January 3, 2011

Risk factors in the Chemical Industry

An article mentions the risk factors identified by the American Insurance Association after investigating incidents in chemical industries. Some of them are mentioned below:
1. Factory site
(1) vulnerable to earthquakes, floods, storms natural disasters
(2) water is not sufficient
(3) the lack of public Fire Facilities support
(4) high humidity, temperature and other climate change
(5) nearby hazardous impact of large industrial installations
(6) close to highways, railways, airports and other transportation facilities
(7) difficult to safely evacuate
2. Plant layout
(1) process equipment and storage equipment is too intensive
(2) have significant risk and risk-free process safety distance between devices is not enough
(3) expensive equipment too concentrated
(4) the absence of effective protection
(5) boiler, heaters and other sources of ignition too close
(6) with terrain obstacles
3. Structure
(1) supports, doors, walls and other structures are not fire proofed
(2) Electric Equipment without protective measures
(3) inadequate capacity of explosion-proof ventilation
(4) plant is weakened (corrosion)
4. The risk of lack of knowledge of processing material
(1) hazards of mixing raw materials and natural decomposition
(2) potential for gas and dust explosions
(3) not understanding the result of misuse, or poorly controlled process
5. Chemical Technology
(1) inadequate data on the chemical reaction kinetics
(2) lack of knowledgeof the dangerous side effects
(3) does not determine the decomposition energy according to thermodynamics
(4) detection of process abnormalities is not adequate.
6. Material handling
(1) incomplete labeling of products
(2) in adequate Explosion detection/suppression device
7. Maloperation
(1) ignoring maintenance
(2)lack of supervisory role of management
(3) driving and parking plan is inadequate
(4) the lack of emergency shutdown training
(5) not establishing collaboration between operation and security personnel
8. Device Defects
(1) caused by improper selection of equipment corrosion, damage
(2) inadequate equipment, such as the lack of reliable control instrumentation
(3) material fatigue
(4) the metal material is not adequate or no inspection by experts
(5) structural defects
(6) equipment operating above design limits
9. Disaster plan
(1) did not receive strong support from management
(2) the division of responsibilities is not clear
(3) no accident prevention program

Read the article in this link.

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