Facility Hazards

Organizations must emphasize hazard control as a function of every unit, department, or division. Often overlooked, administrative areas contain a variety of hazards. These hazards can include material lifting, repetitive motions, tripping, and risks of electrical shock. 

Make work area design a priority, and use ergonomic principles to help minimize work-related complaints, illnesses, or injuries. Some basic considerations would include evaluating force, duration, position, frequency, and metabolic expenditure of administrative workers. The most significant factor in the ergonomic equation addresses the working position of each individual. For example, administrative personnel working with computers for more than 4 hours daily can develop hand, arm, shoulder, neck, or back maladies (Table 4.1). 

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The CCPS publication Guidelines for Hazard Evaluation Procedures, Second Edition (Ref. 3) provides considerable information on various hazard evaluation techniques that may be employed. Evaluating hazards affecting buildings in process plants may be performed as part of a review focused specifically on the siting issue or as part of a more comprehensive review intended to identify and evaluate all facility hazards. 

U.S. EPA, Standards for the Management of Specific Hazardous Wastes and Specific Types of Hazardous Waste Management Facilities, Hazardous Waste Burned in Boilers and Industrial Furnaces, 40 CFR Part 266, Subpart H, GPO, November 2008. Available at http //ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx c= ecfr Sid=8268e2678cl3ad85b7c08edcfld43927 rgn=div5 view=text node=40 26.0.1.1.1 idno=40 40 26.0.1.1.1.6. 

The primary document outlining risk assessment methods in the U.S. Department of Defense is a Military Standard, Ref. 39. This document requires a well-documented system safety program, based on risk assessment methods to be included in all new Department of Defense systems and facilities. Hazards analyses of the systems are mandated by this publication. 

Realistically, the information available to perform risk studies varies over the lifetime of a process. During the early stages of process development, analysis teams may only have access to basic chemical reactivity hazard data, such as may be obtained from suppliers and literature resources. By the time a facility reaches the detailed design phase, most of the basic design and operating information should be available and used in any study of the facility hazards and risks. 

Key deliverables are capital project reviews new production leader reviews existing facility hazard reviews on a 3- to 5-year cycle research facility reviews and a formal training and awareness program. 

Except for occupational settings, no information was formd in the available literature on eoncentrations of HDl or HDl prepolymers in air. Because of the relatively short atmospheric half-life (approximately 2 days) from reaction with hydroxyl radicals (see Section 5.3.2.1), significant atmospheric concentrations of HDl would be expected to be found only near sources of this substance (e.g., waste streams from manufacturing or processing facilities, hazardous waste sites, occupational settings). Atmospherie eoneentrations of HDl and HDI-BT found in occupational settings are siunmarized in Section 5.5. 

PACE. January 1986. Final Report Reduction of Hazardous Waste From Electroplating Pretreatment Facilities. Hazardous Waste Reduction Grant Program. PACE Laboratories, Inc. Minneapolis, MN. and on Behalf of Truth, Inc., Owatonna, MN. Prepared for Minnesota Waste Management Board. 

Standards for Management of Specific Hazardous Wastes Facilities-hazardous waste burned in boilers and industrial furnaces Yes 40 CFR 266.100 EPA 1991 d... 

Standards for the Management of Specific Hazardous Wastes and Specific Types of Hazardous Waste Management Facilities Hazardous Waste Burned in Boilers and Industrial Furnaces 40 CFR 266.104... 

Mr. Ellison is president of Cerberus Associates, Inc. and as a private consultant, has responded to both transportation and fixed facility hazardous material incidents throughout the state of Michigan. He has acted as incident commander, safety officer, and response specialist at scenes involving chemical fires, water reactive materials, and shock sensitive materials. He has provided chemical and biological counterterrorism training to members of hazardous materials (HazMat) teams, police Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams, and Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) teams. 

Use of an integrated approach to hazard analysis will result in effectively identifying site and facility hazards, including chemical hazards and the hazards associated with the disposal of the hazardous chemicals. Analysis can begin at these levels by assessing chemicals present in quantities greater than the threshold quantities (TQ) found in 29 CFR 1910.119 and 40 CFR 355. These materials are generally analyzed from the process safety perspective, i.e., potential for a catastrophic accident with immediate consequences. 

At Pantex, the preliminary hazards analysis takes the form of a questionnaire (PX-1245), which is used to collect information about facility inventories of highly hazardous chemicals, explosives, and nuclear material. This information serves as an objective basis for facility hazard classification. The information also allows ranking of facilities based on the quantity and form of nuclear material the eonsequences associated with an explosive event, as well as the type of explosives operation and the eonsequences of a release of highly hazardous materials. 

Pantex uses its Facility Hazard Classification as the basis for determining if a facility is nuclear (which requires the development of Authorization Basis Documents) or if a facility requires control under the plant s PSM program because it is classified as an Explosive Manufacturing Operation or has threshold inventories of Highly Hazardous Chemieals. The Preliminary Hazard Analysis serves as the safety basis for facilities that are not classified as nuelear or eoveied by PSM. 

DOE O 420.1, Chg 3 4.2.7 Facility Safety. All new construction shall, as a minimum, conform to the Model Building Codes applicable for the state or region, supplemented with additional safety requirements associated with the facility hazards. Inventories of chemicals must be tracked in order to ensure that chemical limits specified in applicable regulations are not exceeded. 

In many larger facilities, hazards analyses are taking place almost all the time. In such situations, management may choose to create a dedicated hazards analysis room which will contain built-in facilities such as an overhead projector, a library of risk management materials, and a large coffee pot (with coffee in it). 

DOE Order 420.1, Facility Safety, requires the detailed application of that order s requirements to be guided by safety analyses that establish the identification and functions of safety (safety class and safety significant) structures, systems, and components (SSCs) for a facility and establish the significance of safety functions performed by those SSCs. It specifies that nuclear facilities shall be designed with the objective of providing multiple layers of protection to prevent or mitigate the unintended release of radioactive materials to the environment. The safety analyses must consider facility hazards, natural phenomena hazards, and external man-induced hazards. Paragraph 4.4.1 requires safety analyses for hazardous facilities to include the ability of SSCs and personnel to perform their intended safety functions under the effects of natural phenomena. DOE O 420.1 (DOE 1995) incorporates requirements from the cancelled DOE Orders 5480.28, 5480.7A, and 6430.1A(DOE 1993). 

Other controls for facility hazards include keeping areas clear of obstructions where materials handling vehicles operate. Also important is having horizontal and vertical pathways large enough for a safe maneuver of a vehicle and its load. There is a need to provide protective barriers for racks and other objects, which could pose dangers when struck by powered vehicles that operate nearby. 

Pentachlorophenol enters the environment and works its way into the soil, surface water, groundwater, sediments, food, and air primarily from treated utihty poles and fences, during production, from treatment facilities, hazardous waste sites, and accidental spills, and from its use as a pesticide. The major contaminants in commercial pentachlorophenol can be very toxic and include polychlorodibenzodioxins, polychlorodibenzofurans, polychlorodiphenyl ethers, and ehlorophenols. 

Source BJC/OR-1112 Facility Hazard Categorization/Classification and Hazard Analysis Application Guide, Revision 4, January 2007 (32). Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy. 

BJC/OR-1112, Facility hazard categorization/classification and hazard analysis application guide. Revision 4, January 2007. Prepared for the Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC05-980R22700 by the Bechtel Jacobs Company. 

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