History

In 1992, the Occupational and Safety Health Administration (OSHA) began the enforcement of a standard called “Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals,” with the expressed intent of reducing the number of hazardous incidents at these facilities. As an appendix to the rule, a compliance guide was produced discouraging the use of portable buildings within the process areas of plants.

At the time, wood-framed construction (such as a traditional trailer) was popular because of the ease in placing the structures (and workers) near the work area and later relocating them, typically for temporary projects. Moved by OSHA’s stance and the specific incidents of collapse and resulting injury/death to wood-frame occupants, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Chemical Manufacturer’s Association (CMA) jointly developed guidelines to address these issues. API Recommended Practice 752 (API RP 752) focused on the location of buildings as well as safety practices. The guidelines identified the types of buildings commonly found in process settings and provided a means of assessing building occupants risk when exposed to high levels of “overpressure” resulting from an explosion. Further, building modifications or complete replacements were recommended with “a new building using explosion-resistant design.”

Setting the Standard
Hunter Buildings was conceived in 1999 with a singular goal of designing and marketing a superior building to replace wood-frame construction altogether. The use of “modular blast buildings” was already well established on offshore platforms for long-term employee housing, but the concept was new to the refining and petrochemical industries.

We knew our buildings would require unprecedented, custom design to meet intense safety and “blast” specifications. Such a quality product would be arguably more expensive than wood-frame trailers to rent or purchase, but we believed that the value of having employees safely in close proximity to the work area would far surpass the additional costs to the refining and petrochemical companies.

To design and certify our buildings for blast resistance, Hunter invested in a substantial, lengthy engineering endeavor, retaining the services of ABS Consulting, a widely-recognized and respected blast specialty and Risk Management firm. We also strategically targeted the largest energy company in the world and a leader in safety, ExxonMobil, as our first customer. They took a significant interest in our product, going so far as to coordinate a multi-disciplined team of ExxonMobil representatives to work with Hunter in developing a unique specification for all aspects of the building design (structural, safety, electrical, plumbing, communications, safety, etc). In collaboration with a structural engineering team, Hunter exhaustively reviewed and demonstrated all blast design aspects of the building.

Upon completion, ExxonMobil established a safety standard banning wood-frame trailers and requiring the use of “modular blast units” in blast areas. In 2000, Hunter became the first company to market, construct and sell modular blast buildings to the industry.

Due to the need for more detailed API RP 752 specifications, API RP 753 was published in June of 2007 defining three concentric “zones” which encircle any potential blast area. Meeting the needs of the industry to ensure safety of personnel, Hunter continues to design and construct the best blast-resistant buildings in the industry that comply with API RP 753 specifications.