P 130 Feedback&Suggestions

P 130


Feedback&Suggestions



Dear Friends

Just sharing .It is exactly two years (31st March 2018) since I retired from active service.

After perusing my blog 'aruwhy.blogspot.com'  narrating my industrial experience( 1969-2018)
some of my well wishers&close friends have given the following feedback :

My blog covers the flow of  multi-discipline experience that too in varied fields & invaluable data
of challenges handled over this period spanning 49 years as well as highlighting various incidents
which were Ups &Downs in the whole career.

They suggest to Index the Key Attributes with cross linking the corresponding pages ( date wise)
for  easy direct access of  vast information in the blog concerning that attribute. That will highlight the takeaways to the reader.

Broad areas can be classified into - Technical in nature, Codes& Standards, My lack of experience/exposure, Critical challenges, Incident analysis, Human Relation issues, Leadership,
Recognition, Team Building, Delegation, Planning& Scheduling ...

The main objective of this indexing is to attract the attention &direct the readers for taking clues from these vast experience data shared/ lessons learnt & try to adopt themselves to suit their individual situation demands.

I am attempting to incorporate their valuable inputs . If any reader has some more additional suggestions, please revert back to my mail address ramanathan12.5@gmail.com;

Dr.A.Ramanathan
Dt.31st March,2020.
The main objective of this Indexing  is to attract the attention &direct the readers for taking clues from these life time experience shared/ lessons learnt &try to adopt themselves as per their 

P 129 Experience of 2017-18

P 129

Experience of 2017-18

As I have attained the age of 70 years, the management retained my services in special fixed time employment and asked me to continue in projects. Since I have already handed over the specific HSE responsibility, looking at my capability in Technical Audit, they have assigned me the specific task of carrying out the study of compliance to Insurance coverage and initiate Risk Analysis studies for all running plants as well as new projects/revamp measures.

As this assignment was new to me but at the same time ,very much in-line with my overall experience , I grabbed that opportunity and enjoyed. The assignment was too big for any individual to handle independently! So we decided to engage the services of international specialist consultants for several tasks. As Mr.RRBalakrishnan was already a specialist consultant to Reliance in insurance matters especially in interpreting the terms of cover, assisting Reliance/Insurance companies in putting the terms of coverage with clarity, I took his help in initiating my task and developing the scope document for respective complex insurance coverage study- terms and conditions update.
So my initiation was effective and served the insurance team for policy renewal of IPCL sites, GSPTCL port and Reliance Malaysia PTA and Polyester plants.

For Risk Study of Jamnagar complex, we split the task into two. When it came to Marine related
tasks, we combined all the ports in India where Reliance has got some interest (be it Reliance owned  or hired or only using their infrastructure to handle sea freighted parcels) and contracted to one UK party, a Bureau Veritas group company and completed the study. When it came to plant and tank farm area,every one was weary to undertake the large risk study of this magnitude. Only M/S Baker Risk of USA  was coming forward to undertake the task that too only a small portion as pilot study and wanted to establish the system for undertaking full analysis study. As their indicated cost was too high ,that also did not fruitify. So that task did not take off at all until I left the services.

When it came to IPCL plants insurance policy renewal,as all the three complex are combined in a single policy, the insurance consortium- M/S GIC and NIC  looked for Inspection study of the site
conditions, the set process and operating procedures, maintenance practices  etc. by any reputed 3rd party consultant. While searching , they identified M/S AMI , Bangalore and assigned the job under Mr Kini, a professional insurance assessment specialist.This company is an international set-up with France HQ..

When coming to execute this assignment ordered by Insurance consortium, Mr Kini was looking for a coordinator from Reliance  for carrying out the detailed study of each complex. As my services were available then, the insurance department of RIL requested me to undertake this task. So that assignment came as full fledged project task to me,  as the concerned field  personnel were not volunteering to share the data. Even the members and lead from our insurance group were not coming out with  data to assess the history of events for the inspector to assess and record. So literally we have to extract the inputs from all concerned. But when it came as final audit report, every one was claiming to take credit! The National Insurance Consortium appreciated the final report  and thanked me individually.

Having completed this task successfully by Nov/Dec.2017, I was asked to carry out the similar requirement for Reliance Malaysia plants-PTA and Polyester, but only remotely! When I studied their conditions about field arrangement and inspection procedure etc. I was not at all happy and convinced; but there were many restrictions and full justice could not be done. By the time it was Feb.'18 and my job assignment period was coming to end. and called it a day by end March.'18.

