Industrial

Control rooms working under all conditions

Events that may affect the control room are also distortion of the electronic system by the use of mobile phones, walky talky , the process it selves, the results of short circuit on the electronics or lightning.

Therefore today a good and effective, gas- tight lining is an absolute need since electronics are important in the controling of the proces.

The threat from explosions and pressure bursts should be considered in the structural design of control building. Particular attention should be given to the provision of windows, the presence of heavy equipment on roofs (e.g. air conditioners) and the ability of internal fixtures to withstand the building shaking. If windows are present, consideration should be given to the use of laminated or polycarbonate glass, to prevent serious injury to occupiers of the control room in the event of an overpressure. ALARP principles should be applied in these considerations and cost benefit used to determine if additional measures should be applied.

In consideration of toxic gas releases the control room should provide a safe haven for its occupants. This will include arranging that the building is adequately sealed to prevent ingress of gases to levels of concentration that will affect the health and thereby the ability of the operators to maintain control of the plant. Careful consideration of the building ventilation system is required to ensure that air intakes are situated away from areas that may be affected or to arrange that there is no air intake during an incident, preferably by closure of an automatic valve linked to a gas analyser.

Measures for protection from fires should ensure the control room will withstand thermal radiation effects without collapse and that smoke ingress is controlled. Materials of construction should be fire resistant for the duration of any possible fire event. Smoke ingress may be controlled in a similar manner to toxic gas ingress.

Each of these methodologies should be applied to control rooms within buildings as well as separate control buildings. Control panels on the plant itself cannot be so easily be protected, therefore diversity and redundancy should be applied to ensure that plant control can be maintained in an emergency. Risk Assessments should be undertaken to demonstrate that primary and secondary (domino) risks are within acceptable limits.