Government regulation Administration Occupational

A leader in applying PSA to other parts of the chemical process industry has been the AlChf. s Center for Chemical Process Safety. A major difference between PSA for nuclear power and PSA for chemical processing has been the lack of government regulations that require risk analysis for chemical processes. A primary impetuous has been the Occupational Safety and Health Administration s (OSHA) PSM rule that defines the application of PSA to the chemical industry for ihc proteciion of the public and workers. In addition, the Environmental Protection Agcrii, . (EPA) regulates waste disposal. 

Occupation Safety and Health Administration Standards and Regulations of U.S. Gopemment, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1990. 

The federal government develops regulations and recommendations to protect public health. Regulations can be enforced by law. Federal agencies that develop regulations for toxic substances include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

The federal government has developed regulations and advisories to protect individuals from the potential health effects of acrylonitrile in the environment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends that acrylonitrile levels in water not exceed 0.058 ppb. Any release to the environment of more than 100 lb must be reported to the federal government. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has established a legally enforceable maximum limit of 2 ppm in workplace air for an 8-hour exposure over a 40-hour work week. 

Concentrated bromomethane can be very dangerous, so the ERA allows only licensed professional fumigators to buy or use bromomethane. The government does not have any regulations at present about how much bromomethane can be present in outdoor air or water, but ERA requires water companies to test for this chemical in their water. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set limits of 125- 400 parts of bromide per million parts of food (ppm) for how much bromide may remain in food after the food is treated with bromomethane. The Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) limits the average level of bromomethane in workplace air to 5 ppm, and recommends that exposures be reduced to the lowest level feasible. 

The government has taken a series of steps to reduce the risk of human exposure to BCME. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulates BCME as a potential human carcinogen. 

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