When the UK’s Buncefield oil storage terminal exploded in 2005 it was said to be the biggest blast in Europe since the Second World War. The disaster was caused by faulty equipment used to monitor the flow of petrol entering a tank and is a stark reminder of the need for a strict maintenance regime in severe service applications.
There is no single definition of a severe service application, but it can be thought of as any process where the consequences of a failure are likely to be severe. Among those processes may be any that involve hazardous chemicals, such as ammonia or caustic acid. So, the question operators must ask themselves is ‘what would the consequences be if a particular actuator failed?’