf Eng 12, 83–92 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41872-023-00220-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41872-023-00220-y