Pressure Safety Valve Audits
Have you made process changes without confirming that pressure safety valves (PSV) still protect you? Even small changes to process equipment can affect safety valve service requirements. For instance, changing the trim in a control valve can drastically change the required capacity of a relief valve. Completing a PSV audit not only ensures you have the correct device sizing, but you’ll also meet OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) program standards. You can be confident that your people will work safely and operations will run smoothly.
You may not realize that safety valves are everywhere, including our homes. They need to work when needed to keep your home and systems safe. Your facility’s safety valves are the same. If they aren’t sized correctly, pressure can build past a safe level, and damage could occur. It could be a small leak or more catastrophic, like a pipe bursting with steam or hazardous chemicals. Improperly sized PSVs in your plants could lead to dangerous situations for your people and equipment. Safety valves are often properly sized, but our audits have found PSVs that are either too small or too big. Valves that are too big can relieve too quickly and lead to premature wear and tear of the equipment. If a valve is too small, it doesn’t relieve fast enough to avoid overpressure.
Why conduct a PSV Audit?
REDUCE SAFETY RISKS
Identify & neutralize potential threats before they happen.
PROTECT YOUR RESOURCES
If a valve fails, you could pay for downtime costs, equipment damage, & injured personnel.
OSHA PSM REQUIREMENTS & DOCUMENTATION
Avoid potential compliance costs from OSHA & other required regulations & standards on sizing verification.
What You Get
If you’ve tried to squeeze more output from your plant but haven’t gone back to see if your plant is still protected and safe, it’s time for a checkup. After an upgrade, we’ll check your valve sizing to ensure your process and people are protected. The PSV study will evaluate the process and equipment relief rate requirements to confirm that devices are compliant and fully protecting your process. Here’s what we’ll provide:
- Tag-specific evaluation of all potential relief situations
- Worst-case relief rate determination
- Suitability of the existing safety device for capacity and set point
- PSM-qualified datasheets and capacity calculations for each tag
- Prioritized recommendations on changes to implement
The Process
In our three-phased approach, our team starts with a site visit to gather information. They bring this information to our engineers, who analyze it and provide a summarized report on ways to improve your valve capacity.
DATA COLLECTION
- Confirm piping and instrumentation diagrams are still accurate.
- Collect process equipment and vessel data.
- Capture nominal plant operating conditions.
ENGINEERING ANALYSIS
- Determine each required relief capacity.
- Perform sizing calculations to confirm proper device capacity.
FINAL EVALUATION
- Review the evaluation with the client and answer questions.
- Send final valve sizing documentation and specification sheets.
- Assist in any other PSM documentation needs.
READY TO GET STARTED?
Our specialized safety device experts can prepare your plant for the unexpected. Find out more about how we can assist you by viewing our website or call 712-722-1662.