Inventory, hazard analysis

For chemical faciUties in the United States, hazard analysis is not an option if inventories of hazardous chemicals are maintained in amounts greater than the threshold quantities specified by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation 1910.119. Many faciUties are finding that hazard analysis has many benefits. The process or procedure often works better, the quaUty of the product is improved, the process experiences less down time, and the employees feel more comfortable in the work environment after a hazard analysis has been completed. 

When considering release scenarios, the most hazardous unit in a plant should be chosen, based on inventory and process conditions. The idea is to imagine the release of materim in the fastest way that is reasonably possible. The worst realistic scenario should be considered. This can be based on the outcome of a review, from a HAZOP study or a hazard analysis. The time a scenario will take is almost always considered to be continuous, because after a few minutes a stable dispersion distance exists. Making the time longer will not necessarily change the hazard distance. 

Risk assessment is an essential feature of disaster planning and is in essence a calculation or model of risk, in which a comprehensive inventory is created including all existing and potential dangers, the population most likely to be affected by each danger, and a prediction of the health consequences. Risk analysis uses the elements of hazard analysis and vulnerability... 

Safe unit placement enhances the overall safety of a pilot plant. A containment cell or a separate building is not, however, a guarantee of safety. Other measures include Increased process monitoring of safety specific variables, limiting inventories of hazardous feedstocks and products, detailed hazard analysis and risk assessments, and good design practices. One essential element is to ensure that the pilot plant has adequate space to support its operation. This requires a careful evaluation of the required space before the unit is constructed. While a detailed layout and a careful... 

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. 

This section identifies the methods used to identify and characterize hazardous materials and energy sources associated with the fadlities, operations, and inventory. Several sources of information and hazard analysis methods were used to identify the hazardous material inventory and potential energy sources at the HCF. 

Preliminary hazard analysis is one of the early steps in a system safety project. This step also creates assessments of risks associated with each hazard. This step defines possible corrections for the risks. The product of this step is a tabular inventory of hazards for the system under consideration. The PHA fits best during early system stages, such as concept definition, design, and development. 

We would be assisted by an inventory of landslides throughout the extents of the particular materials and processes that concern us. Studies of the physical environment of the slope are also useful. Together these might constitute a hazard analysis, the initial stage of a risk assessment (Cruden... 

Routine hazard analysis also adds hazards to your inventory. It will help you to control hazards that develop in work procedures or in processes, or that occur because of changes in the phases of the operation. 

The tools and approaches used in the various types of hazard analysis tend to overlap. This overlap helps ensure total coverage and a more comprehensive inventory on which to base your prevention program. 

Regular surveys including documented comprehensive workplace hazard evaluations are conducted by certified safety and health professional or professional engineer, etc. Corrective action is docnmented and hazard inventories are updated. Hazard analysis is integrated into the design, development, implementation, and changing of all processes and work practices. 

Hazardous chemical Facility information Chemical inventory Hazard analysis functions Incident reporting Popnlation information Transportation Shipper information... 

There are several fire hazard analysis techniques, i.e. load analysis, hazard inventory, fire spread, scenario method. Any fire risk can be evaluated (Tarrents, 1980)... 

Even, limited PSAs use and contain much information. This information may come as memos and process reports and flow sheets, equipment layout, system descriptions, toxic inventory, hazardous chemical reactions, test, maintenance and operating descriptions. From this, data and analyses are prepared regarding release quantities, doses, equipment reliability, probability of exposure, and the risk to workers, public, and environment. An executive summary analysis is detailed, and recommendations made for risk reduction. Thus the information will be text, calculations of envelope fracture stresses, temperatures, fire propagation, air dispersion, doses, and failure probabilities - primarily in tabular form. 

The parameter p (= 7(5 ) in gas-liquid sy.stems plays the same role as V/Aex in catalytic reactions. This parameter amounts to 10-40 for a gas and liquid in film contact, and increases to lO -lO" for gas bubbles dispersed in a liquid. If the Hatta number (see section 5.4.3) is low (below I) this indicates a slow reaction, and high values of p (e.g. bubble columns) should be chosen. For instantaneous reactions Ha > 100, enhancement factor E = 10-50) a low p should be selected with a high degree of gas-phase turbulence. The sulphonation of aromatics with gaseous SO3 is an instantaneous reaction and is controlled by gas-phase mass transfer. In commercial thin-film sulphonators, the liquid reactant flows down as a thin film (low p) in contact with a highly turbulent gas stream (high ka). A thin-film reactor was chosen instead of a liquid droplet system due to the desire to remove heat generated in the liquid phase as a result of the exothermic reaction. Similar considerations are valid for liquid-liquid systems. Sometimes, practical considerations prevail over the decisions dictated from a transport-reaction analysis. Corrosive liquids should always be in the dispersed phase to reduce contact with the reactor walls. Hazardous liquids are usually dispensed to reduce their hold-up, i.e. their inventory inside the reactor. 

The 1990 CAAA required Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) to inventory and control their hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions, primarily from the aeration tanks. The spatial characteristics of hazardous air pollutants in the form of VOCs from the aeration units of POTWs have been investigated by systematic monitoring and mathematical modeling (Zhu et al., 1998). Using a simple model, we can accurately estimate air emissions and the simulation results are useful to support an emission control analysis. 

With the focus on the actual quantities of wastes identified in the site inventory, appropriate field sampling and analysis must be undertaken to verify that the identified hazards actually exist. If a hazard has been identified and the potential for causing adverse effects confirmed, after considering both the qualitative and quantitative dimensions of the situation, the process requires proceeding to the next step - Risk Evaluation. 

As JP8 was phased into the military inventory, exposed personnel began voicing concerns about the potential health effects of exposure. Aircraft groundcrew members reported objectionable odors, skin irritation, dizziness and the persistent taste of jet fuel long after exposure. These concerns prompted the Air Force Surgeon General to task the Air Force Institute for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health Risk Analysis (AFIERA) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to address personal exposure and toxicological hazards from JP8. 

---