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Chemical Safety Board Releases Safety Bulletin Regarding Preparing Process Equipment for Maintenance
- Develop standard operating procedures for preparing all process equipment for maintenance, including de-inventorying, decontaminating, washing, steaming, purging, and draining equipment and vessels.
- Develop a process that requires pre-planning and hazard identification prior to initiating all equipment preparation activities.
- Do not rely on single block valves when isolating equipment for de-inventorying or decontaminating activities prior to maintenance work.
- Initiate a process to evaluate hazards that may be introduced when an equipment preparation task or isolation plan needs to be modified or expanded.
- Use closed systems to control the dissipation, draining, or relieving of hazardous energy when preparing to isolate equipment for maintenance. Do not drain materials containing or potentially containing volatile hydrocarbons or flammable materials into oily water sewer systems not designed for such services.