Only the best is good enough: Managing the risks of glass in hazardous service

When the consequences of failure are catastrophic, only the best is good enough. Sight glasses, flow glasses, and level glasses are used throughout the process industry to provide operator visibility into process equipment and operating conditions. They have great benefits for many operations, including observing reaction progress, phase separations, level, and more. However, the installation and utilization of glass also results in several Process Safety challenges. While the inherently safer solution is to eliminate glass components, this may not always be practical, particularly in Specialty Chemical manufacturing. If not properly specified, installed, and maintained, glass components can be the weak link in the process equipment or piping system, with failure of the glass resulting in loss of containment of hazardous materials, fire, explosion, chemical exposure, or personnel injuries. Numerous events throughout the chemical process industries have demonstrated the consequences of failure of glass components, with many serious injuries and fatalities. Clearly, there is a strong need for proper management of glass in hazardous chemical services. This paper will present the best practical engineering controls and mitigative protection layers, supported by robust management systems, which have been shown to be effective at operating facilities in managing the risks of glass in hazardous services.