Openings, hazards

Additive to joint sealer All technical mixtures Open Hazardous waste/ mixed construction waste Possible in state-of-the art dismantling processes... 

Hazards are assigned to all projects or systems where they might possibly contribute to accidents. As soon as a new project is acquired, all known hazards of the corresponding product family are checked for applicability. All open hazards of the same product are automatically assigned. It is then the task of the project manager either to show that this hazard is not applicable or to implement the solution when available. 

Of course, this system, like any filing system, is good only if it is kept up to date. Every time you conduct a safety analysis, its hazard description, causes, controls, and consequences should be entered into the safety knowledge management system. The next time you have to analyze a similar system, you will have very good, hard data on the safety of the system. One system that a private company developed has over 1500 hazards listed, which makes it much easier to do future safety analyses if they already have a strong database of information. The results of the safety analysis can be input, and any open hazards can be tracked in this system. 

With all of this information, you can also trend accident results, open hazards, or other data. This will give you something substantial to use to develop a set of metrics, key performance indicators, or key safety or risk indicators, or to assess whether the hazard controls are really worth the cost (or the opposite, if the lack of hazard controls is worth the price). 

The safety reps should be regular employees from each area, not necessarily safety engineers. The group of safety reps can meet quarterly and discuss current safety problems open hazards identified in the safety analysis, safety training opportunities, safety awareness programs, and any other important safety issues. 

Identification of open hazards that are high or medium... 

For each open hazard in ar project, a child record is opened and linked to the parent record. This project specific record will be assigned to the responsible Project Manager. The due date of the record will be defined by the Project Manager or be set to the default value (see below). The child record contains information about how to close the hazard, its status and history. 

Final Design Review The FDR is conducted near the end of the Development stage (see Figure 2.1) when the approval is granted to enter the Production stage. At this point, system hazards have been identified and either eliminated or reduced to an acceptable level, or a roadmap to track resolution of open hazards has been distributed. 

Vapor cloud explosions. Explosions which occur in the open air are vapor cloud explosions. A vapor cloud explosion is one of the most serious hazards in the process industries. Although a large toxic release may have a greater disaster potential, vapor cloud explosions tend to occur more frequently. Most vapor cloud explosions have been the result of leaks of flashing flammable liquids. 

Mineral spirits, a type of petroleum distillate popular for use in solvent-based house paints, consist mainly of aUphatic hydrocarbons with a trace of aromatics. This type of solvent finds use in oil- and alkyd-based house paints because of its good solvency with typical house paint binders and its relatively slow evaporation rate which imparts good bmshabiUty, open-time, and leveling. Other properties include lower odor, relatively lower cost, as well as safety and health hazard characteristics comparable to most other organic solvents. 

Flash Point (ASTMD92). The Cleveland open cup method is most commonly used although the Tag open cup (ASTM D3143) is apphcable to cutbacks. Flash point is an indication of fire hazard and the test is frequendy used to indicate whether a given product has been contaminated with materials of lower dash point. 

Fire Hazard. Although chlorosulfuric acid itself is not dammable, it may cause ignition by contact with combustible materials because of the heat of reaction. Open fires, open lights, and matches should not be used in or around tanks or containers where hydrogen gas may be collected because of the action of chlorosulfuric acid on metals. Water, carbon dioxide, and dry-chemical fire extinguishers should be kept readily available. 

Polyisoprene mbber is relatively nonhazardous, but must be kept away from sparks, open flames, or excessive heat because it will bum. The current Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) should always be checked for known hazards before using polyisoprene or any other chemical materials. 

That is, water is electrolyzed. The hydrogen gas produced at the cathode can be hazardous, especially because it is in the vicinity of an electrode that is also producing heat. For this reason, electrode chambers are usually open to the atmosphere so that gases can vent. 

An interlock is a protec tive response initiated on the detection of a process hazard. The interlock system consists of the measurement devices, logic solvers, and final control elements that recognize the hazard and initiate an appropriate response. Most interlocks consist of one or more logic conditions that detect out-of-hmit process conditions and respond by driving the final control elements to the safe states. For example, one must specify that a valve fails open or fails closed. 

Bolted joints are friendlier than quick-release couplings. The former are usually dismantled by a fitter after issue of a permit to work. One person prepares the equipment and another person opens it up the issue of the permit provides an opportunity to check that the correct precautions have been taken. In addition, if the joints are unbolted correctly, any trapped pressure is immediately apparent and the joint can be remade or the pressure allowed to blow off. In contrast, many accidents have occurred because operators opened up equipment which was under pressure, without independent consideration of the hazards, using quick-release couphngs. There are, however, designs of quick-release couphngs which give the operator a second chance. 

While either rupture disks or relief valves are allowed on storage tanks by Code, rupture disks by themselves should not be used on tanks for the storage of highly hazardous toxic materials since they do not close after opening and may lead to continuing release of toxic material to the atmosphere. 

Preventive Explosion Protection The principle of preventive explosion protection comprises the reliable exclusion of one of the requirements necessary for the development of an explosion. In pictorial terms, therefore, at least one of the sides of the hazard triangle shown in Figure 26-33 will be broken open. 

Personnel Hazards The following case history illustrates how vacuum can be harmful and dangerous to personnel. A plant superintendent was checkiug an open nozzle on a glass-lined reactor on which there was a vacuum pump pulling vacuum, when suddenly his arm was sucked into the nozzle, up to his shoulder. He could not remove his arm until help arrived to release the vacuum on the vessel. He was injured painfully, though not seriously. The injury could have been veiy serious if help had not been nearby. Personnel hazards can also result from vacuum conveyor systems for solids handling. 

Dead legs in the sample line must be discharged safely to ensure that the sample will ac tuaUy be representative of the material in the unit. Without blowing down the dead leg, samples taken will be erroneous, as they may be representative of some past operating conditions. If the location is nonroutine, the sample leg may have accumulated debris. The debris could partially or totally block the line. Opening the isolation valve to blow down the line could result in a sudden, uncontrolled release, presenting a hazard to the sample gatherer. 

Often batch process equipment needs to be located inside buildings. This is usually the case when the process needs to be shielded from extreme heat/cold conditions, the elements, and/or needs to be kept sterile. This leads to the need to provide adequate building ventilation to avoid buildup of hazardous material due to leaks and other process emissions. When the operation of a process involves opening, cleaning, charging etc., point source ventilation may also need to be provided. 

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