Industry Chemicals and allied products

Chemical-based products cover a broad spectrum of materials and forms, ranging from molecules to appliances. Table 16.1-1 shows the various product functional forms, along with examples in major application areas. Examples highlighted in italic are those discussed in this book. Most small molecules such as BTX (benzene-toluene-xyxlene) are sold to chemical and allied products industries while a limited number such as refrigerants and solvents are for sale in the consumer market. In contrast, multicomponent liquid mixtures such as liquid shampoo, semi-solids such as cream and paste, and structured solids such as controlled release herbicide are often sold directly to the consumers. Business-to-consumer sale is even more prevalent for ready-to-use devices and appliances such as diagnostic kits, drinking water filters and air cleaners. 

The U.S. chemicals and allied products industry consists of some 9,125 corporations whose primary business is the development, manufacturing, and marketing of industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other chemical products. 

The chemicals and allied products industry is an investor in basic research— the planned search for new knowledge without reference to... 

A State of the Art Review of the Effects of Regulation on Technological Innovation in the Chemical and Allied Products Industries", Center for Development Technology for National R D Assessment Program. St. Louis, Mo Washington University (February 1975), Three Volumes. 

Other Work on the Regulation-Technological Change Relationship. A 1975 literature survey of the chemical and allied products industries concluded ... 

Human exposure to 1,1-dichloroethane is expected to be highest among certain occupational groups (e.g., chemical and allied products industry workers) and members of the general population living in the vicinity of industrial point emission sources (EPA 1985) and hazardous waste sites. The compound has been detected in both ambient air and water in low concentrations, with substantially higher concentrations in localized areas around industrial and disposal sites. No information was found regarding the number of people potentially exposed around hazardous waste sites. 

Railroad Transportation Statistics for the Chemical and Allied Products Industry... 

It would be difficult, if not impossible, to visualize two industries which affect our daily lives to a greater degree than the chemical and allied products industry and the railroad industry. Practically everything we touch in our daily routine and even in our sleep requires the use of chemicals during some stage of its production. The railroad industry provides the transportation services essential to such production and distribution. It is only natural, therefore, that the chemical and allied products industry, with its many ramifications and requirements of rail transportation, is interested in statistics relating to the railroads, their facilities, and their services. 

Before outlining the railroad statistical data relating to the chemical and allied products industry, it seems desirable to define that industry. Table II lists the commodities produced by the industry ( ), as defined by the Manufacturing Chemists Association. 

Paints, varnishes, colors, and fillers Other chemicals and allied products Industrial inorganic chemicals Industrial organic chemicals Vegetable and animal oils and fats Synthetic rubber Synthetic fibers... 

The Interstate Commerce Commission s freight commodity statistics would appear to be of greatest interest to the chemical industry, in that they show, with certain limitations, the transportation service rendered by the railroads to the chemical and allied products industry (as defined), measuring that service in number of cars and tons of freight transported and the freight revenue the railroads receive for such transportation service. 

Class I Railroads, 1947 to Present. Freight traffic during the years 1941 to 1945 reflected the effect of wartime production with its varying degrees of influence on certain particular commodities, as a result of which a revision of the commodity classification was again desirable. Effective with the January 1, 1947 revision, the number of commodity classes was increased again—this time from 157 to 262 classes. The data reported for each of the 262 classes are the same as shown for the period 1928 to 1946. Of the 105 new classes, some 17 additional classes are of interest to the chemical and allied products industry (Table III). 

In short, the chemical and allied products industry makes much greater use of railroad transportation service, and depends upon such service to a much greater degree, than is indicated in the summary of the 34 major commodity classes. 

Cl) Association of American Railroads, Washington 6, D. C., Commodity Classification, 1947. (2) Manufacturing Chemists Association, Washington, D. C., Chemical Facts and Figures. Useful Information and Statistics Relating to the Chemical and Allied Products Industries, 3rd ed.,pp. 1,290,1950. 

Preliminary data from a second workplace study, the National Occupational Exposure Survey (NOES) also conducted by NIOSH in 1980-1983, indicated that 5,319 workers in 151 plants were potentially exposed to vanadium in the workplace in 1980. Of the 5,319 workers 84% were exposed specifically to vanadium pentoxide. The largest number of workers were exposed in the chemicals and allied products industry (NIOSH 1984a). 

Table 8.37 Summary of the Chemical and Allied Products Industries, 1994...

Permit to Work Systems, 1977 (Chemical and Allied Products Industry Training Board, Staines, Middlesex, UK). 

We are indebted to the Chemical and Allied Products Industry Training Board for their permission to include extracts from Health and Safety at Work—Everybody s Concern. Copies of this Information Paper are available, price 1.25 from CAP/1TB, Staines House, 158 High Street, Staines, Middlesex. 

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. 

The overall safety record of the process industries has been quite good, despite several highly publicized plant incidents. In fact, the accident and loss statistics for the chemicals and allied products industries are among the best of the manufacturing sectors (Crowl and Louvar, 2002). But it is not possible to eliminate risk entirely, and unfortunate accidents occasionally occur (Kletz, 1995 Mannan and Lees, 2005 Crowl and Louvar, 2002 Banerjee, 2003). 

TABLE 1.4 New Capital Spending in the U.S. Chemical and Allied Products Industry and Comparison with That Spent a Decade Earlier ... 

The chemical industry tends to be a high-investment business. Capital spending by the chemical and allied products industry in the United States has been a sizable percentage of the total spent for all manufacturing. Amounts spent in this industry and in certain facets of it are detailed in Table 1.4. The amount spent for all chemical process industries has been, of course, even larger it totaled 68.9 billion in 1990, for example, a 5.3 percent increase over the amount spent in 1989. For perspective, annual expenditures for new plant and equipment in the United States for the chemical and allied products industry in recent years have averaged about 2.5 times... 

Needless to say, the heterogeneity and shifting definitions of the chemicals and allied products industry require the analyst to adopt a cautious stance when interpreting the data. In what follows, we shall look at enduring trends and short-run variations in major aspects of the chemical industry defined in this way, comparing the industry s position in the domestic economy with that of the larger aggregate of chemical process industries where appropriate. 

Oligopoly, often a concomitant of big business, has been a characteristic of the chemicals and allied products industry during this century. 

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