Maintenance, preserving well-established status, and changes, which constitute the basis for innovation and improvement, are the daily business of all employees responsible for process plants. As indicated in various legal and technical standards, the relevant methods to ensure both occupational safety and plant safety are hazard analysis and risk assessment.
In practice, it is very difficult to ensure safety. The accident rate of maintenance work is still a major focus point, and changes in processes are still leading to serious accidents, some of them with considerable off-site effects.
This brochure is focussed on hazards that are associated with maintenance and changes. It presents case studies and practical solutions to control such hazards.