SAFETY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Introduction and commercial application Safety and the environment have become important elements of all parts of the field life cycle, and involve all of the technical and support functions in an oil company. The Piper Alpha disaster in the North Sea in 1988 has resulted in a major change in the approach to management of safety of world-wide oil and gas exploration and production activities. Companies recognise that good safety and environmental management make economic sense and are essential to guaranteeing long term presence in the industry. 

Many techniques have been developed for management of the safety and environmental impact of operations, and much science is applied to these areas. The objective of this section is to demonstrate how the practising engineer can have a significant impact on these aspects of a field development, and that safety and the environment should be the concerns of all employees. 

---

Technical and trade organi2ations are concerned with safety and the environment. The Chlorine Institute in North America and Euro Chlor in Western Europe are examples of organi2ations dedicated to the safe production, transport, and use of chlorine. Ha2ard and operabiHty studies (HAZOP) reviews for new designs, plants, and expansions (135) have become required by poHcy in many operating companies. Papers on safety and environmental subjects are given at most technical meetings (136—138). 

Responsible Care (139), a program initiated by the CMA in 1988, is designed to make day-by-day improvements in all aspects of health, safety, and the environment. 

This is also known as Title III of SARA, EPCRA was enacted by Congress as the mitioiml legislation on community safety. This law was designed to help local communities protect public health, safety, and the environment from chemical hazards. To implement EPCRA, Congress required each state to appoint a State Emergency Response Commission (SERC). The SERCs were... 

In the U.S., there are local, state, and federal laws regulating health, safety, and the environment. The laws that address the area of pollution control also cover health and safety, toxic substances, noise, transportation, and building site approval. 

Established in 1894, AOAC International is an independent association of scientists and organizations in the public and private sectors devoted to promoting methods validation and quality measurements in the analytical sciences. AOAC has a mission to ensure the development, testing, validation, and publication of reliable chemical and biological methods of analysis for foods, drugs, feed-stuffs, fertilizers, pesticides, water, forensic materials and other substances affecting public health and safety and the environment. 

Packaging companies, input suppliers strict standards on health and safety and the environment need to be supported by high standard chemicals and equipment, properly packaged and available in quantities that encourage safe and proper application ... 

Caution Handle all radioactive substances according to the radiation safety regulations instituted at each facility approved to handle such materials. Use adequate precautions to protect personal safety and the environment. Dispose of radioactive waste only by following approved guidelines. 

HEALTH, SAFETY AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE RUBBER INDUSTRIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION... 

Again, it is important to point out that the chemical industry provides products and materials that are essential to the U.S. economy and to the so-called good life, the standard of living we presently enjoy. In addition to the economic consequences of a successful homegrown or foreign terrorist attack against chemical industry facilities, there is also the potential of a threat to public health and safety and the environment. 

In this section, you encountered some of the ways that organic compounds make our lives easier. As well, you learned about some of the risks involved in using organic compounds. You carried out risk-henefit analyses on several organic compounds. Finally, you examined some situations in which organic chemistry has helped to solve problems related to human health, safety, and the environment. 

Bonn, J.C. 1991. Goal-Setting Design for Fire and Gas Detection Systems. SPE 23305. First International Conference on Health, Safety and the Environment. Society of Petroleum Engineers, Inc. 

When we have a powerful technology that can make a material with interesting properties, and we can keep out competition for a while with unique technology and patents, we ask which market will appreciate a material with these properties. An ideal market is also one where the potential buyers are numerous and affluent, where this material will help them to fulfill one or more significant needs, where there are no very satisfactory competitive products, where there are no threats to safety and the environment, and where it can be manufactured and make a good profit. What is the search engine that can systematically discover many or all of the major potential markets Let us look at the historic cases mentioned in Chapters 1 and 2. 

At this moment, the NIST Chemistry WebBook and the Beilstein are the two most useful search tools for molecular structure and property relations. There are many more types of properties available in the research literature of interest only to a smaller set of readers these will not be listed in the general-purpose handbooks, but are to be found in specialized books and journals. Our ability to search for such properties in the research literature on the Internet is increasing rapidly, and students should practice doing such searches. Many of the required properties have not been tabulated in a searchable electronic database for example, flammability, toxicity, ozone hole potential, and greenhouse gas potential. Information on health, safety, and the environment that is publicly available on websites is listed in the references. 

Over a long period of history, commercial transactions were primarily a two-party affair, between the seller and the buyer. In the last few decades, a third party has forcefully entered into the transaction, based on concerns about safety and the environment, and on public opinion and government regulations. This is shown in figure 10.1. The third party consists of ... 

Some thinkers, such as Professor Milton Friedman of the University of Chicago, believe that corporations should be responsible only to the stockholders, and have no other responsibilities except obeying the law of the land. Taking his opinion into consideration, how much should a chemical company do to protect health, safety, and the environment How much is too little or too much, and what is just right ... 

Safety and environment would your product have less negative impact on safety and the environment ... 

Survey of Binary Azeotropes as Physical Chemistry Laboratory Experiments with Attention to Cost, Safety, and the Environment 217... 

---