Prevention program material hazards

Flammability properties of materials are clearly important for fire prevention but there are other properties that are also significant. There have been a number of severe fire incidents initiated by a material s reactivity properties that were previously unrecognized or unknown to the user. The development of a Materials Hazard Identification program requires knowledge of a material s toxicity and reactivity, as well as flammability. 

Health and Safety Code, Chap. 6.95, Art. 2, Hazardous Materials Management, State of California, Sacramento, Calif., 1986 Sect. 25531, RJsk Management and Prevention Program, 1987. 

The first step in minimizing accidents in a chemical phuit is to evaluate the facility for potential fires, explosions, and vulnerability to other liazards, particularly those of a chemical miture. This calls for a detailed study of plant site and layout, materials, processes, operations, equipment, and training, plus an effective loss prevention program. The technical nature of industry requires detailed data and a broad range of experience. Tliis complex task, today becoming the most important in plant design, is facilitated by the safety codes, standiu ds, and practice information available. The technical approach to evaluating die consequences of hazards is discussed later in tliis cliapter and in Part V (Chapters 20 and 21). 

Cleaning materials and their methods of use can present significant and, frequently, undetected fire hazards. Any cleaning chemical or material brought into a facility should be reviewed for potential hazards using Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) information as a part of the material s hazard identification element of the overall fire prevention program. Cleaning activities should not be allowed to add unreasonable hazards to a facility. 

A program is necessary for identifying all materials in the workplace, and making employees aware of the hazards of these materials and the necessary precautions to be taken to prevent or control personnel exposure. Materials Hazard Identification and information gathering is an essential element of fire prevention. The hazardous properties of all chemical substances used in the workplace should be known in order to develop the appropriate design, routine handling practices, and fire prevention plan. 

Minimum Requirements contains a statement of policy and a list of specific requirements in three sections, Safety, Loss Prevention, and Security, plus a section on Other Related Safety, Loss Prevention and Security Requirements. The latter section addresses distribution emergency response, industrial hygiene and medical programs, material hazard identification, and product stewardship. 

Sorathia, U. and Perez, I. Navy R D programs for improving the fire safety of composite materials, Fire and Polymers IV Materials and Concepts for Hazard Prevention, ACS Symposium Series 922, Ed. Wilkie, C. A. and Nelson, G. L. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 2005, pp. 185-199. 

Curtis M, Curran C, and Ward C, Aquatic toxicity testing as fundament for a spill prevention program, in Control of Hazardous Material Spills Proceedings of the 1980 National Conference, Nashville, TN, USA, 1980, p. 284. 

CHEMTREC is a 24-hour resource center that provides technical and emergency response information, shipper contact, and medical assistance for incidents involving chemicals and other hazardous materials to first responders, the transportation industry, medical professionals, and others. The Center also provides access to industry mutual aid programs and is involved in prevention by providing training assistance and materials and educational programs. 

Much of the information within this chapter comes from the United States Department of Labor s Mine Safety and Health Administration material entitled The Job Safety Analysis Process A Practical Approach. It states that fatalities, accidents, and injuries can be reduced if we all work together and share our safety knowledge. An accident prevention method, which has proven effective in industry, is the Job Safety/ Hazard Analysis program. 

The Center for Chemical Process Safety s projects fall into a number of general topic areas that comprise a comprehensive program. These topic areas include identification of hazards and analysis of risks, prevention and mitigation of the hazards identified, and better definition of areas affected by a release of hazardous materials. This book is the latest in the series dealing with hazard identification and risk analysis. 

For the most part, future trends will be found in liazard accident prevention, not liazard analysis. To help promote liazard accident prevention, companies should start employee-training programs. These programs should be designed to alert staff and employees about tlie liazards tliey are exposed to on tlie job. Training should also cover company safety policies and tlie proper procedures to follow in case an accident does occur. A major avenue to reducing risk will involve source reduction of hazardous materials. Risk education and communication are two other areas tliat will need iniprovemcnt. 

Medical Programs. Large chemical plants have at least one full-time physician who is at the plant five days a week and on call at all other times. Smaller plants either have part-time physicians or take injured employees to a nearby hospital or clinic by arrangement with the company compensation-insurance carrier. When part-time physicians or outside medical services are used, there is litde opportunity for medical personnel to become familiar with plant operations or to assist in improving the health aspects of plant work. Therefore, it is essential that chemical-hazards manuals and procedures, which highlight symptoms and methods of treatment, be developed. A full-time industrial physician should devote a substantial amount of time to becoming familiar with the plant, its processes, and the materials employed. Such education enables the physician to be better prepared to treat injuries and illnesses and to advise on preventive measures. 

The process should start with employee communications. In its employees, a facility has an important, informal communication link with its community that is often ignored. Employees deserve to know at least as much about their facility as their neighbors, and they deserve to know it first. They should be aware through communications (if not through actual involvement) of the facility s entire emergency preparedness program, from prevention to preparation. The employees also should be familiar with the products made and their end uses. They should understand the potential hazards of the processes and materials with which they work, and how to protect themselves and the public from those hazards. 

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