Safety factors: Conservatism principle in the design and construction of process, energy, and HVAC plants and equipment

It can generally be stated that successfully designed process, energy, and HVAC plants plants are characterized by both quality and quantity of the final product. Basic principle for every plant design state that every single piece of equipment must be sized as to perform its function in safe and efficient manner. To this end, due to many uncertainties, engineering design and construction often use the safety factor. Although this term is in everyday use in the engineering practice, the safety factor principle is often oversimplified and misunderstood. Paper presents a complete overview of application of safety factors in every aspect of plant and equipment design. Exhaustive literature review, coupled with authors' own extensive experience in plant and equipment design, serve not only to present the readers a clear background of basic principles and recommendations for safety factors, but also the help them understand all the complexities and aspects used in its formation. Examples provided in the dedicated section are meant to substantiate all the outlined concepts, while authors' own recommendations can guide the readers towards correct safety factor selection.