Developing a Safety Plan

Employers in the hydrogen fuel cell industry should always have a safety plan for their employees. The components of the plan should consider every possible situation in which an employee could be injured, and provide detailed information about how to respond to those incidents if they occur. A safety plan that serves as a guide for the safe conduct of all project work is essential in working with hydrogen fuel cell projects.

A good hydrogen safety plan identifies first-level failure modes in hydrogen storage and secondary failure modes that may come about because of other failures. The safety plan should identify every conceivable accident that might occur.

A good safety plan should also identify how potential hazards may adversely affect other aspects of the workplace, including the following:

• Personnel
  • Any hazards that pose a risk of injury or loss of life to personnel and the public at-large must be identified and eliminated or mitigated. A complete safety assessment considers not only those personnel who are directly involved in the work, but also others who are at risk due to these hazards.
• Equipment
  • Damage to or loss of equipment or facilities must be prevented or minimized. Damage to equipment can be both the cause of incidents and the result of incidents. An equipment failure can result in collateral damage to nearby equipment and property, which can trigger additional equipment failures or even present additional risks. Effective safety planning considers and minimizes serious risk of equipment and property damage.
• Business interruption
  • The prevention of business interruption is important for commercial entities. Hazardous events may lead to interruption in providing service or product. A complete safety plan in these instances would also include a contingency plan for providing needed services or manufacturing.
• Environment
  • Damage to the environment must be prevented. Any aspect of a natural or built environment that can be harmed due to a failure should be identified and analyzed. A qualification of the failure modes resulting in environmental damage must be considered.

The DOE suggests a project safety plan that addresses potential threats and impacts to personnel, equipment, and the environment. As an integral part of any project, the safety plan should reflect that sound and thoughtful consideration is given to the identification and analysis of safety vulnerabilities, prevention of hazards, mitigation of risks, and effective communications. Safety plans should be constantly updated, recognizing the type of work being conducted, the factors of human error, the nature of equipment life, and the inevitable changes that occur over the project life.

The project safety plan should be prepared using a graded approach based on the level of risk and project complexity. The plan should cover all experimental or operational work being conducted with particular emphasis on the aspects involving hydrogen, hazardous materials handling, and fuel cell systems.

The elements of a good safety plan are summarized below:

1. Scope of work
2. Organizational safety information
   • Organizational policies and procedures
   • Hydrogen and fuel cell experience
3. Project safety
   • Identification of safety vulnerabilities (ISV)
   • Risk reduction plan
   • Operating procedures
     • Operating steps
     • Sample handling and transport
   • Equipment and mechanical integrity
   • Management of change procedures
   • Project safety documentation
4. Communication plan
   • Employee training
   • Safety reviews
   • Safety events and lessons learned
   • Emergency response
   • Self-audits

To learn more about Hydrogen Fuel Cell Safety visit our Hydrogen Fuel Cell Safety Online Training web page.