Fire and explosion risk assessment in a chemical company by the application of DOW fire and explosion index

Background: Fire and explosion hazards are extremely important in processing units. This study was performed to identify the risk centers, the potential damage caused by fire and explosion, and the days of production cessation in the processing company. Materials and Methods: The present qualitative case study was conducted using Dow’s index in 2015. The fire and explosion hazard index and level were calculated for the processing units after collecting the required data. In addition, hazard radius and level, damage factor (DF), actual maximum probable property damage (MPPD), and the maximum probable days’ outage (MPDO) were determined by analysis of the collected data. Results: The results indicated that the fire and explosion hazard level was high in 82% of the studied processing units. Moreover, the potential fire or explosion could cause financial damage of 51 million dollars and production cessation of 296 days. Conclusions: The results of this study showed a variety of possible fire and explosion hazards in the studied processing units. By determining several weakness points in these units, serious engineering controls were suggested to decrease the determined hazard levels. Furthermore, Dow’s fire and explosion index (F&EI) was approved as an efficient technique for assessing the risk of fire or explosion in addition to their damage levels.