DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

ABUBAKAR TAFAWA BALEWA UNIVERSITY, BAUCHI
First semester Examination 2019/2020 CHE414: Loss prevention

Instruction: Answer any three questions Time allowed: 2 hours

Question one (20 marks)

a. Hazards are everywhere. Unfortunately, a hazard is not always identified until an accident
occurs. How can hazards be reduced in chemical plants before advancement of an accident?
b. What is the main cause of accidents?
c. What are techniques of accident prevention?
Question two (20 marks)
a. Briefly explain the following terms as used in industrial safety:
i. Accident
ii. Hazard
iii. Accident prevention program
iv. Injury on duty
v. First aid injury
vi. Disabling injury
b. List with example, the four types of disability sustained in the course of an accident.
c. During the course of normal routine in industries, it was discovered that forty days were
lost due to disabling injury out of the normal three hundred and sixty-five days. Calculate
the severity rate.
Question three (20 marks)
a. In an effort to reduce the rate at which workers have hearing defect, a process industry put
in place the sound level should not exceed 80 dB. If the RMS sound pressure in the process
industry was reported to be 1.8*1024 Pa, compute the sound level and advice the company
appropriately.
b. List the basic safety and fire protective measures that should be included in all chemical
process industries.
c. Briefly explain the following safety strategies:
i. Inherent
ii. Passive
iii. Active and
iv. Procedural
Question four (20 marks)
a) Outline the steps HAZOP followed to complete an analysis.
b) Maintenance is very important for the success of any process industry. List the seven (7)
maintenance type available.
c) Briefly explain three (3) in b) above.
Question five (20 marks)
a) Environmental pollution can be classified into three categories, list the three categories
known to you.
b) Give three methods by which water pollution can be controlled.
c) Explain with example, the function of environmental legislators.

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MODEL ANSWERS FOR CHE414 2019/2020 SESSION
Question one (20 marks)
a. Hazards can be reduced in chemical process plant through the following
processes (1.5 marks each):
i. Process hazards checklists: this is a list of items and possible problems
in the process that must be checked.
ii. Hazards survey: this can be as simple as an inventory of hazardous
materials, or it can be as detailed as Dow indexes.
iii. Hazard and operability studies (HAZOP): this approach allows the
mind to go free in a controlled environment. Various events are
suggested for a specific piece of equipment with the participants
determining whether and how the event could occur and whether the
event creates any form of risks.
iv. Safety review: it is an effective but less formal type of HAZOP study.
The results are highly dependent on the experience and synergism of
the group reviewing the process.
b. Accidents are caused by the absence of adequate management control.
Accidents, ill health and incidents are seldom inevitable events. They
generally arise from failures of control and often have multiple causes.
Although the immediate cause of an event may be a human or technical
failure, such as events usually arise from organizational failings which are the
responsibility of management (5 marks).
c. Accident prevention are relatively simple because they are caused by the
presence the of hazards. They are preventable. Simple techniques have been
evolved for accident prevention through experience. The effective safety
program requires the removal of the hazards. To remove the hazards, the first
step is (1 mark each);
i. Identify the hazard, then further steps are the use of Es. These Es are:
ii. Estimate the hazard: estimate it in terms of its probability and severity.
iii. Eliminate the hazards completely: this means the removal of hazard. If
it is possible to eliminate the hazard completely eliminate same.
iv. Eliminate the hazard: this is by replacing it with less hazardous
alternative.
v. Engineering control: installing guards, guarding of machine is an
accepted engineering control measure all over the world. Here it’s not
only the guarding of moving parts of the machinery but also what a
particular machine is emitting, e.g. Noise, etc. to be guarded.
vi. Enclosing the man: by using personal protective equipment (PPE).
When you are not able to take any of the above measures, surrender to
the hazard and then you have to go to personal protective equipment.
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 vii. Education: education is required at every stage of implementation of
these Es.
viii. Enforcement: 75% of the work force changes with training but the
remaining workforce needs enforcement of every safety arrangement
made.
ix. Enthusiasm: enthusiasm is required for every stage of these Es.
Question two (20 marks)
a) Some of the terms used in industrial safety are (1 mark each):
 Accident: any unplanned event that interrupts or interferes with the orderly
progress of activity. All accidents do not necessarily cause personal injury.
 Hazard: any condition that may result in the occurrence of o contribute to the
severity of an accident.
 Accident prevention program: it is a formal organized effort to prevent
accidents from occurring/recurring.
 Injury on duty: any injury that arises out of or in the course of a person’s
employment.
 First aid injury: any injury on duty that needs only first aid as treatment.
b) Types of disabling injuries are (2 marks each):
i. Permanent total disability (PTD) – death
ii. Permanent partial disability (PPD) – losing body parts e.g. Finger
iii. Temporary total disability (TTD) – injured person unfit to work
iv. Temporary partial disability (TPD) – a person who has fracture and is
ok now. He requested for 2 days; the 2 days is his TPD.

∗
c) Recall: 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 =
45𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 ∗ 10
𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 = = 5860/ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟
320𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 ∗ 24ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠
(7 marks)
Question three
( )
a) Recall: 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔 𝑑𝐵
∗
1.8 ∗ 10 (𝑃𝑎)
𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔90000 = 29 𝑑𝐵
2 ∗ 10
(6.5 marks)

b) The basic safety and fire protective measures that should be taken are as
follows (0.5 mark each):
1. Adequate, and secure, water supplies for fire-fighting.

