A Process Safety Management Company

Tag: Patrick Fisher

News

PSM Experts Present at 2021 AIChE Global Congress on Process Safety

Provenance Consulting is excited to announce that four of our PSM experts will present alongside dozens of other industry professionals at the AIChE Global Congress on Process Safety. According to AIChE, “the Global Congress on Process Safety covers the critical needs of process safety practitioners more broadly and deeply than any other conference.”

This year will mark the 10th year since Provenance started participating in this conference, and we are glad to be back. While still a virtual event, Provenance experts will be available in our exhibitor booth and during the networking hours to discuss pressure relief system design, safeguards and risk assessments, and more. View the conference technical grid (PDF).

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Blog

Things We Loved in 2019: ProvPSM Team Out & About

The Provenance team is not only dedicated to providing exceptional client services, we also strive to share our expertise. This past year, our team has participated in educational programming, industry conferences and presentations, and achieved some impressive professional milestones. Check out a brief list of what Provenance team members have participated in.


Industry Presentations/Events

In my experience, many industry professionals avoid asking “dumb” technical questions openly for reasons of fear or pride. What engineers need are answers to the technical pressure relief systems questions they just can’t find a way to ask. This presentation shared questions submitted from dozens of anonymous engineers when asked, “What do you want to know about pressure relief systems but were too afraid to ask?” It then answers them using the latest RAGAGEP and industry direction.

This presentation discussed the gray area between PSM and DOT jurisdiction, including coverage of Terminal operations (e.g. drying), break-out tanks, railcars/trucks, and cavern applicability. The nuances of PSM applicability, including interconnectivity and colocation, hydrocarbon used as a fuel, atmospheric tanks, and safety systems will be presented. Furthermore, this paper will provide a history of jurisdictional boundary and PSM applicability cases/interpretations and will present examples of determining PSM jurisdiction and applicability.

“It is likely that your problem is with the process and not so much maintenance wash procedures. I recommend looking into the stream components, particularly chloride concentrations. You may have a very-well-known damage mechanism, called ammonium chloride corrosion, at work in your main fractionator tower…” [read more]

“When it comes to distillation towers, you always want to be certain that you put the right pressure relief device (PRD) in the right spot. Due to the complexities of distillation towers, many relief cases can exceed the normal relief rates you see from your typical vessel overpressure scenarios. In events such as these, it’s always good to get an experienced evaluator or a second opinion of the evaluation of your column PRDs…” [read more]



Professional Achievements

To become licensed, engineers must complete a four-year college degree, work under a Professional Engineer for at least four years, pass two intensive competency exams and earn a license from their state’s licensure board. Then, to retain their licenses, PEs must continually maintain and improve their skills throughout their careers.

  • Lauren Hendrickson – Lauren has been promoted to Project Lead. She has worked for Provenance since 2014 and has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Texas.
  • Edward Guillen – Edward has been promoted to Project Lead. He started working with Provenance in 2014 and has worked across numerous projects within the Mechanical Integrity Line of Service.

In addition, in 2019 Edward Guillen completed his API 653 Inspector certification, making him a rare triple-certified inspector (API 510, 570, 653).



Educational & Community Programming

  • UT Girl Day (University of Texas at Austin)

    • Our team of The University of Texas Chemical Engineering alumni loved helping over 800 students make their own Galaxy in a Bottle at #UTGirlDay 2019! Such an awesome event put on by the UT Women in Engineering Program at Austin. Check out the demonstration video to see our activity and more photos.
  • UT ChemE 102 – Presentation on Process Safety Opportunities

    • Our team gave an overview of process safety for first-year students.
  • UT ASME & AIChE Student Chapter Meetings and Tailgate

    • We hosted our annual tailgate with UT’s student chapters of ASME (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers) and AIChE – American Institute of Chemical Engineers on October 19th for the UT-Kansas game in Austin. Student members joined us for some awesome BBQ, beverages, and a few friendly games of washers!
  • Heat-Up Hutchinson County Cook-Off

View Recent Process Safety Webinars

Learn best practices from our team of knowledgeable experts

We provide on demand process safety webinars covering all PSM topics including PHAs,
mechanical integrity, relief systems and more.

PHA, Webinar

When the Only Things Consistent About Your PHAs Are Inconsistencies.

This Provenance Consulting sponsored webinar helps you address the causes and the consequences of inconsistencies in PHAs and LOPAs while meeting the requirements of OSHA 1910.119 PSM. You’ll learn how maintaining consistency in PHAs can help simplify management of equipment in your facility, greatly improve risk assessment efficiency and make follow-up easier. You’ll see demonstrations of risk ranking guidelines, release quantity tables, and equipment databases to show that PHAs can be consistent across your organization. This webinar also discusses how to use industry guidelines, past incidents, and your current PHAs to create helpful guides for your PHA team and facilitator.

 

 

Link to Download the Presentation 

 

Presenter(s):

Fisher

Patrick Fisher

Patrick Fisher is a chemical engineer with experience in the industrial and refining industries with proven results in process hazard analysis (PHA)/layer of protection analysis (LOPA) facilitation and training, and safety instrumented function design. As a PHA facilitator, he helps large organizations meet the PHA, MOC, PSSR, and PSI requirements of the OSHA PSM standard. His background includes publications on risk analysis, minimizing independent protection layers, and leading indicators of process safety.