Chemical industry relative risks

One approach is to compare the risks, calculated from a hazard analysis, with risks that are generally considered acceptable such as, the average risks in the particular industry, and the kind of risks that people accept voluntarily. One measure of the risk to life is the Fatal Accident Frequency Rate (FAFR), defined as the number of deaths per 108 working hours. This is equivalent to the number of deaths in a group of 1000 men over their working lives. The FAFR can be calculated from statistical data for various industries and activities some of the published values are shown in Tables 9.8 and 9.9. Table 9.8 shows the relative position of the chemical industry compared with other industries Table 9.9 gives values for some of the risks that people accept voluntarily. 

Carpenter et al. (1988) carried out a nested case-control study of cancer of the central nervous system among workers at two nuclear facilities located in Tennessee (United States). They identified 89 cases (72 males and 17 females) who had died between 1943 and 1979. Four controls, living at the time the case was diagnosed, were matched to each case. Job history records were scrutinized by an industrial hygienist to assess potential exposure to each of 26 chemicals or chemical groups. Toluene, xylene (see this volume) and 2-butanone (methyl ethyl ketone) were evaluated as one chemical group the matched relative risk was 2.0 (95% confidence interval (Cl), 0.7-5.5 n = 28) in comparison with unexposed workers. Almost all cases had had low exposure, according to the classification used and there was no dose-response trend. The authors stated that the relative risks w ere adjusted for internal and external exposure to radiation. 

Relative Risks Compared to the Chemical Industry Jobs... 

The selection of a rate of capital return is dependent on many factors including the nature of the industry in question. For upstream oil and gas developments, or relatively small scale process plant, high rates of capital return are often demanded by the investors to offset short operational lives or perceived higher levels of risk. For very long term (30 year) infrastructure projects often accessing government funds, far lower rates of return are required. Many Greenfield operations in the chemicals industry are planned for a lifetime of 15 to 20 years and rates of return are as appropriate. Conunonly used values for the return on capital in this work are emboldened in the tables. 

The Swedish chemical industry plays a relatively small part in chemical production of the Europe Union as a whole. Nevertheless the use of hazardous chemical substances is as widespread in Sweden as in all the other countries in the study. Eighty per cent of the Swedish respondents to the European Foundation survey considered th selves very well or fairly well informed about risks resulting from the use of materials,... 

Relative risks compared to the chemical industry jobs... 

Unfortunately, accidents with chemicals are common, and the data in these tables is by no means comprehensive, intended, rather, to give a picture into the relative risks associated with different chemicals and industries. The National Response Center—the federal agency to which oil and chemical companies report oil and chemical spills estimates that each year there are more than 25,000 fires, spills, or explosions involving hazardous chemicals, with about 1000 of these events involving deaths, injuries, or evacuations (Figure 2.1). 

Another observation is that there are differences in relative rankings if one uses the different risk measurements. Perhaps most striking is that the FAR for enployees of the chemical industry is only slightly higher than the FAR for people staying in their homes. However, this is a potentially misleading conparison. The portion of the population that works is on average more healthy than the portion that does not. Also, most people take risks at home that they would not be allowed to take at work. Finally, a worker is probably more tired and prone to accidents at home after a hard day at work. 

Despite the common misperception of chemical process industry being dangerous to occupants and surrounding communities, which is promoted by isolated case histories, such as the Bhopal tragedy, regular statistics show a very different picture. According to the data presented by Sanders (2005) the relative risk index of workplace accidents in chemical and allied products industry (value of 0.6) is about 20 times less than the relative risk faced by Fishermen (index of 21.3) and Timber cutters (index of 20.6). It is even less than the relative risk of an average job (index of 1.0). This fact is further emphasized when it comes to the fatal accidents and death. 

All of this changed with the industrial revolution. Large-scale soil, water, and air pollution began to occur as a result of heavy industries such as the production of iron and steel, as well as industrial mining and petroleum extraction. These industries distributed chemical risk beyond the individual level to that of the community. Epidemiology, the branch of medicine that deals with the incidence and distribution of disease conditions in defined human populations, joined forces with toxicology, and studies began to assess the relative risk that chemical exposures exacted upon human communities and populations. 

Production, Import/Export, Use, Release, and Disposal. Humans are at risk of exposure to trichloroethylene because of its widespread use and distribution in the environment. Production, import, and use of the chemical are known to be relatively high, but recent quantitative data were not available (HSDB 1994). Trichloroethylene is released to the atmosphere mainly through its use in vapor degreasing operations (EPA 1985e). Landfills can be a concentrated source of trichloroethylene on a local scale. It is also released to surface water and land in sewage sludges and industrial liquid or solid waste. Trichloroethylene is... 

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