Hazards Analysis, Code Compliance & Procedure Development

Services to identify process safety hazards and facilitate compliance with established standards and codes.

Combustible Dust Testing

Laboratory testing to quantify dust explosion and reactivity hazards

Flammable Gas & Vapor Testing

Laboratory testing to quantify explosion hazards for vapor and gas mixtures

Chemical Reactivity Testing

Laboratory testing to quantify reactive chemical hazards, including the possibility of material incompatibility, instability, and runaway chemical reactions

ISO Accreditation and Scope
Fauske & Associates fulfills the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2017 in the field of Testing
DIERS Methodology

Design emergency pressure relief systems to mitigate the consequences of unwanted chemical reactivity and account for two-phase flow using the right tools and methods

Deflagrations (Dust/Vapor/Gas)

Properly size pressure relief vents to protect your processes from dust, vapor, and gas explosions

Effluent Handling

Pressure relief sizing is just the first step and it is critical to safety handle the effluent discharge from an overpressure event

Thermal Stability

Safe storage or processing requires an understanding of the possible hazards associated with sensitivity to variations in temperature

UN-DOT

Classification of hazardous materials subject to shipping and storage regulations

Safety Data Sheets

Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

Biological

Model transport of airborne virus aerosols to guide safe operations and ventilation upgrades

Radioactive

Model transport of contamination for source term and leak path factor analysis

Fire Analysis

Model transport of heat and smoke for fire analysis

Flammable or Toxic Gas

transport of flammable or toxic gas during a process upset

OSS consulting, adiabatic & reaction calorimetry and consulting

Onsite safety studies can help identify explosibility and chemical reaction hazards so that appropriate testing, simulations, or calculations are identified to support safe scale up

Mechanical, Piping, and Electrical

Engineering and testing to support safe plant operations and develop solutions to problems in heat transfer, fluid flow, electric power systems

Battery Safety

Testing to support safe design of batteries and electrical power backup facilities particularly to satisfy UL9540a ed.4

Hydrogen Safety

Testing and consulting on the explosion risks associated with devices and processes which use or produce hydrogen

Spent Fuel

Safety analysis for packaging, transport, and storage of spent nuclear fuel

Decommissioning, Decontamination and Remediation (DD&R)

Safety analysis to underpin decommissioning process at facilities which have produced or used radioactive nuclear materials

Laboratory Testing & Software Capabilities

Bespoke testing and modeling services to validate analysis of DD&R processes

Nuclear Overview

Our Nuclear Services Group is recognized for comprehensive evaluations to help commercial nuclear power plants operate efficiently and stay compliant.

Severe Accident Analysis and Risk Assessment

Expert analysis of possible risk and consequences from nuclear plant accidents

Thermal Hydraulics

Testing and analysis to ensure that critical equipment will operate under adverse environmental conditions

Environmental Qualification (EQ) and Equipment Survivability (ES)

Testing and analysis to ensure that critical equipment will operate under adverse environmental conditions

Laboratory Testing & Software Capabilities

Testing and modeling services to support resolution of emergent safety issues at a power plant

Adiabatic Safety Calorimeters (ARSST and VSP2)

Low thermal inertial adiabatic calorimeters specially designed to provide directly scalable data that are critical to safe process design

Other Lab Equipment and Parts for the DSC/ARC/ARSST/VSP2 Calorimeters

Products and equipment for the process safety or process development laboratory

FERST

Software for emergency relief system design to ensure safe processing of reactive chemicals, including consideration of two-phase flow and runaway chemical reactions

FATE

Facility modeling software mechanistically tracks transport of heat, gasses, vapors, and aerosols for safety analysis of multi-room facilities

Blog

Our highly experienced team keeps you up-to-date on the latest process safety developments.

Process Safety Newsletter

Stay informed with our quarterly Process Safety Newsletters sharing topical articles and practical advice.

Resources

With over 40 years of industry expertise, we have a wealth of process safety knowledge to share.

Recent Posts

Beyond Zero Injuries and The Sticky Note

Posted by The Fauske Team on 11.19.19

Scientist in safety gearIn a recent issue of Safety & Health Magazine from the National Safety Council, author and speaker Bill Sims Jr. penned "Beyond Zero Injuries".

In the article, Sims shares a story to illustrate how he differs from most experts who consider "Zero Injuries" the impervious goal of all work place safety programs. After one doubter challenged Sims he shared, " The BP Horizon rig ran for seven years with zero injuries and handed out safety awards one morning. That night, 11 men would die and CNN would report 390 maintenance items were neglected for repair on that rig. So how well did zero injuries work for BP?"

The point is made that zero at-risk behaviors are the goal - "from the management system and the workers in an interdependent culture where safety is never second to profits," states Sims. "Until leaders understand that there is a level of safety beyond zero, they will be stuck on the dreaded 'hockey stick plateau' in their safety performance".

Group Safety Meeting Using Sticky NotesHe suggests every six-month safety meetings should include a pile of sticky notes. Ask employees "What's the next serious injury we will have? Where will it occur? What time of day?" Employees should then put their sticky notes on a wall grouped in clusters by where and when the injury will occur. "By finding the biggest clusters of sticky notes - that's probably where you next serious injury will occur," concludes Sims.

I might add the "three-thoughts" rule. This is what I call the ability to think about someone three times over a short period of time and suddenly the phone rings... or, you know you need to call and check on that person - because inevitability, something's up. How many times do we perform an activity at work, whether its conducting a test, walking a certain path or carrying a piece of equipment and something occurs to us to make it better, or safer? If its more than once, say something. If its 3 times, say it loud!

Knockout TankIn the business of nuclear and chemical process safety engineering and testing, we constantly examine conditions and variables, setting and patterns - often, we advise and remind customers that with each variable change, your safety test has to change, too. Fine particulates in a combustible dust, for example, may test differently by batch and particle size. In sizing pressure relief devices for reactive chemicals, knockout tanks may not be sized correctly to accommodate effluent handling. Quantifying reaction rates and the resulting flow regime from an upset scenario is the first step. Then, relief devices and piping can be sized. Here, knockout tanks (used to separate liquid from vapor in a two-phase relief situation) are important and we notice that customers often use inadequately sized tanks for upset conditions - either by habit, assumptions or equipment limitation. (A knockout tank that is the same size as a reactor or storage tank is often incapable of effectively serving its purpose. As a rule of thumb for reactive upset scenarios, knockout tanks typically need to be 2 to 4 times the volume of the process vessel that is expected to relieve into it.) These are just some examples.

So, would you put sticky notes on your daily "habits", assumptions or equipment that cause you to pause 3 times in a short period? How would that look? Place sticky notes on your office or lab door as it occurs – a place of prominence for you and others? Write up a weekly summary or share in your weekly meeting?

As process safety engineers, we believe sticky note exercises in a group every six months is a great idea for many organizations. Frequency depending on variables such as staff and equipment changes can be increased.

Are you driving a beyond zero program? Learn how we can help.

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Topics: Combustible Dust, process safety, knockout tank

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