HSE effectiveness

The case studies concern the effect on HSE from the lO development process. While the first case study, called lO MTO, is a functional reallocation analysis, the second study called RNNP, represents a quahtative measure of the HSE effect of lO. Interviews are central parts in both case studies. 

Improved support from onshore was mentioned as one aspect giving improved operation and hence improved HSE. The onshore support will contribute with more continuity as the personnel onshore are on duty every day of the week, while the personnel offshore work for two weeks and then have 4 weeks off duty. The onshore support should be 24/7 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) to be optimal. This may, however, have some negative HSE effects for those working in... 

HSE as such is a complicated notion and to be able to have opinions about HSE effects, the HSE concept should be divided into more details. One division is between major accidents, personal injuries and health risk. In the RNNP case study most of the interviewees were, at least in theory, aware of the division between these three categories. The opening question in the RNNP study ( What is your interpretation about lO ) was important as the interpretation of Integrated Operations varied a lot between the interviewees. The... 

In each case, two different methods were used in arriving at estimates the HSE TNT-equivalency method and the multienergy method. The results, in the form of side-on blast peak overpressures for various distances from blast centers, are listed in Table 7.10. In addition, some peak overpressures estimated by Sadee et al. (1976/ 1977) from Flixborough-incident damage patterns are included. The photographs in Figures 7.6a and 7.6b illustrate the practical effects of such overpressures. 

A program of research has been supported for several years by the United Kingdom Health Safety Executive (HSE) to address the effects of sociotechnical factors on risk in the CPI. The initial emphasis of this work was to develop a methodology so that chemical process quantitative risk analysis (CPQRA) would take into accotmt the effects of the quality of the management factors of plant being assessed. This work has been described in a series of publications (e.g., Bellamy et al., 1990 Hurst et al., 1991 Geyer et al., 1990 and Hurst et al., 1992). 

In the meantime, we believe that the best prediction of the toxicity of an ionic liquid of type [cation] [anion] can be derived from the often well known toxicity data for the salts [cation]Cl and Na[anion]. Since almost all chemistry in nature takes place in aqueous media, the ions of the ionic liquid can be assumed to be present in dissociated form. Therefore, a reliable prediction of ionic liquids HSE data should be possible from a combination of the loiown effects of the alkali metal and chloride salts. Already from these, very preliminary, studies, it is clear that HSE considerations will be an important criterion in selection and exclusion of specific ionic liquid candidates for future large-scale, technical applications. 

This is an organization of doctors and nurses based in area offices and form the medical arm of the HSE. The EMAS provides advice, at the request of the employer, employee, self-employed, trade union representative or medical practitioner, on the effects of work on health. 

Specific short-term exposure limits are listed by the HSE for those chemicals which pose a risk of acute effects from brief exposures. For other chemicals a recommended guideline for controlling short-term excursions is to restrict them to 3x long-term exposure limit averaged over a 10min period. 

Anon., Lab. Accid. Higher Educ., Item 11, HSE, Barking, 1987 During the reaction of bromopentaborane and potassium hydride in dimethyl ether at —78°C, the reaction became uncontrollable, shattering the glassware and igniting. Cause may have been contamination or effect of scale-up. 

If not available in published references, the heat of reaction can be calculated from the difference in heats of formation of the reactants and products, as described in any college chemistry text. The accuracy of the calculation obviously depends on knowledge of the reaction products, reaction path and the accuracy of the heat of formation data. Any changes of state (heats of solution, vaporization, etc.) must also be taken into account. Not taking account of these changes of state can have a marked effect on the calculation and may lead to a false sense of security (HSE 2000) or an overestimation of the hazard. 

An indication of the hazard associated with the use of a toxic material in the form of a vapour or dispersed dust is given by a limit value. The threshold limit value (TLV, expressed as p.p.m. or mg m-3) represents a level under which it is believed nearly all workers may be repeatedly exposed to on a day-to-day basis without adverse effect. These values are up-dated annually and recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH).12 Since 1984, in the UK, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has adopted two types of limits, but only for those compounds which are available and used in the UK.13 These are the recommended limit (RL, as p.p.m. or mg m 3) which represents good practice and realistic levels for the degree of exposure, and the control limit (CL, as p.p.m. or mg m 3) which is applied to the relatively smaller number of substances having unusually serious toxic effects. 

Rieping, M. Schoffl, F. (1992). Synergistic effect of upstream sequences, CAAT box elements, and HSE sequences for enhanced expression of chimaeric heat shock genes in transgenic tobacco. Molecular and General Genetics 231, 226-32. 

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