Management reactive

Through a survey of select small, medium, and large companies, information was gathered about good practices for reactive hazard management within the chemical industry. CSB also visited chemical industry facilities that have implemented programs for managing reactive hazards. 

Current good practice guidelines on how to effectively manage reactive hazards throughout the life cycle16 of a chemical manufacturing process are neither complete nor sufficiently explicit. 

Expand the Responsible Care Process Safety Code to emphasize the need for managing reactive hazards. Ensure that ... 

Member companies are required to have programs to manage reactive hazards that address, at a minimum, hazard identification, hazard evaluation, management of change, inherently safer design, and adequate procedures and training. 

A recently initiated CCPS project, Managing Reactive Chemical Hazards, may address this gap in industry guidance. 

Understanding and identifying reactive hazards is a key component of process knowledge. It is often the first activity in managing reactive hazards and may occur early in product research or in process development. Ineffective hazard identification is commonly cited as a cause of reactive incidents. Where... 

In both the OSHA PSM Standard and the EPA RMP regulation, the PHA element does not currently specify the factors that must be considered to effectively manage reactive hazards. Present requirements should be augmented to explicitly require an evaluation of such factors as rate and quantity of heat generated maximum operating temperature to avoid decomposition thermostability of reactants, reaction mixtures, byproduct waste streams, and products effect of charging rates, catalyst addition, and possible contaminants and understanding the consequences of runaway reactions or toxic gas evolution. 

SOCMA conducted a survey of members during its April 2001 Responsible Care Conference on Managing Reactive Chemicals. However, eight of the 10 respondents represented facilities with less than 100 employees. 

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