The Durban branch of the SAIMC held their November technology meeting as always at the Durban Country Club. The topic was ‘Assessment of the Credibility of Process Alarms as a Layer of Protection’ and it was presented by Nirmal Narotam, PAS Automation Services.
Branch Chairman Hennie Prinsloo (right) thanks Nirmal Narotam for his presentation.
Nirmal explained to an interested and attentive audience that when evaluating the safety integrity level (SIL) target for safety instrumented functions, process alarms are often listed as an independent protection layer (IPL). Furthermore, the probability of failure on demand (PFD) for these alarms is commonly listed as 1 in 10 years. However, the credibility of these IPL alarms is not accessed.
The presentation took the format of a workshop with lots of interaction and questions from the audience and Nirmal presented a novel work process to determine the credibility of a process alarm when used as an IPL. Selected examples of the application of the technique to a large scale greenfield petrochemical project as well as the difficulties experienced were presented.
Nirmal Narotam is the managing director of PAS Automation Services which is a specialised services company with global interests in alarm management, automation asset management and critical condition monitoring. Since joining PAS, Nirmal has been involved in alarm improvements projects at several major companies including Sasol, Eskom, Engen Petroleum, ExxonMobil and the Kuwait National Petroleum Corporation, so he was well qualified to present to us.
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