When It's Okay to Bypass Safety Controls
Nov 08, 2024
Production is down, and steam pressure is zero. The boiler is in alarm due to an open safety control. Production workers are standing around. The plant manager is on the radio yelling about why production is down. Luckily for you, you know something about boilers and find the safety control preventing the boiler from starting. You jump it out because you saw someone else do it before, and the boiler starts and makes steam again. The production day is saved, and nothing bad will happen. This article explains when it's okay to jump out a safety control on a boiler.
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It's okay to jump out a safety control when...I am going to stop you right there. If you are serious about jumping out a safety control, you need to evaluate your decision making. It is never okay to jump out a safety control on a boiler. I don't care how much the plant loses because production is down. If production was so critical, the plant should have bought more boilers. No job is worth the risk of jumping out safety controls. When something bad happens (not if), the plant will point at you and hold you liable. You will not be a hero anymore. They will throw you under the bus faster than the bus could start moving. Safety controls are not installed as options on a boiler. They are there for a reason, and you must respect that.
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The second reason is it's never okay, in case you skipped the first point. Never jump out a safety control. Most safety practices are written in blood, do not let the lack of an accident in the past fog your decision making. You may get away with it once, even a couple of times. But the one time you do not get away with it will far exceed anything you have ever done. Oh, and you better hope you are not held criminally liable for negligence when someone gets hurt or killed. If you see someone else jumping out or bypassing a safety control on a boiler, do not look the other way. Step in and say something; it's better to sleep at night knowing you did the right thing than go to a co-worker's funeral who may not have known better.
Do not do it. Investigate the reason the boiler is not running and make an appropriate repair. Respect the inherent dangers of boilers and their operation. There is a reason they are covered in safety controls monitoring their operation. When in doubt, a boiler service company can provide professional assistance that is well worth the money.
