Ensuring Safety at Railway Siding Operation of Oil Terminals
Managers responsible for managing operations at Storage Depots and Terminals of Petroleum product companies are often under time pressures while unloading railway rakes carrying flammable MS or HSD. The team at the storage depot has to unload the complete rake in a limited time allotted for the activity, failing which Oil Company has to pay demurrage charges to railways.
It is common knowledge and experience that when an activity has to be done in a given period of time, and there is a delay due to one or more of several possible factors, there is a tendency to bypass some essential processes, to make-up for the lost time. These processes which are which are necessary but are perceived to be unproductive by the operating managers, and hence ignored. Time or resources spent on ensuring safety is more often than not, a victim of this type of thinking. Safety is also compromised for want of appropriate equipment, tools or training of personnel while undertaking such operations.
Loading and unloading of railway rakes carrying highly flammable products MS or HSD is an operation which needs to be carried out safely and efficiently. There are several cases recorded over the years at different locations around the world, where the safety protocols have been violated leading to major fires and loss of lives and property.
This article below tries to identify and address some of the challenges and suggest solutions for managers tasked with the responsibility to carry out loading and unloading operations of flammable liquids efficiently without compromising on Safety.
Oil Depots and Terminals
Oil Depots and Terminal facilities play a critical role in the storage, transportation and distribution of Petrol, Diesel, Petroleum products and natural resources. Most Depots and Terminals work round the clock the service the demand of the end consumer.
There are over 320 Terminals and Depots across India and most of them are owned and operated by three major Oil Marketing Companies in India i.e. Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL). There are other Private and Semi-Private companies like Indian Oil Tanking Ltd, Reliance Industries Ltd, etc that also maintain and manage Oil Storage Depots.
Tank Wagons and Rake
A typical railway tank wagon carries approximately 65 KL (Kilo Litres) to 80 KL of MS (Motor Spirit) or HSD (High Speed Diesel). A rake usually comprises of approximately 50 Tank Wagons that come to a depot, which get unloaded and stored for further distribution to fuel pumps via Tanker Trucks.
These rakes are owned, maintained, and operated by Indian Railways. OMC schedule these trains and their frequency with Indian Railways depending on some of the following factors
Distance of Depot from the Refinery
Storage capacity of the Depot
Area serviced by the Depot.
Railway Siding Operations
When it comes to working on a railway siding of an Oil Depot there is little information available on the standard operating procedure and the mandatory safety practices to be followed. We have visited many depots of all the OMC listed above and it is often observed that the safety practices and level of safety differ from depot to depot even if the Depot is of the same Oil Marketing company.
It is heavily dependent on the awareness and seriousness of the depot or safety manager of that depot.
There are two major factors that are important for any depot manager while working at an Oil Depot Railway Siding
Speed and Efficiency
Safety of Operation
Speed and Efficiency
When a rake comes to a Depot Railway siding, it is the responsibility of the OMC Depot manager to empty the rake within 7 to 9 hours depending on the number of wagons in a rake. If the complete rake is not emptied with the prescribed time, Oil companies are liable to demurrage charges to the Railways.
According to the Konkan Railway website the demurrage charges are ₹ 150 per wagon per hour. Therefore, if a rake with 48 BNTP rail wagon will have to pay ₹ 7200 per hour of delay. Unloading of these rakes is an ongoing process and in majority of the depots, this happens multiple times a week. ₹ 7200 per hour delay for a company can seem to be a small amount, but if this happens repeatedly and by many depots the monthly demurrage costs can become significant. Therefore, it is imperative that the speed of unloading is increased without compromising on safety to save on demurrage charges.
Let us look at the unloading process to understand how we can speed up the operations.
Unloading Process
Each Tank Wagon is a horizontally cylinder with two valves, one at the top and one at the bottom. The top valve is commonly referred as the Top Valve and the one at the bottom as Bottom Valve. Since these wagons are carrying flammable petroleum products, the top and bottom valve together provide additional safety. Only when both valves are open on then the product will flow form the outlet.
When a rake arrives at Oil Depot a team of operators lead by Operation and Safety manager perform an overall visual check of the rake. Once they are satisfied of the conditions, then the unloading process is started.
First step to check if the bottom valve is in the closed position, if not then bottom valve is closed.
Then a pipe or hose as per standard is connected wagon outlet pipe to the valve on the siding. This siding valve is connected to the central pipeline carrying the product from all the wagons to the storage terminal.
After a positive connection, the Siding Valve is opened.
Then Top Valve on the top of the wagon is opened slowly. Simultaneously, the bottom valve is opened slowly opened allowing the product to flow out of the wagon into the pipelines.
This process is repeated till all the wagons in the rake are emptied.
Sounds Simple? Well it Isn’t.
Operators working on the siding face many challenges daily in doing their regular operations. Some common challenges are listed below.
Missing Wheel on the Master Valve: Based on our discussion with our customers approximately ~50% of the Wagons come without the Wheel to open the master valve.
Jammed Master Valve – Requiring very heavy torque.
Worn out Wheel Square Nut.
Jammed Bottom Valve.
These are just some of the challenges that are listed that operators faces in their daily operations in the siding area.
What makes this process more challenging is that the there are no standard tools available to operate these valves and to further make the situation critical, the wagon is filled with highly flammable petrochemical liquids.
Since all the valves are special and because of the poor maintenance of Wagons, the valves are not regularly maintained, and the “Missing” Wheels are not replaced.
A depot safety manager told us that “There are times that the Valve is so heavily jammed that we are not able to open the valve and therefore could not unload the product and sent the filled wagon back”
Battling with such challenges, depots have resorted to use of non-standard hand tools or “Jugaad tools” crudely fabricated either internally or from their local vendor. These non-standard tools are made from steel pipe and plates welded together to somehow complete the operations.
