Environmental Incidents

Pollution-causing incidents can be divided into four major categories  

Accidental pollution. This category includes industrial accidents, some of which are described below. Post-disaster investigations often show that the accidents were preventable. In many cases, an entire industry learns from the accident and implements safeguards to prevent a recurrence. 

Inappropriate response to pollution. As shown in the examples below, many industrial accidents would have been far less harmful if the people involved had responded in a more appropriate way. Inappropriate responses reflect lack of preparation, both mental and physical. Studies conclude that careful emergency planning coupled with thorough employee training (and retraining) prevents accidents and leads to faster, better responses to accidents. 

Malicious acts. These include illegal midnight dumping, cover-ups, sabotage, and acts of war. 

The examples described below cover all four categories. In every case, the damage was mitigated by the heroic efforts of doctors, nurses, firemen, and/or cleanup crews. These people put themselves at risk to save the lives of others. When we give statistics for lost lives, we don t enumerate all the lives saved by these heroes, not because we don t want to, but because we can t find the numbers. 

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To reduce employee exposure and environmental incidents, the plant deemed it necessary to add drain pans and piping under the routine samples and filter drains. The final system was inherently safer than the original. If technologically possible, eliminating the need to drain would be inherently safer than the drain pans. 

Despite numerous safety protocols that are in place and the care taken to avoid environmental incidents (EPA, 2004), virtually every industry suffers accidents that lead to environmental problems, complexities, and chemical contamination. The petroleum industry is no exception to such accidents. It is therefore helpfnl to be aware of the nature of the raw material and the products arising therefrom, in order to understand the nature of any contamination and thns the best cleannp methods to choose. 

Causal Trees were developed in an effort to use the principles of deductive logic found in Fault Tree but make it more user-friendly. Originally, private companies developed the Causal Tree Method (CTM) for safety, process safety, and environmental incident investigations applications. Rhone-Poulenc, for example, was an early user.<20.21) Multiple-Cause Systems Oriented Incident Investigation (MCSOfl) is another name for the CTM. At this time, most companies use simplified versions of fault trees for complex incident investigations. 

The following is an example of the use of a predefined tree to analyze an environmental incident. While the structure (numher of branches and levels) and terminology of predefined trees vary, this example demonstrates the basic method. 

We believe that all injuries and occupational illnesses, as well as safety and environmental incidents, are preventable, and our goal for all of them is zero. We will promote off-the-job safety for our employees,... 

Another characteristic of foam is the concentration in which it is used. A 3% foam concentrate is mixed at a ratio of 97 parts water to 3 parts foam concentrate. Similarly, a 6% foam concentrate is mixed at a ratio of 94 parts water to 6 parts foam concentrate. Another key consideration is the 25% drainage time—the time required for 25% of the foam s liquid to drain from the foam. This characteristic can be used to measure foam stability, and in combination with the expansion ratio, it can be used to determine how the thickness of the foam blanket will vary with time (NFPA 471, 1989). This dictates the rate at which foam will have to be added to the initial blanket to ensure continued mitigation effects. Second, the drainage time can be used to determine the water, both total quantity and rate, that will have to be dealt with to prevent the incident from becoming an environmental incident as well. 

To assure that no injury, damage to equipment, or environmental incident occurs as a result of using a defective chemical hose. 

There is no doubt that safe complex decommissioning of retired NSs in the Kamchatka region, RC placing for long-term storage at the Primorskiy Kray s LSC and environmental remediation of the CMB in Gorbushechya Bay in the shortest possible time will contribute to a decrease in the risks of environmental incidents in the Pacific region. 

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, or PCDDs, are highly toxic substances that are present in trace amounts as byproducts of some chemical manufacturing processes. They have been implicated in a number of environmental incidents—for example, the chemical contamination at Love Canal and the herbicide spraying in Vietnam. The structure of dibenzo-p-dioxin, along with the customary numbering convention, is... 

Loss of Process Containment (LOPC)—An incident that involved an unanticipated leak, spill, or release of process material in sufficient quantity or concentration to the air, water, land, or work environment that resulted or could reasonably have resulted in a process, safety, or environmental incident. 

The main purpose of including this indicator is to ascertain whether the company is prepared to tell the bad news as well as the good news. It basically covers lack of compliance with legislation and regulations, e.g. environmental incidents, defined as any reportable permit non-compliance or reportable release. There is also a financial implication because a level of non-compliance will normally result in fines. 

Prosecutions fines a no score has been awarded since, although a 6% reduction in the number of environmental incidents is reported, no mention is made of any prosecutions or fines, or their absence. 

Transport Incidents a no score has been given since no data is provided on either the safety of BASF operations or on environmental incidents. This is in spite of inclusion in the report of a separate section on Transport Safety . In it articles describe the introduction of a safety and quality evaluation scheme for shipments of ammonia and naphtha by sea, and there is a discussion on the role of the new European Inland Shipping Inspection System (EBIS). 

Downside reports no mention is made in the report of any accidents, injuries or environmental incidents, and there is no other downside reporting. 

Downside reports as well as identifying failures to achieve interim goals, the CER reports on the environmental incidents, and identifies a number of global targets for 2005 ... 

Prosecutions fines the CER provides details of five accidents and environmental incidents that caused local impact or concern during 1999. In addition, it is stated that Kemira Pigments had eight reportable releases of chlorine, caustic and sulphuric acid. 

Downside reports the internet report does suggest one in which the downside is being reported. As well as reporting failures to meet targets it is identified that in 1999 there were six complaints from the public regarding odour and three regarding noise. There were also 30 environmental incidents and 15 fires/explosions. 

Objectives a no score has been awarded because of the absence of any quantified objectives, although the internet report identifies a group commitment to continuous improvement toward the ultimate goal of zero accidents, illnesses and environmental incidents . 

Downside reports a yes score has been awarded. Two fires and eight releases concerning four German plants are reported on in the CER under the section titled Environmental Incidents , and there is an article describing the work being carried out on land remediation at Berghausen, where over 1200 tonnes of chlorinated solvents have been extracted from the soil. 

The earliest reports of acute environmental incidents were of air pollution emergencies. In the Meuse Valley of Belgium during 1930, 63 persons died and thousands became ill from sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid air pollution (French 1989). The Donora, Pennsylvania, smog disaster in 1948 left 20 dead and more than 5,000 ill (French 1989). 

The Norwegian offshore industry uses the values given in Table 1.10 to categorize the consequences of environmental incidents. 

The National Response Center (NRC) is the single contact point for reporting all environmental incidents in the United States. There is a standard series of questions that have to be answered in the report, including material name, date, and time when the incident occurred, and the cause of the spill or release. The NRC database spans the period from 1982 to 2001 it contains about 23,000—35,000 entries for each year. 

It would generally be agreed that a significant environmental incident such as this tank overflow occurring once every three is not acceptable. Management may decide that they want the system failure rate reduced to 1 in 10 years, or better. How this can be done is discussed below. 

The implementation of the system can be divided into three phases. First, a preparatory review is made. The review should consider all environmental issues that are relevant to the organisation. Furthermore, it should evaluate the environmental effects of the organisation s activities, evaluate existing environmental management procedures, and review information from occasional environmental incidents. 

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