Accidents of Other Self-Reactive Chemicals

Accidents of classical self-reactive substances have been described in previous sections, and those of newer ones are introduced below. 

DPT had actually caused a number of fires before this case and had been designated a semi-hazardous substance in Fire Services Law. This case is another example of an accident happening when a hazardous material is not handled in an appropriate way. 

Accordingly, it was deemed a substance too dangerous to be produced in an ordinary chemical plant. On the other hand, it was also found that its dangerous properties were not easily identified by some commonly practiced test methods an ordinary differential thermal analysis did not give a result suggestive of the danger, and a drop weight sensitivity test of solid 5-CT indicated that the substance was insensitive to percussion. 

The structural formula of this substance indicates the presence of a functional group characteristic of an explosive substance. This structure cannot be the decisive factor because other substances having the same functional group are not necessarily as dangerous as 5-CT. It is now clear that correct evaluation of the dangerous properties of a substance such as 5-CT cannot be achieved unless several evaluation methods are applied in parallel. At present, there are no judicial regulations for 5-CT in Japan, because it is not very common and hence is not considered dangerous. 

The accident at Saitama influenced the people involved profoundly,and it become a journalistic topic within newspapers and other media. The Japan Chemical Industry Association formed the Workshop for Unstable Substances and issued the brochure For the prevention of unpredictable explosion and fire caused by chemical substances in September of the year as an immediate measure. The association, after repeating its additional studies, issued the brochure Guidelines for the prevention of disasters from unstable substances in September, 1982, in which suggestion were offered regarding the kinds of provisional tests that should be made before a new chemical substance is 

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