California Code of Regulations › Title 8 - Industrial Relations › Division 1 - Department of Industrial Relations › Chapter 4 - Division of Industrial Safety › Subchapter 14 - Petroleum Safety Orders-Drilling and Production › Article 16 - Gas Compressors and Engines › Section 6554 - Stationary Internal Combustion Engine Driving Air or Gas Compressors

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) Air and gas
					 compressor engines of over thirty (30) horsepower shall be provided with means
					 other than manual for starting. Manual starting is permitted in emergencies
					 only.
(b) In a gas compressor
					 building or in buildings where there may be an accumulation of flammable gases,
					 internal-combustion engine ignition systems or wires shall not be manipulated
					 in a manner that may produce an open spark, unless tests indicate that the
					 flammable gas or vapor content of the atmosphere is less than twenty percent
					 (20%) of the lower explosive limit.
(c) Cylinder cocks of internal-combustion
					 engines shall not be opened at any time when a flame or spark may be discharged
					 from the cylinder cock into a gas compressor room or in buildings where there
					 may be an accumulation of flammable gases, unless tests indicate that the
					 flammable gas or vapor content of the atmosphere is less than twenty percent
					 (20%) of the lower explosive limit.
(d) In addition to the throttle valve, other
					 means shall be provided by the use of one or more valves, blinding, or other
					 provisions giving equivalent safety, to prevent fuel gas entering cylinders and
					 actuating moving parts while maintenance work is being performed upon an
					 internal combustion engine, or upon the equipment connected to and driven by
					 the engine, when such maintenance work would otherwise expose the employee to
					 possible injury.
(e) The main fuel
					 gas line to gas compressor engines and other internal combustion engines
					 located in gas compressor buildings shall be equipped with a suitable master
					 shut-off valve located outside the building but in any case within a reasonable
					 distance of the engine.
(f) A check
					 valve shall be provided in the engine or in the starting air line adjacent to
					 each internal combustion engine cylinder using compressed air as the means of
					 starting.
(g) The compressed air
					 supply for starting an engine shall be prevented from so functioning while
					 maintenance work is being performed on an idle internal combustion engine, or
					 on the equipment connected to and driven by the engine, when such maintenance
					 work is of a nature that employees may be endangered should the starting air
					 cause the engine to move or turn over. This shall be accomplished by one of the
					 following means:
(1) Disconnecting the
					 starting air line union and disaligning the pipe.
(2) Having two closed valves in the starting
					 air line with an open tee between them having a discharge capacity equal to the
					 capacity of the starting air line.
(3) Other means giving equally effective
					 positive protection as (1) or (2) above.