SAFETY AND POLLUTION CONTROL

Every well-organized institution has both moral and legal obligations to safeguard the health and

well-being of its employees, the environments and the general public. The main priority of every

established organization especially the manufacturing industry is to ensure a safe working and

conducive environment to enhance good business. This can also be ensured by good managerial

practices to ensure safe operation and also efficient operation. All manufacturing company adopts

measures in other to attain a safe working environment, these measures are made known to workers

and implement with the aid of safety officers. These safety measures are general guidelines which

every employee in the manufacturing plant must abide. These measures are categorized under the

following broad topics; safety practices, personal protective measures and emergency planning

(Sinnot and Towler, 2013)

Safety is divided into two main groups. These are Process Safety and Personal Safety. Process safety

refers to safety conditions about the process plant itself while personal safety deals with safety

procedures that individuals must ensure to protect themselves from hazards in the workplace. Process

safety includes pigging, use of MOC’s (Management of Change) and avoidance of leakages. Personal

Safety includes wearing of appropriate personal protective clothing and adhering strictly to safety

signs. Pigging in engineering terms is the use of a PIG (Pipeline Internal Gauge) to perform various

activities within the pipeline. These activities include cleaning, inspection, gauging and checking of

corrosion in the pipeline. MOC refers to management of change. Management of change involves

reviewing risks so as to conform to standards and hence reducing hazards.

Alarms in Safety Defenses

The various alarm colours in safety defense in industries are as follows;
 White – Process Design

 Violet – Basic Control

 Indigo – Critical Alarm

 Blue – Automatic Action

 Green – Physical Protection (Relieve Devices)

The white colour represents the process design background on the flowsheet. It makes other diagrams
clear and visible. Also, the violet colour indicates a basic control device. This may include devices
for temperature control, pressure control, flow control and level control. In a case of a slight
abnormality in the plant, the indigo colour flashes to signify critical alarm. This triggers unit
shutdown within the plant to curb the situation. Automatic action taken by the control system to
shutdown unit operations is accompanied by a blue light. If automatic actions fail, then physical
protection by relieve devices is activated. These are pressure safety valves placed at the top of the
equipment to relief the system of excess pressure in order to avoid explosion. This action is indicated
by green flashes on the control panel. If the alleviation of excess pressure fails to solve the problem,
then another form of physical protection is activated. This involves the use of dikes which refers to
water tanks that contain large volumes of water for fighting fire. Yellow light flashes to show this
action. If the situation gets out of control, plant emergency responses are activated to shut down the
entire plant in order to avoid further losses. This action is accompanied by an orange light. A red
light signals the final emergency procedure where the community is alerted of the danger in order to
take necessary precautions.
A normal alarm system is a system in which the alarm is set at the boundary between the normal
conditions and the upset conditions. This form of alarm system is most effective as it triggers a
response from engineers in the control room.

HAZARD

A hazard is something that can cause harm, example electricity, chemicals, noise, and stress.

Safety can be referred to as the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable

level of risk.

Good management practices are needed for safe operation thus ensuring efficient operation. All

manufacturing processes are hazardous to some extent, hence the need to consider safety and

control pollution. This chapter seeks to point out safety and pollution hazards and through the

application of established engineering principles to reduce these risks to acceptable levels.

In all manufacturing or process industries, workers are exposed to some level of risk. This risk

can be as a result of:

1. The use of equipment or machinery,

2. Exposure to emissions from the process.

Safety measures are therefore very important factors considered in any manufacturing industry.

Safety measures when ensured and encouraged, increase efficiency on the part of both the

workers and the equipment. These measures will reduce downtime of plants as well as ensure

that equipment are kept free from any form of damage or destruction.

The hazards that are likely to be encountered in the succinic acid plant include the following:

 Electrical hazards

 Mechanical hazards

 Fire hazards

 Chemical hazards

 Biological hazards

 Psychosocial hazards

 Material Safety and Data Sheet

Electrical Hazards

These usually arises from the usage of high power requirement in machinery which can cause

shocks resulting sometimes in fatal injury to workers and damage to equipment. Examples are:

electrocution, power fluctuations, and power outages. In order to prevent electrocution, brand

tested quality wiring as well as proper and adequate insulation, will be ensured on the plant. To

ensure minimum risk in times of power fluctuations, fuses, circuit breakers and earth leakage

breakers will be installed to ensure safety of all workers and provide protection to equipment. In

reducing the effect of power outages, a standby power generator will be employed to ensure the

continuity of production, and safe shutdown (Afotey and Darkwah,2010).

