How Automation Can Help in Safety Audits and Chemical Leakages?
Published on : Saturday 09-05-2020
Earlier this month, the government of India gave relaxation to some operations across certain industries with some restrictions, but the nationwide lockdown continued to May 17. Amid the lockdown, the country witnessed three industrial accidents on May 7. A gas leak in LG Polymer Plant at R Venkatapuram village near Andhra Pradesh's Vishakhapatnam, claimed 11 lives and left at least 1,000 people sick. Another one was seven people fell ill when they inhaled toxic gas at a paper mill factory in Chhattisgarh; and the last one was eight people who received burn injuries in a boiler blast at a thermal power plant in Tamil Nadu.
The incidents in factories occurred when they were getting ready to reopen after the lockdown, as some relaxations given to certain operations. After these unforeseen tragedies during the Covid-19 lockdown, the central pollution watchdog, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on Friday directed states to ensure that all units, manufacturing or storing hazardous chemicals, undertake a proper safety and hazard audit before resuming operations.
The CPCB in its letter to state pollution control boards (SPCB) and pollution control committees (PCC) directed that all such units should resume operations only after the lockdown. “Some serious cases of chemical leakages and industrial mishaps have been reported recently. In view of this all, the SPCBs should ensure immediate compliance of the advisory,” the letter said.
The CPCB also said that the SPCBs/PCCs shall ensure that pollution control equipment, effluent treatment plants including safety equipment and its machineries shall be kept in good operable conditions before resuming operation in the present COVID-19 situation. “They shall ensure that all units take utmost care in handling hazardous chemicals by using trained manpower. They shall closely monitor the situation and ensure that the environmental norms are not violated by any unit,” the pollution body noted.
Additionally, the body said, “The SPCBs will closely monitor any violation of environmental norms, ensure the safety of workers and residents in the vicinity and that units comply with all conditions stipulated in the Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical (Amendment) Rules, 1989, and the Chemical Accidents (Emergency Planning, Preparedness, and Response) Rules, 1996 without fail.
Automation to Improve Plant Operations and Maintenance
Making profitable operations in today's power and process plants, it is significant to advance overall efficiency and minimise costs. Therefore, to achieve those goals, operations and maintenance staff must respond quickly to potential problems. Using automation technology in the chemical industry can improve product quality and production rates, lowering the potential for operator error, and curtail manpower requirements.
For chemical plants, the transition to automation brings many added benefits. However, the initial investment could seem big, but reduced man-hours will deliver a quick return on investment. From process control systems to weighing technology to batch requirements, automation technology can be customized to the needs of an individual plant.
Today, every chemical plant across India must explore various options that exist in terms of commissioning and take advantage of automation services when and where possible. Automation is often recommended to address technical issues that could or have arisen within the chemical industry. It could become easier to create reports when there are organized control systems in place that are utilized to measure, weigh up, and generally work with the chemicals that may be used all through a plant, in particular, if they are toxic or harmful in nature.
Therefore, by taking advantage of commissioning and automation services, chemical plants can learn more about their options, even before they open their doors for the first time. Plants that have struggled in the past may also have the option to explore new ways to implement automation for the commissioning process to improve their operations and maintenance.