Here are some of the tools that we got to see made on site to solve this challenge.
These tools are not at all user friendly, and are extremely unsafe, but are being used, because without them it is impossible to complete the operation in time. These tools sometimes help solve the problem but fail on meeting the basic safety requirements. So SAFETY is a big casualty in using such fabricated contraptions made of steel.
Essential Safety Regulations
There are regulations published by OISD (Oil Industry Safety Directorate), PESO (Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization) and other national and international regulatory bodies on the safety practices to be followed inside the depot or a terminal. Infact, OISD-STD-117 for Fire Protection Facilities for Petroleum Depots and Terminals mandates an Oil Depot to maintain an emergency safety non sparking hand tools kit among other safety and PPE equipment.
But there is little information or guidance available on use of safety hand tools when working on a railway siding. As discussed in the above section that “Jugaad Tools” help speed up the process but fail on safety.
Tools (Standard or Non-Standard) made of steel can create spark during operation and cause catastrophic fire.
These are all the possible scenarios that a fire can be generated
Tool thrown on track
Tool thrown on stones
Tool slips on the valve.
Tool strikes the Wagon body.
Two Steel tools strike with each other.
It is mandated that only certified Non-Sparking Safety Hand Tools be used while working around flammable liquids gases or vapours.
There are Non-Sparking Standard Safety tools available which are manufactured in alloy compositions, but there are no special Non-Sparking tools available to address the challenges mentioned above.
To understand the criticality of the operation further lets discuss a case study published by OSID and can be downloaded from here.
Case Study of a major fire breakout at a Railway Siding of a Petroleum Depot.
A major fire broke out in one of the tank wagon decantation railway siding of Oil Company during the first fortnight of January 2015. The fire continued for more than 3 hours and valuable products (65 KL of MS & 35 KL of HSD) got burnt due to the fire. The Railway Siding Operations got severely affected & remained shut down for a considerable period of time. There was no fatality or major injury to operating crew.
While unloading of MSD there was leakage from one of the flange joints. Instead of closing the Master Valve to arrest the leakage the operator placed a bucket below the leakage to collect the leaking MSD and continued the operation and in process tried to further tighten the both of the flange joint.
During the process of tightening, the spanner slipped & fell down resulting in generation of spark. The MS vapors immediately caught fire due to the spark and subsequently the MS tank wagon was engulfed by the fire.
Root Cause – Some of them from the case study
Not following the proper sequence of operation during tank wagon unloading- violation of SOP. The primary reason of the fire was due to violating the sequence of valve operation during unloading operation coupled with use of non-standard tools.
Use of non-sparking tool for tightening the flange. Further, it was noted that the gasket used were of inferior quality. As per norm, 75-Kg DCP extinguisher must be available for firefighting which was not there in the instant case.
Learnings - Some of them from the case study
Sequence of valve operation during unloading / loading of TW must be properly explained to the field staff to avoid mistake in operation.
Use of proper tools to undertake maintenance activity; non-sparking tool must be used for any maintenance activity while handling highly hazardous product like MS. Right quality of gasket must be used for the flange joints. Further tightening of flanges while unloading is a risky proposition - the bottom valve at the TW should have been closed which would have avoided the major fire.
It must be ensured that there is proper and effective supervision during the operations.
Job safety analysis must be carried out before commencement of any operations.
Security staff and contract workers must be trained to handle emergency scenario.
Effective communication system should be maintained at the siding.
Adequate firefighting equipment must be provided in the railway siding.
Housekeeping at railway siding, proper approach including escape route must be ensured at all railway sidings.
Pahwa MetalTech who is a manufacturer of innovative Copper Titanium Non-Sparking Hand Tools, takes these challenges faced by customer very seriously. Apart from the complete range of Copper Titanium Non-Sparking Hand Tools, Pahwa MetalTech manufacturers special customer tools in small quantities so that its customers
“Never have to compromise with Safety”
After working with users, operators – three Copper Titanium Non-Sparking Hand Tools have been indigenously developed by Pahwa MetalTech for safety at Railway Wagon Siding Operations.
Master Valve Wrench or Top Valve Wrench
Bottom Valve Wrench
Star Valve Wrench
1. Copper Titanium Non-Sparking Master Valve Wrench: Copper Titanium Master Valve wrench is inspired from the many steel tools contraptions (Jugaad Tools) that are being used currently by many depots. It has been engineered for ergonomics, safety and durability after multiple detailed discussions with the end users.
Since the Top Valve Wrench is used at the top valve of the wagon there is a possibility that the tool might slip out of the operators’ hand and fall on someone head standing below. Therefore, in order to safeguard from such accidents a lanyard hole is provided as a safety measure on which a belt that can be hooked by carabiner with operators’ uniform.
2. Copper Titanium Non-Sparking Bottom Valve Wrench (BVW): Bottom Valve Wrench is used to operate the Valve underneath the wagon. Considering the space constraints under the wagon and other paraphernalia of the wagon there is very little space available to operate the tool. QTi bottom valve wrench has been designed to provide maximum flexibility with minimum effort.
3. Copper Titanium Non-Sparking Star Valve Wrench (SVW): SVW is used to operated the Valve on the sliding which is connected to the wagon by the hose. The Tools is provided with a grip handle which makes the operation ergonomic and easy to use.
With a set of above three special anti-spark tools and standard spanners for tightening and loosening bolts on the hose flange, complete safety can be maintained at a Railway siding without compromising on speed.
Reach us at info@pahwametaltech.co.in or Whatsapp Us on +91-845948 2252 for more details on the three tools for siding operation.
