Industrial Safety Procedures for Oil Production: Protecting Workers & Environment

Oil producing areas can produce large amounts of pollution and toxic materials. As such, it is important to have a set of reliable safety procedures in place to prevent injury and threats to health.

Risks

• There are a number of health and environmental concerns surrounding oil production. A short list of risks includes toxic air emissions, wastewater discharges, solid and liquid waste management, noise generation and spills.

Flaring

• Sometimes it is necessary to flare and vent unwanted gases into the atmosphere. A number of pollution prevention procedures should be in place when this is done, including using efficient flare tips, maximizing flare combustion efficiency by controlling flare fuel/air/steam flow rates, using a reliable pilot ignition system and minimizing flame lift.

Other Waste

• Solid and liquid waste management should include the use of down-hole fluid separation techniques, shutting in high water producing wells, careful selection of fluid additives taking into account their toxicity and use of high efficiency solids control equipment.