Hazards safety statistics

Workplace safety is measured by only one statistic, the OSHA recordable rate. Based on this statistical yardstick, continuous process industries continue to be among the safest industries in the country and are getting safer. Many plants have celebrated working millions of hours without a lost work day accident. While all eyes are on the OSHA recordable rate, releases of hazardous materials, fires, mechanical breakdowns and near misses are not included in the safety statistics, (p. 7)... 

The wide variety of chemicals produced and very poor overall health and safety statistics, make the assessment of occupationally determined disease and ill-health particularly difficult. Taking this a stage further, other than disasters or accidents, where the effect on workers and the environment can be relatively easy to observe, the long-term impact, particularly from low levels of new or poorly studied materials, is a particular problem. Epidemiology, (the study of social groups and patterns of disease as a means of determining causes ) is difficult due to the varied exposure conditions and the varied significance of other factors. Exposure to chemicals at work is one hazard that can be controlled. 

The review of accidents started with the perception from many stakeholders that coastal and maritime engineering presents a particularly hazardous environment for the construction industry. Simm and Cruickshank (1998) identified many of the commercial and technical hazards experienced by key stakeholders within the industry. However, this earlier review did not focus on health and safety issues. The current review seeks to examine what safety statistics exist and answer the following ... 

Calculative We have systems in place to manage all concerns and hazards Numerous safety audits HSE individuals handling much safety statistics... 

The results from the consequence analysis step are estimates of the statistically expected exposure of the target population to the hazard of interest and the safety/health effects related to that level of exposure. For example ... 

The successes of the traditional approach have largely been obtained in the area of occupational safety, where statistical evidence is readily available concerning the incidence of injuries to individuals in areas such as tripping and falling accidents. Such accidents are amenable to behavior modification approaches because the behaviors that give rise to the accident are under the direct control of the individual and are easily predictable. In addition, the nature of the hazard is also usually predictable and hence the behavior required to avoid accidents can be specified explicitly. For example, entry to enclosed spaces, breaking-open process lines, and lifting heavy objects are known to be potentially hazardous activities for which safe methods of work... 

The fine chemicals business is characterized by a small volume of products manufactured. Therefore, batch production predominates and small-scale reactors are used. The need to implement fine chemistry processes into existing multiproduct plants often forces the choice of batch reactors. However, safety considerations may lead to the choice of continuous processing in spite of the small scale of operation. The inventory of hazardous materials must be kept low and this is achieved only in smaller continuous reactors. Thermal mnaways are less probable in continuous equipment as proven by statistics of accidents in the chemical industries. For short reaction times, continuous or semicontinuous operation is preferred. 

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) reviewed Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data (1996-2000) on occupational fatalities to determine the significance of the reactive incident problem in the context of chemical process safety.68 Table F-l summarizes this information. 

Each year, statistics on causes and occupancies of fires and deaths resulting from fire are compiled and published. NFPA sponsors seminars on the Life Safety Codes, National Electrical Code, industrial fire protection, hazardous materials, transportation emergencies, and other related topics. NFPA also conducts research programs on delivery systems for public fire protection, arson, residential fire sprinkler systems, and other subjects. NFPA publications include National Fire Codes Annual, Fire Protection Handbook, Fire Journal and Fire Technology. 

Of course it is impossible, as noted above, to certify that a drug is absolutely safe, ie, free of all risk. It is possible, however, to identify most of the hazards likely to be associated with use of a new drug and to place some statistical limits on frequency of occurrence of such events in the population under study. As a result, an operational and pragmatic definition of "safety" can usually be reached that is based on the nature and incidence of drug-associated hazards compared with the hazard of nontherapy of the target disease. 

Although dose-response assessments for deterministic and stochastic effects are discussed separately in this Report, it should be appreciated that many of the concepts discussed in Section 3.2.1.2 for substances that cause deterministic effects apply to substances that cause stochastic effects as well. The processes of hazard identification, including identification of the critical response, and development of data on dose-response based on studies in humans or animals are common to both types of substances. Based on the dose-response data, a NOAEL or a LOAEL can be established based on the limited ability of any study to detect statistically significant increases in responses in exposed populations compared with controls, even though the dose-response relationship is assumed not to have a threshold. Because of the assumed form of the dose-response relationship, however, NOAEL or LOAEL is not normally used as a point of departure to establish safe levels of exposure to substances causing stochastic effects. This is in contrast to the common practice for substances causing deterministic effects of establishing safe levels of exposure, such as RfDs, based on NOAEL or LOAEL (or the benchmark dose) and the use of safety and uncertainty factors. 

Dr. Frank P. Lees s Loss Prevention in the Process Industries Hazard Identification, Assessment and Control, Second Edition, ISBN 0750615478. This is a three-volume set published by Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK, 1996. Dr. Frank Lees s epic three-volume masterpiece is without a doubt the premier source of practical and statistical process safety reference material. Within the 3,962 pages of valuable facts, nearly every aspect of process safety is covered. The information is useful to process safety engineers, engineers in the process industries, insurance professionals,... 

It is realized that some regulatory authorities may need flexibility beyond that developed in the hazard classification scheme. For inclusion into Safety Data Sheets, positive results in any carcinogenicity study performed according to good scientific principles with statistically significant results may be considered. 

The Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety Act. C-13. (1978) This act created CCOHS to promote health and safety in the workplace, establish and maintain safety standards, develop programs to reduce or eliminate occupational hazards, and collect statistics. 

---