An approach to boiler plant hazard assessment

The Finnish pressure equipment legislation was renewed in 1999. In order to improve safety in boiler plants, hazard assessment requirement came into effect for certain boiler plants. Requirement applies to plants with a steam boiler above 6 MW or a hot water boiler above 15 MW. According to the requirement, potential hazards and their causes and consequences in the plant must be identified. In addition, significance of hazards must be assessed, as well as the appropriateness of risk reduction measures and safety precautions. The hazard assessment process and its results must be described as a written report. The aim of the requirement is to raise knowledge of the plant's personnel on plant's safety and, thereby, help them to identify possible deficiencies in the current situation and to make improvements. An approach to boiler plant hazard assessment is described in this paper. The approach is based on the experience VTT Automation has obtained from several hazard assessment projects done for different plants according to the "Seveso II" directive (or the previous version) and other requirements. The approach is described by means of the main phases of the hazard assessment process. Some experiences and results based on case studies are also presented at the end of this paper.