2025 Spring Meeting and 21st Global Congress on Process Safety
(39a) Tool Time – Real World Applications of API RP 753
Authors
Kollin Kenady
Marathon Petroluem
Tyler Paschal, Jeffrey Goodman, Jodi Kostecki and Darren Malik
Baker Engineering and Risk Consultants, Inc. (BakerRisk)
3330 Oakwell Court, Suite 100, San Antonio TX 78218
tpaschal@bakerrisk.com, jgoodman@bakerrisk.com, jkostecki@bakerrisk.com and dmalik@bakerrisk.com
Keywords: Facility Siting, Portable Buildings, API RP 753
In 2005, a large vapor cloud explosion (VCE) at the BP Texas City refinery resulted in multiple fatalities in or near portable office trailers within close proximity to process areas. As a result, the American Petroleum Institute (API) issued API RP 753 “Management of Hazards Associated with Location of Process Plant Portable Buildings” in 2007 to ensure the safe placement of portable buildings at hazardous facilities. The second edition of API RP 753 was released in January of 2024, with updates to the original guidance. This paper provides a systematic discussion of an exemplary portable building siting analysis for blast loading using the requirements of the updated API RP 753.
The paper also provides examples of internal debris hazards associated with the blast response of four distinct types of portable buildings: ISO container, light wood trailer (LWT), blast-rated wood building (BRWB), and a semi-trailer outfitted as a tool trailer. Blast responses and associated internal nonstructural debris hazards of each portable building were observed during full-scale testing with BakerRisk’s Deflagration Load Generator (DLG).