Crowcon

The oil and gas industry is a dangerous workplace, and management of hazards a key focus. For the operator, maintaining a high level of plant safety is a critical concern. The most obvious and significant threat is the leakage and combustion of explosive gas. With hazardous gases ever present during production and processing operations, operators are constantly faced with the risk of flammable and toxic gas release and exposure.

Every site is different, and Crowcon employs its specialist gas detection knowledge to provide fixed systems that ensure the best protection suited to each individual site. Working closely with partners to understand the exact requirements is pivotal to our approach. Only in this way can we ensure our control panels and devices integrate efficiently into process control and safety shutdown systems.

Frequently regarded as a simple commodity, water is a vital element of day-to-day life, both for personal health and to industrial and commercial users. Whether the facility is focused on cleaning water for drinking or treating effluent, Crowcon is proud to have provided a wide variety of water industry users with gas detection equipment; keeping workers safe around the world.

Gas Detectors should be suited to the specific environment in which they are needed to operate. In the extreme, the water industry is a wet and dirty environment with multiple toxic and flammable gas hazards as well as the risk of oxygen depletion.

Regarded by many as providing the backbone to modern society, the steel industry is one which continues to evolve.

There are many different processes employed in making and forming steel and each stage generates and uses potentially hazardous gases. Coke ovens, the sinter plant, blast furnaces, forming operations as well as secondary steel and continuous casting use or produce dangerous levels of gases. Due to the large amount of water needed during processing as well as the heavy power requirement, water treatment and power generation facilities are commonly part of steel facilities; these bring further gas hazards depending on the type of fuel or treatment employed.

Whether it is geographic shifts in demand or production, or challenges brought by energy or raw material costs, companies continue to develop their processes and facilities to meet them. Alongside these changes companies have also realised the requirement to minimise downtime due to unplanned maintenance and protect workers from exposure to toxic or flammable gas hazards.

Supporting these initiatives, Crowcon and its network of trained and experienced distributors has provided gas detection equipment to most of the major steel companies around the world.

Once an archetypal example of manual production, the winery and brewery industries now incorporate sophisticated processes to ensure high quality levels and efficient output.

In some cases traditional approaches have been scaled up or put under more stringent monitoring, whilst in others innovations such as nitrogen-pressurised canning/bottling have been introduced. However, whichever approach has been followed realisation has grown of the associated gas hazards, and the need to protect workers from toxic gas exposure and asphyxiation risks.

Gas hazards within wineries and breweries include carbon dioxide from fermentation, chilling, blanketing and recovery; disinfectants such as ozone and sulphur dioxide for cleaning equipment; argon and nitrogen used as blanketing gases to create inert atmospheres; ammonia from refrigeration equipment; methane from fuel for heating or heavy lifting equipment; carbon monoxide within exhaust gases and hydrogen sulphide which could be present during waste treatment. Wineries and breweries have a high number of confined spaces which demand oxygen monitoring as well as process specific gases.

With over 45 years experience in gas detection and a network of trained distributors and service agents supporting winery and brewery clients around the world, regular users of Crowcon equipment include most of the major brewing groups as well as both large and independent wineries.

The marine environment is a dangerous one; everyone can appreciate the hazards afforded by high seas in a storm or beneath the waves, such as rocks and coral reefs. Less well recognised, however, are the dangers posed to mariners by the confined spaces of the ship itself, or the hazards presented by the cargo a vessel is carrying or the process being carried out on-board.

To ensure the safety of mariners, gas monitoring equipment is essential. Gas detection equipment requires specific marine environment testing and certification to ensure suitability to the extreme environments in which it must operate. Safety systems are regulated by region and the flag state or the registry of the vessel decides what type and volume of approved equipment the ship has to carry. The European Marine Equipment Directive (MED) approval is internationally recognised. Gas detectors used by mariners onboard a vessel registered in an EU country must hold MED approval and show the wheel mark. Crowcon provides a range of wheel-marked gas detectors, ideal for use on-board ships, to enable compliance with the directive.

The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) is one of the oldest conventions of its kind. The first version was adopted in 1914 following the sinking of the R.M.S. “TITANIC” with the loss of more than 1500 lives. The present version is SOLAS 1974 version which entered into force in 1980. Parts of the Convention apply to every ship, including small pleasure craft.

Chapter 1 provides information on the application and definitions of requirements for the marine industry, specifically detailing the applicability of this requirement by vessel type. In short, vessels that are classified as passenger or cargo ships greater than 500 gross tons and engaged on an international voyage are subject to the new requirement. The regulations, unless expressly provided otherwise, do not apply to:

i.    Ships of war and troopships.
ii.   Cargo ships of less than 500 gross tons.
iii.  Ships not propelled by mechanical means.
iv.   Wooden ships of primitive build.
v.    Pleasure yachts not engaged in trade.
vi.   Fishing vessels.

Amendments are regularly made to the published version of SOLAS and adopted by referenced resolutions. There have been a number of resolutions specific to the use of portable gas detection aboard vessels.

The gas network connects producers, processors, storage, transmission and distribution functions. Gas distribution describes the activity of providing piped gas (commonly methane, though Town-Gas used in some regions includes blends of hydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide) to industrial, commercial and residential properties. The gas is used for heating, hot water and cooking. A network of pipelines, storage facilities, pressure stations and regulators ensure constant availability of this resource. The operators of this network are responsible for its safe operation which includes finding and repairing reported leaks.

Methane is flammable at levels between 4.4% vol (Lower Explosive Limit – LEL) and 15% vol (Upper Explosive Limit – UEL). Methane in high concentrations may displace oxygen at levels above the UEL, especially in confined spaces. Decreased oxygen can cause suffocation and loss of consciousness. It can also cause headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, and loss of coordination.

With over 40 years experience in gas detection and a network of trained distributors and service agents, supporting Gas Distribution clients around the world, end users who have selected Crowcon equipment include international gas distribution companies as well as regional suppliers.