ABSTRACT

The previous three chapters have discussed ways of making plants safer by reducing the inventory of hazardous materials and instead using safer materials or hazardous materials in a less hazardous form. This chapter discusses inherently safer ways of limiting the effects of failures (of equipment, control systems, or people) by equipment design or change in reaction conditions rather than by adding protective equipment that may fail or be neglected or may introduce other problems. Public opinion and legislation are making it increasingly difficult to control runaway reactions by venting gas to the atmosphere; instead, we should try to choose reactions and plant designs that make runaway reactions impossible. If we cannot do that, we should at least collect the discharge.