Safety World Tour
Premier issue
Yokogawa has been known for years as a leading vendor of control systems and process control instrumentation. We started supplying YOKOGAWA brand PLC-based safety systems in 1997. Following the release of the IEC safety standards in 1999, Yokogawa designed and developed a safety system that complied with these standards. Yokogawa’s ProSafe-RS Safety Instrumented System was released to the world market in February 2005 and introduced at the ARC Forum in Florida by our then-president, Isao Uchida. Ever since, my main task has been to promote industrial safety solutions around the world.
Everybody knows what risk is and we all take care in our daily lives to eliminate it. For instance, you can be robbed, have your house catch fire, crash your car, or get hit by a car. These can be avoided if you are careful. If you want to be even more cautious, you can, for example, buy a car with air bags, just in case. The idea of safety varies by country and region, and there are different laws in place. In Japan, pedestrians are protected by traffic laws. But in India or in the Middle East, you have to walk at your own risk. There often are no sidewalks. Contrast this with the Netherlands, where paths are marked out for both pedestrians and cyclists. The government looks out for both pedestrians and vehicles.
An explosion at a major petroleum company’s oil platform in the Atlantic killed 10 workers and the platform eventually sank. The loss amounted to over US$5 billion. Industrial plants are designed to carry out specific processes and are operated with control systems and equipment that comply with safety requirements. In some cases the equipment or systems do not perform as expected, or they are installed incorrectly. In other cases, after years of operation an entire facility can become worn out and/or some failures may be overlooked during periodic maintenance checks. Individuals take care not to fall while walking, and even greater attention is paid to the safety and security of plant operations and personnel. But no matter how careful we are, we may sometimes fall. Similarly, the risk of a plant accident is never zero.
The latest IEC standards require quantitative evaluation of process and plant risks, dictate a systematic approach to the design of safety equipment, and introduce the Safety Lifecycle concept. To illustrate the importance of a systematic approach, pressing a brake pedal alone will not stop a car; you also need a hydraulic mechanism to transfer that pressure to the brake pads or disks. All these components bring the car to a safe stop. In addition to the above requirements, the IEC standards mandate periodic equipment checks (Proof Tests) because the risk of failure becomes greater over time. ProSafe-RS was designed and developed based on the latest international standards and realizes full integration with the CENTUM CS 3000 R3 Integrated Production Control System. ProSafe-RS has also received SIL3 safety certification from TÜV, a German certification organization. Moreover, Yokogawa Group companies have obtained Functional Safety Management certification, attesting that our engineering standards, application know-how, and engineering processes meet international standards.
When you buy a new car, wouldn’t you automatically expect air bags to be supplied as a standard feature? But what about 20 years ago…? In a plant that is equipped with the latest, advanced technologies and operated by a minimum number of personnel, it may be difficult to visualize all the risks that can occur over the plant’s lifetime. When an emergency happens, there must now be a system that shuts down the plant safely without relying on an operator to push the ESD button after assessing the risks based on various process and/or equipment conditions. Though this may not be the best example to explain the situation in plants, there is no time for a driver to activate an airbag before a car crashes. In any case, plant accidents are more likely to occur when a plant becomes older and its safety system does not comply with the latest safety standards. It is often found that risk assessment does not give enough consideration to the lifecycle concept. Also, damage tends to be greater as the result of the delayed responses that come from relying on humans to make decisions and take action. All these cause casualties. Safety is a concern not only of plants, but of societies around the world that expect plants to have adequate safety measures in place.
Earlier in my essay, I mentioned that the idea of risk and safety standards differ greatly by country and region However, the IEC standards apply to process safety in most countries. As our business become increasingly borderless, it has become essential for plant operations to meet international safety standards. Think of an offshore oil platform, anywhere in the world, and consider the criticism you would receive from people all over the world for an accident that might kill personnel and contaminate the water. Though maybe only a few camels passing nearby might be directly affected by an oil well fire in the middle of a desert in the Middle East, an accident at a large process plant can certainly have a major impact on operations at downstream facilities. Many companies in the Middle East use systems that meet the same safety standards expected at sea.
Yokogawa considered all of the above when developing ProSafe-RS, and this product’s integration with our CENTUM Series production control systems has been well received by our customers. In the three years since its sales release, orders have been received for more than 250 projects in 45 countries. To meet our customers, I made 14 overseas business trips and spent more than 100 days on the road in 2007. I will continue to do my best to contribute to plant safety around the world.
Gourmet @ India
India is known for its spices and its people have a very refined appreciation of them. Spices are also used there as a preservative, and they are well suited for the Indian climate. Not all the spices are hot. The southern Indian tali in the picture used a lot of yogurt and tasted rather mild. I regret that my gastritis and esophagitis did not allow me to keep eating Indian food for more than three days. I had to take it easy after that by eating porridge (congee). If you wish to eat a fresh vegetable salad, you can always go to a five star hotel! By the way, Hindis never eat beef because cows are considered sacred.But did you know that even in India there are hamburger chains that sell 100% beef hamburgers around the world? Of course they have no such thing on their menu and serve vegetarian burgers instead. Lastly but not least, I will just comment that when you go around the world, you need not only a flexible mind but also a flexible stomach.