KeyAspect:- Attitude,  Incident analysis, Initiative, Opportunity, Recognition, Transfer 

P 128 Outside office Activity in 2016

P 128

PESO Conference & Exhibition-2016

In Feb.'16, that time CCE Dr.Kamal thought of conducting  an international conference on
Excellence in Hydrocarbon  Safety.. As such an assembly was carried out 10 years back under
Sh.Anbunathan at Kochi,Dr.Kamal envisaged to conduct this event at Jaipur, as that city faced
a major accident of tank terminal in 2010 . He wanted that incident to be thoroughly discussed and
analyzed by industry members participation. Moreover, since he hail from Jaipur, he thought he can have local support &co-operation in conducting such a large program.

As efficient subordinate, Dr.Kamal  identified Sh.D K Gupta , Dy.CCE to be the chief coordinator to conduct the entire program. DKG being social in nature and resourceful in Society, issued a notification to all oil processing industries of India asking  the respective management to nominate their key stake holders both from refinery operations/maintenance/ safety and marketing set-ups.

As DKG knew the pulse of the situation, he chose S/Sh Sanjay  & Rajiv Chohan as functional co-ordinators  and Dr Dixit of PESO  department for reviewing and short listing technical articles authored by various industry experts. The beauty was, to start with , it was estimated that a max. of 400 people will only attend this 2 day conference at Jaipur on 21/22 nd July'16. Actually there were about 800 people turned up. Rather, at one stage, the organizing team was afraid how we are going to manage the show!

To start with, both Dr  Kamal &DKG conducted periodic meeting at all PSU companies HQ and
RCP(Reliance). We were afraid whether sufficient fund will accumulate to conduct this mega program at Jaipur ; but since the attendance number has far exceeded the original thinking, the organizers could arrange a gala dinner with grand dance/music program on first day evening.
To honor and respect the retired CCEs , they were given special invitation to attend this program
and each one of them were rewarded. Only Dr H Mukherjee could not attend as he was abroad.


The total conference was a huge success. Almost all companies chairman/MDs/Directors were present. Each one of them shared their career experience in oil industry operations and challenges faced. All the oil companies and some system manufacturers put their stall in the exhibition to display their products/development/achievement etc. Souvenir was published covering all the technical paper presented during these two days.

Both the days there were technical papers presented not only by personnel from India but also
by international experts on the subject of safety. People shared their experience and there were threadbare discussions on Root cause Analysis and Near Miss Incidents . Experts from oil industries , Inspection agencies&Hazop Analysis specialists particiapted in Round table Conference  and many
points- food for thought emerged for  Corporate Social Responsibility on Safety.

Rather time  was short for the Closing ceremony. All the members who contributed both in terms of Technical and Organisation administration  were presented with momentoes
As majority present were so impressed and found such gathering is useful for knowledge sharing,
a short debate cropped up- what should be the frequency for conducting such mega event? Finally it was arrived that the interval should be around 3 years
                                                                                                                Contd.........
Key Aspect :-  Delegation, Faith, Human relations

P 127 Cross Sensitivity of CO sensors

P 127

Cross-Sensitivity of CO sensors

Though all the vendors have declared that there is a technical issue of cross sensitivity problem in electro-chemical sensor type,neither the supplier nor the purchaser team were aware of the involved issue while committing the order for both fixed as well as portables.

In field, while unloading the Propylene/Ethylene into Process chiller compressors in PX IV plant, safety team as a precaution  hand carried a set of 4X portable gas detectors. To everybody's shock, the detectors picked up the hydrocarbon vapor presence in atmosphere as if CO is present in high value and raised alarm. Panic situation set in and they contacted me at RCP stating the detectors are defective and take up the issue with M/S MSA. Personally I had my doubt, whether the coke getting loaded in the hopper in  Gasification complex would have really generated CO vapors in atmosphere! At the same time, considering the inter-distance of approx 700 Mts, whether such a possibility of CO travelling came in question.
So on SOS basis, I took up the issue with Mr Gustavo to study the issue. He reverted that the issue has arisen due to the functional characteristics of electro chemical sensor only  and the detectors are not defective. Having heard that from him, I went into looking for the same issue in Honeywell supplied fixed CO detector in PX plant area. To my shock, those sensors also revealed the same characteristics. Since those fixed devices were handled by Core instrumentation group, I shared the issue with Dr. B R Mehta. That made both of us to take up with both the parties-Honeywell and MSA and made them to study/help Reliance in finding a workable resolution.

Technical Point:  As we have Coke gasification complex and Syn.gas travelling all across refineries/C2 complex, tracking sensitive colorless/odourless toxic CO  that too in PPM is a must. That strenuous condition ruled out usage of Infrared type sensor type for CO presence sensing in atmosphere.As it is IR sensor can sense only in % value that too with sensitivity of 10000 ppm only; whereas OSHA's recommendation is only max 50 PPM sensitivity for human being.
To validate our doubt, we referred the matter to M/S Shell Global Solutions and queried them. They responded that they do not have electro chemical type sensors at all for CO sensing! Moreover, no where else in the world, there is a combination of refinery with a petro-chemical plant and coke gasification complex all integrated in one facility! So Reliance is unique and complicated. So we took up with both the vendors to undertake a fundamental research to  arrest/restrict of this hydrocarbon vapors getting converted into CO and misrepresent/create nuisance value alarm in a petrochemical complex. The research is still on when I retired from service.We have to  wait&watch.It appears that direction-ally the progress is positive. Otherwise we may end up with wolf story!

