The best course for safety traditionally lies in ensuring people are located far from hazards. Unfortunately, there are instances when that is not possible. Oil and gas refineries are one such work site; chemical facilities, power generation, military installations, and research laboratories are a few others. Blast-resistant buildings protect those who must work close to these hazards. They may be temporary or permanent structures, but they are present due to the potential for saving lives and protecting valuable assets should a catastrophic event occur.

In any team project, it is essential that all members provide unbiased recommendations for the product or solution being developed. This is particularly important in situations where safety is at risk, such as in the oil and gas industry. It is imperative that the team responsible for creating the specifications to protect people from potential hazards remain neutral and unbiased. It is important that they remain separate from the manufacturing and selling process. This ethical separation is critical in ensuring that greed does not influence the solution developed.

This article was originally published in the January/February 2023 issue of BIC Magazine and was edited to fit in the space provided. It is re-published here in its entirety. We have to look at a few facts to answer the titular question: Can a shipping container be converted to a blast proof building?

The old business adage to “under-promise,” so that you can “over-deliver” in order to delight your customers, is almost engrained in American culture. It’s the service that most of us expect when we are the customer. But unfortunately, it isn’t the service that is most often delivered.

This blog post was originally published on November 26, 2019, but it has been updated with current information on June 19, 2023. If you’ve worked in the oil and gas industry, you’ve probably heard a lot about OSHA regulations, or the term Process Safety Management. This article will touch on just one part of that system, the process hazard analysis, and the facility siting study that it will call for. The cost of a facility siting study is not an expense that one generally looks forward to. Still, when it could mean the difference between proactively spending money on a study, versus reactively spending money to pay for repairs, lawsuits, or damages, it’s easy to see the clear choice. RedGuard, for many years a leader in designing blast-resistant buildings, also offers niche engineering services specifically related to explosion resistance in classified areas. We use third party experts including specialists in the energy sector, risk management, as well as structural engineers, and chemical engineers with many years of experience in the analysis of impact and blast response. Our expertise in blast response comes from being pioneers in the industry.

Blast-resistant building design gets more fun every year. The original designs conceived by RedGuard in 2005 were “bare bones,” which still have endless applications — from guard shacks to tool cribs. The latest blast-resistant building design interiors look more like luxury offices than metal buildings, with new variations emerging all the time. With corrugated metal as our basic building block, there’s no end to what we can do.

We all have too many plates spinning when the turnaround season shifts into full swing, so it’s important to plan early for the additional and replacement buildings you’ll need at your facility during this busy time. You should organize the blast-resistant buildings that you will lease many months ahead to save on shipping costs and assure you’ll have the units you need on time. But leased blast-resistant units for turnarounds are only part of the planning picture. Early in the year is the time to take a look at your entire strategy for blast protection, including the permanent units you plan to purchase.