(2015026) MAKING SURE PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT AND OCCUPIED STRUCTURES ARE LOCATED PROPERLY AT OIL AND GAS FACILITIES
Determining the optimal equipment layout for an oil and gas facility must consider hazards resulting from a fire, explosion or toxic gas releases. Over the years, many incidents have occurred where workers were injured or equipment was damaged by explosions, fire or toxic gas releases when equipment or occupied structures were not located properly. This paper presents “state of the art” techniques to allow facility designers to optimally locate equipment to reduce the risk of injury and equipment damage.
This paper reviews current industry “best practices” and also presents examples for the proper layout and spacing of equipment at oil and gas facilities. The techniques presented in the paper enable the facilities designer or Engineer to quickly gather the information needed for the analysis, evaluate credible scenarios and then make the necessary judgments to properly locate equipment. The result of using the information presented in this paper is that equipment and occupied structures are properly located and spaced to reduce operational and safety risk.