Key Aspect :- Incident analysis,  Lack of experience, Technical issue

P 126 J3 Gas Detector Portables

P 126


J3 Gas Detector Portables

Mr Gustavo took that assignment personally and studied. As MSA did not have internal capability to develop such Apps, he contacted some specialist group at Houston and reverted on last day. That party gave the feedback that such a specific request has already come from one customer in Abu Dhabi and it may take several months to develop the same in MSA products. So he suggested that Reliance may undertake that research as pilot project for trial objective and gave the contact particulars of the said party.

On return to India, I had a big shock! The core CHSEE group raised a spoke - how the project HSE group can go ahead sourcing the gas detectors certified suitable for Zone1 only instead of Zone0?
They were not ready to agree with the fact that in refinery, most of the areas fall under Zone 2 only and only few places come under Zone1. Zone 0 come in picture only inside the cone roof tanks and under ground pits. They were influenced by M/S Honeywell representative canversing. Fortunately
both S/Sh B Narayan  & Deepak Datta , the authorities in project, being chemical engineer by qualification and had field experience, understood the situation .They supported my decision to go with Zone1 certified devices and cleared to procurement to issue SCN for dispatch.

The issue did not stop there! As I was expecting, JMD had a huge top-up requirement and they furnished the second intent in Nov.'16 for procurement activity. By that time, I handed over the project HSE Department to Dr.Atul Ku Srivastava, who was asked to report to Sh Gordan Goyal, Process chief in projects. Somehow things went out of control. From my side, I was suggesting that since these requirements are top-up quantity, procurement should go ahead on nomination basis and discuss the rates with the original supplier and commit. Also, my recommendation to go with the same party arose from the angle of universal bump testing module. Otherwise, it call for two or three different version of bump test modules and combining them for network communication is a challenge! As a control system engineer by qualification and experience I could visualize that aspect .But each individual had different objective; especially CHSEE group wanted to show their technical superiority! Even the expatriate experts from Shell,BP &Lendoll Basel reviewed my version and endorsed but it was over-ruled.

Here, I have to bring out some technical aspects !! Though M/S Honeywell was the only party who canversed for Zone0 selection and had PESO approval, really speaking they also did not have ATEX approval forZone0 for  IR type sensors, which was part of their offer. When I took up the matter with PESO authorities, they were surprised to note that fact and withdrawn the approval then. But M/S Honeywell were going around that IOC has approved their products for Zone 0 and only that should be practised in Indian industry. Unfortunately Reliance CHSEE group did not want to go through these analysis and dictated that Reliance also should opt for Zone0 selection only for the entire top-up requirement. Even at that stage, I was the only one ,who tried to project that no party can furnish all the types with Zone0 certification and we may land up with the issue of communication links with two different manufacturers. People with vested interest took stand  and over-ruled my recommendation. Due to misunderstanding and misinterpreting my version of recommendation, people concerned went to the extent of suspecting my integrity even after loyally serving the company for 30 years. I have been asked to keep away from that sourcing activity.. With pain I had to watch this mess from distance! As forecasted and expected, the mess is still there  and no one has ventured to link the communication between several version of bump system. The end user has lost interest and living with the unfinished version! By that time,I am retired from Reliance service in March'18, but there is no end solution in place.
                                                                                                     Contd......
Key Aspect:-  Incident analysis,  Technical issue, Transfer

P 125 J3 Detector Portables

P 125

J3 Detector Portables

As mentioned, with my presence at Pittsburgh, Reliance could receive all documents as required through system and the vendor was happy with the receipt of Code1 approvals. But there was a catch in clearing the goods !

As mentioned earlier, since the whole trip to Pittsburgh was considered unofficial, I did not sign witnessing the inspection  tests but conveyed that RCP will clear and issue SCN through system.
On third and fouth day, I spent my time on discussions with respect to overall system configuration for bump testing through Galaxy, data collection for last 6 months, data gathering process and how to extract through server etc. Also analyzed and debated the frequency necessity of bump testing of each type-both personal and multi-gas/twin gas type. Based on that , the discussion paid attention to the inventory requirement of each type of gas canister .  As we had the initial distribution plan of 44 buildings and corresponding device type for bump testing, MSA engg. team worked out the canister sourcing plan. While looking at that issue, they clearly presented the canister manufacturer recommendation for the shelf life for each gas type canister. Then we worked out the first inventory requirement of canister MTO, considering the shipment logistics from Texas to Pittsburgh to Jamnagar through sea route. and informed RCP to issue the confimed PO for the same.

