Exposure minimization, risk reduction

Promotes pollution prevention, the use of safer chemicals through regulatory and vohmtaiy efforts, risk reduction so as to minimize exposure to existing substances such as lead, asbestos, dioxin, and polychlorinated biphenyls, promotes the public understanding of risks by providing understandable, accessible and complete information on chemical risks. 

To maintain a safe lab environment, it is critical that everyone minimizes and/or eliminates the risk of exposure to hazards. We do this everyday with precautions that we have learned to prevent or reduce injury and harm. Table 1.1.1.1 shows common risk factors associated with these risks and proven risk reduction actions. " For example, if we wear seat belts, we are less likely to sustain life-threatening injuries in a collision. The phrase less likely is important because wearing a seat belt does not guarantee that you will be injury-free if you are in a collision, but it does mean that your chances of... 

Inventory of hazardous material in pipes can also be minimized by using the hazardous material as a gas rather than as a liquid. The Dow Chemical Exposure Index (14) is a tool that can be used to measure inherent safety with regard to potential toxic exposure risk. Table 2 shows the reduction in the Chemical Exposure Index that can be realized by handling a number of hazardous materials as a gas rather than as a liquid, assuming that the same-size pipe can deliver the required flow rate. Figure 6 shows the decrease in the hazard zone (toxic cloud footprint) that resulted from relocating a chlorine vaporizer from a production building to... 

ETAD has also launched a waste minimization program at production facilities [S] and has provided advice for reduction of environmental releases from customer dyehouses [6]. Waste reduction parallels the worker exposure approach as an effective means of reducing possible risk levels. 

There is no doubt that over the past 20 years, the chemistry community, and in particular, the chemical industry, has made extensive efforts to reduce the risk associated with the manufacture and use of various chemicals. There have been innovative chemistries developed to treat chemical wastes and remediate hazardous waste sites. New monitoring and analytical tools have been developed for detecting contamination in air, water and soils. New handling procedures and containment technologies have been developed to minimize exposure. While these areas are laudable efforts in the reduction of risk, they are not pollution prevention or Green... 

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