What is Inherent Safer Design (ISD), and how can I implement it to ensure plant safety?
For bulk powder processing plants of all types – from dairy to pharmaceutical — plant safety is job No. 1. The sheer number of moving parts and equipment means a host of factors could go wrong at any given time. That’s where Inherent Safer Design (ISD) comes into play.
ISD aims to design and operate a safe processing plant. It tries to eliminate, or at the very least very significantly reduce, hazards in a plant rather than just manage them with procedures or hardware.
If your plant is looking to reduce the costs that accompany safety equipment or enhanced procedures, then ISD may be a worth implementing.
Chemical Processing offers three approaches for implementing ISD in new and existing plants:
- An inherent safety analysis of a process using an ISD checklist
- An independent Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) for a plant focusing on ISD
- A complete PHA of the plant with ISD considerations fully incorporated into the PHA discussions
Looking to improve plant safety even further?
One area often overlooked by bulk powder processing plants is outdated hose clamps and flexible connections. Old-fashioned hose clamps are likely to fail in the event of an internal dust explosion. By replacing hose clamps with the BFM® fitting, plants can significantly reduce this risk and enhance plant safety. The BFM® fitting expands with the sudden pressure shock, but the internal snap band seal does not fail.
Discover more about the BFM® fitting and its plant safety benefits.
