Equipment isolation system

An equipment isolation system for remotely isolating equipment in a plant comprising:

• equipment energisable by an energy source;
• and
• a control system for controlling and monitoring operation of said equipment and isolation of said equipment from said energy source to an isolated state by an operator,
• wherein said control system includes an identification device for an operator to provide operator identification data;
• and a processor for comparing said operator identification data with stored identification data for operators authorized to use the equipment isolation system wherein said control system is configured to enable use of the equipment isolation system by said operator only where the processor matches operator identification data provided to the identification device and said stored identification data;
• wherein said control system is configured to respond to an isolation demand input corresponding with one of a plurality of available equipment isolation modes, each of which enable automatic isolation of at least one of said plurality of equipment items from said energy source when authorized by the control system;
• wherein said plurality of available isolation modes includes an isolation mode to isolate said plurality of equipment items being a selected sub-set of equipment items from a set of equipment items which together comprise a plant or plant system;
• wherein said control system pre-configures said operator identification means with operator identification data prior to isolation, said operator identification data including data and rules governing isolation and operation of equipment items within said sub-set of equipment items;
• wherein said control system pre-configures a plurality of operator identification means with data and rules governing isolation and operation of equipment items within said sub-set of equipment items;
• wherein said control system pre-configures each operator identification means with different data and rules governing isolation and operation of equipment items within said sub-set of equipment items dependent on tasks that each operator has to perform during isolation.