Hazards predicting danger

For display shells of 200 mm and above, reinforced fibreglass mortar tubes are invariably used. Welded steel tubes have long been considered to be amongst the safest because, in the event of a pressure-burst, the tube will split in the vicinity of the weld, thus creating a predictable danger zone. With seamless tubes the fragmentation is completely random and creates a shrapnel hazard for the fireworks operator. 

An individual who is capable by experience or education or both to identify, analyze, and determine corrective measures for a hazard. An Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) competent person is defined in 29 CFR 1926.32 (f), as one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them. Compliance... 

Competent person — one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to ehmi-nate them. 

A list of danger categories is given in Table 14.2. Note that chemicals may possess several hazards, e.g. nitric acid is classed as both an oxidizer and a conosive. If a chemical is not in one of these categories it is not generally considered to be dangerous. If the hazards of a new chemical have not been established it should be labelled Caution - substance not yet fully tested . Mixtures can be classified either from results from tests on the preparation, or by calculation to predict the healtli effects of the product based on the properties of individual components and tlieu concentration in the mixture. Preparations need to be classified for both physico-chemical and health effects but, to date, not for environmental effects. 

If we consider the process of hazardous substance substitution as an irmovative process, what we are dealing with here is, firstly, a problem of a lack of willingness to iimovate or a lack of the ability to be irmovative. Secondly, the uncertainty surrounding the direction of innovation also plays a major role. Is the substitute substance in fact any less dangerous or does it entail new possibly as yet unknown dangers and problems - as was the case with the introduction of CFCs as a predicted low-risk substitute for atmnonia as a refrigerant - ... 

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... 

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