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2. Correct structural design of vessels, piping, steel work.
3. Pressure-relief devices.
4. Corrosion-resistant materials, and/or adequate corrosion allowances.
5. Segregation of reactive materials.
6. Earthing of electrical equipment.
7. Safe location of auxiliary electrical equipment, transformers, switch gear.
8. Provision of back-up utility supplies and services.
9. Compliance with national codes and standards.
10. Fail-safe instrumentation.
11. Provision for access of emergency vehicles and the evacuation of personnel.
12. Adequate drainage for spills and fire-fighting water.
13. Insulation of hot surfaces.
14. No glass equipment used for flammable or hazardous materials, unless no
suitable alternative is available.
15. Adequate separation of hazardous equipment.
16. Protection of pipe racks and cable trays from fire.
17. Provision of block valves on lines to main processing areas,
18. Protection of fired equipment (heaters, furnaces) against accidental explosion
and fire.
19. Safe design and location of control rooms.
c) i. Inherent
Identify and implement ways to completely eliminate or significantly reduce
hazards, rather than to develop add-on protective systems and procedures. Inherently
safer design includes identifying technology that operates in less severe conditions
rather than devoting extensive resources to safety systems and procedures to manage
the risks associated with the hazards. (1 mark)
ii. Passive
Add safety features that do not require action by any device. Passive devices perform
their intended functions without personnel or control actions. Passive systems
include dikes, passive flame arrestor, and the use of welded fittings versus flanged
or threaded connections. (1 mark)
iii. Active
Add safety shutdown systems to prevent accidents. Active systems include process
control systems, safety interlocks, automatic shutdown systems, and automated
mitigation systems. (1 mark)

iv. Procedural
Include standard operating procedures, safety rules, operator training, emergency
response procedures, and management techniques in general. (1 mark)
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Question four (20 marks)
a) The steps followed by HAZOP in completing analysis are (0.5 mark each):
i. Begin with a detailed flowsheet. Break the flowsheet in to a number of
process units. Thus, the reactor area might be one unit, and the storage tank
another. Select a unit for study.
ii. Choose a study node (vessel, line, operating instruction).
iii. Describe the design intent of the study node for e.g. vessel V-1 is
designated to store the benzene feedstock and provide it on demand to the
reactor.
iv. Pick a process parameter; flow, level, temperature, pressure, concentration,
pH, viscosity, state (solid, liquid, or gas), agitation, volume, reaction,
sample, component, start, stop, stability, power, inert.
v. Apply a guide word to the process parameter to suggest possible
deviations.
vi. If the deviation is applicable, determine the possible causes and note any
protective systems.
vii. Evaluate the consequences of the deviation (if any).
viii. Recommend action (what? By whom? By when?).
ix. Record all information.
x. Repeat steps 5 through 9 until all applicable guide words have been applied
to the chosen process parameter.
xi. Repeat steps 4 through 10 until all applicable process parameters have been
considered for the given study node.
xii. Repeat steps 2 through 11 until all study nodes have been considered for
the given section and proceed to the next section on the flowsheet.
b) The seven types of maintenance available are (1 mark each):
i. Breakdown maintenance
ii. Routine maintenance
iii. Preventive maintenance
iv. Predictive maintenance
v. Condition-based maintenance
vi. Corrective maintenance
vii. Pre-determined maintenance
c) The maintenance types are briefly explained as follows (1 mark each):
i. Breakdown maintenance: this is also called corrective maintenance. It
occurs when the plant stopped because of a machine breakdown. In this
sense, maintenance becomes repair as they are made after equipment is
out of order.
ii. Routine maintenance: this include activities such as periodic
inspection, cleaning, lubrication and repair of production equipment.
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 iii. Preventive maintenance: this can be seen as an equipment maintenance
strategy based on replacing or restoring an asset at a fixed interval
regardless of its condition. It can be time based e.g. weekly, monthly,
yearly e.t.c.
iv. Predictive maintenance: this is the maintenance type that may be
anticipated to gain an increasing attention. Sensitive instruments are
used to predict trouble conditions that can be measured on continuous
basis.
v. Condition-based maintenance: it is considered to be a more advanced
alternative to preventive maintenance. Its being inspected based on
schedule, machines and systems are carefully observed for changes that
could indicate upcoming failure.
vi. Corrective maintenance: this is initiated when a problem is discovered
while working on another work order. With corrective maintenance
issues are caught just in time.
vii. Predetermined maintenance: this is carried out using rules and
suggestions created by the original manufacturer rather than the
maintenance team. These suggestions are based on experiments and
gathered data.
Question five (20 marks)
a) Environmental pollution can be classified into three categories (1.5 marks
each):
i. Air pollution
ii. Water pollution
iii. Soil pollution
b) Water pollution can be controlled by the following methods (1.5 marks each)
i. Industrial and domestic wastes must be treated before disposal
ii. Recycling of wastewater through wastewater treatment
iii. Public awareness program
c) Environmental legislators are the body responsible for the enactments and
regulations embodying provisions concerned with environmental issues as
they broadly affect land, sea, and air. These laws impose sanctions in the form
of fines, imprisonment or damages which are subsequently enforced against
persons (natural or legal) who infringe the provision of these laws. In Nigeria,
environmental problems which we are confronted with include those arising
from mines, mineral exploitation, oil exploration, desertification,
deforestation, and problems associated with industrialization and urbanization
as well as the problems of environmental consideration in health care. (11
marks)