a) Basis of Safety of a Chemical Reactor Process or manufacturing industries usually uses chemicals in their processes or produces chemicals as the end products. Whenever chemicals are involved in the process industries, a concern of possible hazard should be raised. Chemicals not only pose a substantial hazard due to its properties, but also due to the chemical reaction itself. Runaway reaction as a result from exothermic reaction from chemical reaction could lead to serious hazard as seen in previous major accident such as Bhopal and Seveso disaster. Reaction of chemicals with water or air also exhibit serious attention as seen in several major disasters before (Sanders, 1999). Health and Safety Executive (HSE) outlines in the ‘Workbook for chemical reactor relief system sizing’ (1998) that the basis of safety that can be adapted for a chemical reaction. The basis of safety of chemical reactor includes both preventive and protective measures that would ensure the safety of the process operation. Basis of safety can be referred as an operating protocol that ensures if follows could either; prevent conditions that would lead to uncontrolled runaway by adapting the preventive measures or minimise the probability of runaway reaction if protective measures is applied. Preventive measures are measures that could prevent the occurrence of conditions that would allow uncontrolled process to be achieved. This includes inherent safe design and process control. Kidam and Hurme (2012) conclude that design errors contributed as a cause of accident up to 80% of the cases out of 284 accidents studied from the Failure Knowledge Database (FKD). Thus, Trevor Kletz suggested that to prevent accident, the design should be made inherently safe. But... ... middle of paper ... ... of fire or explosion and therefore contained the explosion. Suppressant can be of halons or water. Suppression also can act as a mean of isolation for the fire or explosion apart from valves such as rotary valves or fast acting valves. On top of that, housekeeping is particularly important in protection against fire or explosion of flammable dusts. Work area should be kept clean from dusts build-ups as layer of dusts deposited on the surface can also cause fire or especially explosion hazard. Housekeeping also can prevent the occurrence of secondary dust explosion. Therefore, in conclusion, similar method of fire protection can be applied both in LPG facility and process involving flammable dusts. However, alteration in the way the method is implementing should be done according to the characteristics and the properties of flammable gas, or dusts that in question.
David Clay Large, Between Two Fires: Europe's Path in the 1930s (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1990).
U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. (March 20, 2007). Final Investigation Report. Retrieved July 26, 2010, from U.S. Chemical and Safety Board: http://www.csb.gov/assets/document/CSBFinalReportBP.pdf
...ial approaches which are Normal Accident and HROs, although it seems certain that both of them tends to limit the progression that can contribute toward achieving to highly protective systems. This is because the scope of the problems is too narrow and the potential of the solutions is too limited as well. Hence, Laporte and Consolini et.al., (1991) as cited in Marais, et.al., (2004) conclude that the most interesting feature of the high reliability organization is to prioritize both performance and security by the managerial oversight. In addition, the goal agreement must be an official announcement. In essence, it is recommended that there is a continuing need in the high risk organizations for more awareness of developing security system and high reliability environment in order to gain highly successful method to lower risk in an advance technology system.
Thesis: Politicians are proposing sweeping changes in bills, which have caused great controversy, in efforts to correct the problems that the Forest Service has
The meltdown of Chernobyl's fourth reactor was the result of a series of errors in the reactor design, operations, and a failure to follow established safety protocols. These human errors resulted in more than 400 times the radioactivity of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb being released into the environment (Salge & Milling, 2006). This caused a massive economic, environmental, and human toll to the region. Improved reactor design and proper adherence to safety procedures could have prevented this disaster.
In its very nature, fire is destructive. It consumes everything its near, using a wide range of transfer methods to feed itself. In order to keep the work environment safe, the National Fire Protection Association [NFPA] developed standard NFPA 25 to set the criteria for the upkeep of water-base protection systems. To get a better idea on the importance of NFPA 25, it is important to understand its purpose and its influences on protection and firefighter safety.
Accidents are an inevitable part of life. Children learn this at an early age by bumping their head, scraping their knees, or falling off the swings. They learn that sometimes painful experiences just happen, seemingly without cause or reason. These children carry these lessons into adulthood, and then project their tolerance for accidents onto their families and occupation. The chemical industry, while one of the safest industries, has the potential for catastrophic accidents. Through experience and renewed focus on the conservation of life, the chemical industry has improved its safety considerably. In 2005, chemical industry fatality rate (the number of fatalities per year per total number of people in the applicable population) was the third lowest when compared to industries such as agriculture, coal mining, and construction1. However, accidents still occur, sometimes with regrettable repercussions. In 2005, Formosa Plastics Corporation in Point Comfort, Texas experienced an accident with severe consequences.
When it comes to safety most people think they are safe, and they have a true understanding on how to work safe. Human nature prevents us from harming ourselves. Our instincts help protect us from harm. Yet everyday there are injuries and deaths across the world due to being unsafe. What causes people to work unsafe is one of the main challenges that face all Safety Managers across the world.
One of the most significant environmentally damaging instances in history was the Chernobyl incident. In 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant in Ukraine exploded. It became one of the most significant disasters in the engineering community. There are different factors that contributed to the disaster. The personnel that were tasked with operating the plant were unqualified. The plant’s design was a complex one. The RBMK reactor was Soviet design, and the staff had not be acquainted with this particular design. As the operators performed tests on the reactor, they disabled the automatic shutdown mechanism. After the test, the attempt to shut down the reactor was unsuccessful as it was unstable. This is the immediate cause of the Chernobyl Accident. It later became the most significant nuclear disaster in the history of the
Because of various limitations, one cannot prepare for every type of release, however, the plan can be written to address those releases that can most likely occur. Regardless, hazardous materials response plans must be designed to minimize hazards to human health and the resulting environment during the intentional or accidental release of a hazardous material. The plan should be written under the authority permitted b...
Do you have an escape route in case of a fire? If not, you should start working on one with your family. People can die because they don’t have an escape route. Here are some ways to get out of the house if it is on fire.
There are two main types of nuclear reactors used in the world, Pressurized Water Reactors, known as PWR’s, and Boiling Water Reactors, known as BWR’s. The former is more complicated and thusly more safe and more commonly used, while the latter presents several unnecessary hazards and is quickly being phased out of usage (Duke, n.d.). In both systems, reactions take place inside of a reaction chamber located within a co...
Technological and accidental hazards can be occur without warning and can be both hazardous material incidents and failures at nuclear power plant. In some cases, victims that have been exposed to harmful chemicals or radiation show little to no symptoms until several years later. There are an increasing number of new substances and chemicals being manufactured which has increased the likelihood of a hazardous material spill or release. This also increases the risk to the environment and to the health and safety of a community.
Chemical and fire hazards in the workplace cause serious injuries that in most cases are fatal.
Khaleel Ahmad, Nitasha Varshney, On Minimizing Software Defects during New Product Development Using Enhanced Preventive Approach (2012), International Journal of Soft Computing and Engineering (IJSCE ISSN: 2231-2307, Volume-2, Issue-5, November