This document:

—    specifies the general safety requirements for secondary steelmaking machinery and equipment (SSME) as defined in 3.1 to treat liquid steel;

—    deals with all significant hazards, hazardous situations and events pertinent to SSME, when used as intended and under conditions foreseen by the manufacturer, but also includes foreseeable misuse, faults and malfunctions;

—    specifies the requirements to ensure the safety of persons which are to be met during the design, pre-assembly, transport, sites assembly, commissioning, operation, maintenance, decommissioning and dismantling/ disassembling of the equipment;

—    assumes that SSMEs are operated and maintained by adequately trained and competent personnel. Manual intervention for setting, adjustment and maintenance is accepted as part of the normal use of the equipment.

This document applies to SSME involved in the treatment process of liquid steel under vacuum or atmospheric pressure and covers:

—    LF, ladle furnace,

—    VD, vacuum degassing,

—    VOD, vacuum oxygen decarburization,

—    RH (OB), Ruhrstahl Heraeus (oxygen blowing),

—    process related interfaces/interactions (e.g. according to design, controls) to:

a)    process media,

b)    primary and secondary gas cleaning plant,

c)    material handling systems,

d)    transfer cars for steel ladle, and

e)    crane and ladle.

NOTE 1   Due to the variety of secondary metallurgical processes, there are other variants (e.g. VODC – vacuum oxygen decarburization converter, CAS, CAS - OB) in addition to the main processes discussed in this document. Most countries require that applicable safety requirements, specific to this equipment be implemented.

This document does not cover safety requirements for the following equipment:

—    cranes;

—    transfer cars, e.g. ladle transfer cars, tank cars, maintenance cars;

—    fork lift trucks or other transporting equipment;

—    ladles;

—    equipment for relining and preheating in the relining area;

—    burners according to ISO 13577‑2 (the burner lances for RH vessels are covered by ISO 13577‑2 except for maximum main burner ignition time, see 5.2.26.2);

—    cleaning and treatment of dust and fume exhaust systems;

—    process media (e.g. air separation, boiler house, steam generation system);

—    material handling systems.

NOTE 2   Significant hazards and hazardous situations due to transporting/positioning of heavy components, e.g. by cranes (e.g. ladles, vessels, covers) are considered in this document (see 5.2.3).

This document is not applicable to SSMEs and associated equipment manufactured before the date of its publication.