Chemical Reactivity Hazards Essential Management Practices

This chapter assumes chemical reactivity hazards exist at your facility. If you are uncertain whether or not you have any chemical reactivity hazards, the Preliminary Screening Method in Chapter 3 can be used to help identify whether chemical reactivity hazards may be present. 

Put into Place a System to Manage Chemical Reactivity Hazards 

9 Investigate Chemical Reactivity Incidents 4.10 Review, Audit, Manage Change, Improve Hazard Management Practices/Program  

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Reactive Chemistry Reviews The process chemistry is reviewed for evidence of exotherms, shock sensitivity, and other instability, with emphasis on possible exothermic reactions. The purpose of this review is to prevent unexpected and uncontrolled chemical reactions. Reviewers should be knowledgeable people in the field of reactive chemicals and include people from loss prevention, manufacturing, and research. The CCPS Essential Practices for Managing Chemical Reactivity Hazards provides a useful protocol for identifying chemical reactivity hazards (Johnson et ah, 2003). A series of questions about the chemical handling operations and the materials are used to determine if there are possible reactivity hazards. Figure 23-18 summarizes the CCPS protocol for identifying reaction hazards. 

This Concept Book seeks to fulfill a need for a document that gives details of practices that are essential to safely managing chemical reactivity hazards. Although it is presented primarily in the context of the U.S. and European industrial and regulatory arenas, the practices outlined in the... 

Chapter 2 introduces the management of chemical reactivity hazards throughout the life cycle of a facility, and shows how the essential practices... 

This publication focuses on essential management practices related to chemical reactivity hazards. The following are a few other sources of information on closely related topics that may be useful to the reader. A more complete list of references and resources can be found at the end of this publication, in addition to the bibliography included on the CD-ROM. 

It is not necessary or desirable to create a separate system for managing chemical reactivity hazards if an appropriate management system is already in place. All management system essentials (see Table 4.1 in Chapter 4) apply to the management of other process hazards as well, such as the handling of toxic or flammable materials. Most apply to other essential practices as well, such as environmental management, occupational safety, and industrial hygiene. 

The information in this chapter is presented as a series of questions. They are intended to help you quickly decide whether chemical reactivity hazards are present at your facility. If chemical reactivity hazards are indicated, it points you to the essential practices in Chapter 4 for managing the hazards. It is also intended to indicate whether the essential practices presented in this Concept Book are sufficient to manage your chemical reactivity hazards, or whether additional resources will be required. 

If the answer to Question 6 is YES, then you should make use of the information in Chapter 4, because a chemical reactivity hazard may be present. The information in Chapter 4 should be sufficient to identify chemical reactivity hazards that must be managed. In addition, if hazards are identified, the essential practices presented in Chapter 4 should be sufficient to manage these types of chemical reactivity hazards. 

As the Figure 4.1 flowchart implies, managing chemical reactivity hazards starts with a management system. To prevent incidents, a facility must not only be well designed, but also properly operated and maintained. A commitment to safety from all levels of management is essential, to ensure that all safety aspects receive adequate priority. In practice, conflicts of interest may arise between safety and other goals such as production demands and... 

Table 4.1 lists essential ingredients of a management system for successfully managing chemical reactivity hazards. An honest comparison of a company s current practice with the items in this list can be used to point out the gaps that need to be filled. If you are just getting started with chemical reactivity hazard management, this shows what is needed to develop a successful management system. 

An essential practice for managing chemical reactivity hazards is to gather chemical reactivity data on the chemicals likely to be present at your facility. This can be done based either on a current chemical inventory, or on a list of chemicals expected to be present. In either case, your management system must also include a means of detecting and checking any new or variant chemicals brought onsite for the first time. 

This CCPS publication, Essential Practices for Managing Chemical Reactivity Hazards, may address this gap in industry guidance. 

Essential Practices for Managing Chemical Reactivity Hazards... 

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