Designers' roles in plant safety go beyond regulatory compliance: Case Finland

An research project at VTT will be finalised in November 2011 when a guidebook dealing with the obligations and roles of external designers in assuring the safety of process plants will be released on the internet. The Occupational Safety and Health Act imposes obligations not only on the employer, but also (in Section 57) on the designers. In reality, the role of external designers and engineering companies in assuring the safety of process plants has increased. The proposed conference paper will discuss both the obligations and the roles of the designers. It will also describe the main points in the guidebook, e.g. how to manage safety during the design procedure involving several parties, and how to disseminate safety related information between the designers and to other parties later in the life cycle of a process plant.