Total compliance: Choosing a route
August 1st 2010 Varying approaches and techniques have been developed
to identify the hazards and reduce the risk posed by plant
and equipment. So,how does an organisation choose the
most effective and cost efficient route to compliance?
Wesley O'Shea, project manager, Pilz Ireland, comments
Process Safety,Machine Safety, EMC,
ATEX and Pressure Equipment are all
commonly used buzz words within
the industrial safety community. Depending
on the application, the installation and the
hazards present, varying approaches and
techniques have been developed to cater for
the identification of hazards and the
reduction of risk posed by
plant and equipment.
Organisations now have a
choice of techniques
including Risk Assessment,
HAZOP, SIL Determination,
Basis of Safety Analysis,
Electrical and Mechanical
Integrity Reviews etc. along
with a range of legislation;
Machinery Directives new
2006-42-EC or old 98-37-
EC, Process Safety EN
61508 or EN 61511, Safety
Category or Safety Integrity
Level.
Whether purchasing new
plant or equipment, making modifications
or upgrades – the target must be 'Total
Compliance'. In trying to achieve total
compliance, the customer is faced with the
unenviable task of defining all Legislation
and Standards applicable to his/her project
and then determining how to coherently
identify and address all risks across a range
of engineering and organisational
disciplines. Traditionally, plant and
equipment were defined as either a Machine
or a Process and subsequently a Machine
Risk Assessment or HAZOP would follow.
However the defining line is not so clear and
often hazards and compliance requirements
were only partially addressed or even missed.
The industry is now moving towards Total
Compliance via a more holistic approach.
This approach promotes the use of a
standalone team with the internal
competency to carry out a full Compliance
Assessment of the plant/machine/equipment.
The Compliance Assessment encompasses,
hazard and operability, machine safety,
explosion risk, functional safety etc., carried
out by a single team, through a single
assessment and delivered in a single report. It
is easy to imagine the savings achievable by
this approach when we consider the
potential for reduction in meetings,
documentation review cycles, action
prioritisation and so on.
To demonstrate this Total Compliance
approach we will take the example of a
customer in the pharmaceutical industry.
During the planning stages of an upgrade
project whereby a batch manufacturing area
was due to undergo a full control system
retrofit incorporating the purchasing of new
auxiliary process equipment, it was decided a
Total Compliance Approach was necessary in
order to manage the project from both a
process safety and machinery safety aspect.
The combination of Machine CE Marking,
Process Control Hazards, Functional Safety
Requirements and Explosion Protection was
proving a significant challenge to the plant
engineering and EHS departments. The
challenge was how to best address all
mandatory requirements of relevant
legislation in a timely and cost effect manner.
The traditional approach of having several
teams working on HAZOPs,Machine Risk
Assessment, SIL determination and
Explosion Protection would have paralysed
the project both from a cost and time
perspective.
The Total Compliance Assessment team
systematically reviewed the plant compliance
status in a single assessment. So rather than
having a HAZOP, then a Risk Assessment,
then a SIL meeting, a single combined
assessment covered all areas. The Total
Compliance Assessment team analysed E&I
drawings, P&IDs, PFDs, Hazardous Area
Classifications,Machinery Requirements,
Safety Critical Loops and EMC and Noise
implications for surrounding personnel and
equipment. Following the onsite assessment,
a single report was delivered to the customer,
this report provided an identification of all
risks along with a single prioritised action
listing. As a result of this integrated
approach, the customer estimated that the
duration of this project stage was reduced by
approximately 40% with a comparable
saving on resource requirements.
As part of its Safety Engineering Services,
Pilz offers a 'Total Compliance Assessment'.
This offers customers a one-stop solution for
all plant and equipment, whether new or old.
No longer does the customer need to decide
between Machinery Directive or ATEX
Directive, between HAZOP or Risk
Assessment: Our 'Total Compliance
Assessment' covers all areas in a combined
multi-disciplinary approach, Several Areas -
One Assessment: Total Compliance. More articles from Pilz Ireland: | 