 In the whole bargain, the negative factor was -the shelf life of some of the gases were as low as 9 months and longest was 24 months and from Reliance side, the plant commissioning were phased out and some delay in mechanical completion/ready for commissioning of some plants. The net result was, some of the gas canisters were required to be replaced even before pre-commissioning. There came a catch! Whether these replacement have to go under project budget or revenue cost. Sh.BN being the Head of Procurement Group took the call and settled.

During the technical session, I had some dreams to look for! As I was convinced with the product robustness, I raised some product improvement features and had special session with the product design team. They are:

1. Can MSA incorprate GPS enablement with elevation in 3D data for coordinates in each 4X device?
The idea was to map , whereall that particular device has moved with 'X' personnel at what time near to which equipment etc.
2. Since Reliance has sourced 4X personal protection device based on position hirarchy attached to each building and employees are likely to be transferred inter departments, I looked for incorporation of picking up the employee identification like his employment no. as per his identification badge during his bump testing at the start of his shift.

Both these requirement had a back ground objective. 1) With the mapping of gas concentration picked by that device at particulr time, operations/maintenance can plan their healthy house- keeping by taking nessary course corrective maintenance of the equipment  in that spot.  That is, the device becomes a handy tool to spot in advance the defects/probable leaks in plant area. 2) If the person's identification is incorporated, the Health team can co-relate an individual's inhalation of /hydrocarbon toxic gases over a fixed period and recommend necessary course measures for his health care.
When I placed these request on table, MSA top management was completely perplexed! They immediately asked Mr Gustavo to study and come out on fourth day for meaningful forward path.
Rest is History!!                                                                                                          Contd.......

Key Aspect:- Accountable,  Conviction, Communicate, Incident analysis, Initiative, Planning,
Responsible, Technical issue

P 124 J3 Detectors Inspection clearance

P 124


J3 Detectors Inspection Clearance

As my USA trip cropped up all of a sudden, everyone including the vendor offices at India,Dubai and USA were perplexed! Moreover, vendor was afraid that though the materials might be manufactured at the factory but they cannot seek clearance for shipment/air lifting in the absence of all vendor drawing approval in place( upload in system with Code1 clearance).It was clear to everybody that I was the only one who had complete clarity on the issue. Reliance procurement did not have any clue on that account and my deputy in project could not understand to pick up the gravity of  situation.
That was the time ,MSA Director Mr.Stuart came out with a bright idea and requested my service  help to get over the problem. He requested me whether I can spare a few days during my leave at USA ,to visit their factory at Pittsburg , review and approve the deliverables and participate in final on-line inspection of the portables as well as galaxy devices. He also felt that I can use that time for arriving at the full configuration of total system by discussing with their system leads and factory/system. personnel. As I did not have any fixed agenda at USA(during that vacation) I agreed for his request.
I was clear that I shall not treat that visit as official  and carry out the task only on technical basis, in the interest of successfully expediting the project deliverables. So looking at the calender and personal convinience, I indicated that I can spend my time from 7th Dec. to 12th Dec. max at Pittsburgh. MSA management felt relieved and organized my local travel and stay etc. at Pittsburgh.
It was four day trip and MSA topmost management was all praise for that help.

It so happened that ,that was the time the factory took the multi-gas portables assembly  and 4X meant for SEZ-gasification and PXIV  in-line inspection. Their inspection process was a revelation to me as everything was automated and run through conveyors for board checking, sensor fixing, each sensor undergoing for its respective gas sensitivity test for its range etc.

As I specifically requested for visiting the sensor manufacturing and test lab (which is restricted place even for their own employees), with a special non-disclosure agreement signed, top management escorted me for visiting it and deliberate with their system chief. As I am basically an Automation engineer  by qualification, we could exchange effectively about sensitivity, area classification etc.

With the factory team , I could go deeply about their inspection process/ procedure, certification, record tracability and test records storage etc.  All these took two days of my time.

Meanwhile, on reachning their factory on first day itself, I gave my complete document listing for review to their  product lead specialist Mr Gustavo.So he put the respective team members on the job to accumulate all of them and fixed the meeting/discussions on fourth day morning. As I was directly dealing with the factory members themselves, they could understand the specifics with full clarity and organized to produce all of them. As most of the deliverables  are UL/FM approved and the factory has got ISO approval, my task became easy in reviewing and understanding. On my review, I asked them to upload in Reliance system and was in constant touch with my assistant Mr Sandesh Tikhe at RCP. I was continuously giving him step by step instructions to clear every deliverable.

The funniest thing was ,I had to work 16 hours a day to cover up time difference between India and USA  during my annual vacation holidays!
                                                                                                                   Contd....
Key Aspects :-   Accountable, Attitude, Communicate, Planning, Recognition, Responsible,