- Death of Small Molecule?
Greatly exaggerated it would appear! Review of FDA approvals in 2008 in February 2009 edition of Nature shows 21 out of 24 approvals were new molecular entities. Biologics still greatly inhibited by inability to tablet.
- New Edition of HAZOP – Guide to Best Practice:
The second edition of this invaluable guide from IChemE/ESPC was issued in 2008. No major rework of original (thankfully), but useful additional sections on qualitative risk assessment, SIL and CHAZOP. Make sure your HAZOP procedure is compliant. Copies available from the IChemE bookstore.
- Vent System Safety - TRbF 20 risk assessment approach integrated into 2008 edition of NFPA 69:
The German standard TRbF 20 and its predecessor TRbF 100 has been widely applied over the last ten years for determining how many safety devices are required between a source of ignition in a vent system (e.g. incinerator flame) and the equipment one is trying to protect. The extremely useful TRbF risk matrix approach is now been reflected in Annex F of NFPA 69 (Table F.4.6). This will make it easier for companies who base their systems around NFPA to apply this extremely useful concept.
- Slow progress on EN 61511:
Adopted as a European Standard some years ago, this standard on functional safety deals essentially with Safety Integrity Level (SIL) of safety instrumented systems (SIS). This tardiness may be due to a lack of understanding of the requirements and lack of communication between process safety people and the E&I people usually charged with its implementation. Our view is that a SIL assessment should be carried out for any SIS called up as a safeguard in a HAZOP or safety review. Using the same team and risk target used in the HAZOP should minimise any difficulties.
- Are you aware of EN 12753 for RTOs?:
Entitled ‘Thermal cleaning systems for exhaust gas from surface treatment equipment’, this 2005 standard is regarded as good practice for regenerative thermal oxidiser design generally, and European RTO manufacturers follow it when designing their systems for the chemical and bulk pharmaceutical sectors (despite its title). Sheds a lot of light on safety features which are not mentioned in more mainstream standards.
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