Mechanical Hazards
Mechanical hazards occur in three basic areas; at the point where work is performed, in the

power transmission apparatus and in other moving parts (OSHA, 2016) Examples are: operator

negligence/ carelessness, equipment construction faults, and inadequate checks and maintenance

and may result in injuries such as scratches and fractures. Operator negligence can be avoided by

proper training of workers and conducting regular safety drills. With regards to equipment

construction faults, equipment should be inspected before installation to ensure they meet design

specifications. Proper maintenance practices should be run on the equipment and machinery on

the plant regularly.

Fire Hazard

These include flames, sparks, hot objects and chemicals having potential for ignition. An

adequate supply of water must be available for fighting Class A fires. All electrical equipment

will be grounded to prevent electrical fires. Regular fire drills will be held to ensure that

evacuation plans are adequate and well understood so as to avoid casualty in the case of an

accident (Sinnott, 2005).

The chemicals in use and the product being produced are not considered fire or explosion hazard,

that is, there are little risks of explosion of the chemicals in the presence of mechanical impact or

static discharge. Firefighters will be fully-trained and will wear full protective clothing including

an approved, self-contained breathing apparatus which supplies a positive air pressure within a

full face-piece mask. Water spray will be used to cool nearby containers exposed to the fire.

Water run-off will not be allowed to enter sewers or watercourses.

Chemical Hazards

This occurs on exposure to chemicals. Lye and acid which are used in cleaning the internals of

equipment will be flushed out completely after use to prevent contamination with the desired

product. Proper care would also be taken in handling and storage of chemicals.

Biological Hazards

Biological hazards are organic substances that pose a threat to the health of humans and other

living organisms. Biological hazards include pathogenic micro-organisms, toxins, and bio-active

substances, among others. Exposure to biological hazards in the work environment can also

occur when people are in contact with cell cultures. Exposure to yeast is common in some

industrial processes and would be limited in order to avoid any health effects.

Psychological Hazards

Psychosocial hazards are poised to eclipse many other hazards in terms of direct and indirect

costs, contribution to ill-health, and importance to business and their undertakings. One of the

defining characteristics of psychosocial hazards is their interface with the very core of work,

including how work is designed and operationalized through management and human resource

practices. The term ‘psychosocial’ refers to the interrelationships between individuals’ thoughts

and behaviours, and their social environment. Occupational stress is also a factor of psychosocial

hazards (Australian OHS Education Accreditation Board, 2012).

Thus an appropriate work scheme would be drawn to minimize the such risk if not eliminate it.

Material And Safety Data Sheet (M.S.D.S)

Updated material supply data sheets will be provided on all chemicals used and present on the

plant to ensure their safe and proper handling. Multiple copies of these documents will be kept
at the stations which handle these chemicals. All workers who handle these chemicals will be

required to read and adhere to the laid down protocols contained within the MSDS.

Pollution Control
Pollution control refers to measure put in place to reduce the total amount of pollutants that are

discharged into the environment. These measures lead to the protection of the environment through

reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. In this plant, all waste gases are flared in a flare system to

completely burn all hydrocarbons to produce carbon dioxide and water. This reduces greenhouse

emissions and the toxicity of the environment. Water containing hydrocarbons are properly treated

before they are discharged into the environment. The waste by products are used as fuel for boilers

and furnaces. Noise pollution is also curbed by wearing ear plugs at noisy areas within the plant.

Safety Practices
A variety of safety and preventive measures will be put in place to ensure plant and
personal safety. Some of these measures are:

i Mounting of level control devices on process units to reduce the risk of explosions.

ii Properly tagging all moving equipment with their respective warning notices before
commencement of any form of maintenance work.

iii Situating hazard warning signs at vantage point with clarity to prevent any accidents.

iv Adequate installation of firefighting hydrants or sprinkler heads, for fire protection of the
whole plant.

v Periodic assessment of working performance of equipment to prevent mechanical failures.

vi Provision of path for vehicular and pedestrians’ movements and

vii Weekly training on plant safety and hazards and preventive measures for employees.
(Premier Periclase, 2010)
Environmental and product safety
Gas emissions are one major environmental issue factories will have to address to ensure operation.

The public should be warned of downwind vapor explosion hazards. Vapors are heavier than air and

may travel a long distance and accumulate in low-lying areas. Keep vapors out of sewers.

Immediately withdraw all personnel from the area in case of rising sounds from venting safety

device or discolorations of the container.

Emergency Planning

First Aid Stations and Storm Shelters

No Plant operations can be 100% safe even though safety margins have been accounted for in

designs (Peters and Timmerhaus, 1991). As such, the employees would have to be prepared in any

case of emergency. Storm shelters would be provided at vantage places in the plant. These shelters

are to protect the workers in case of an explosion. These shelters would also contain emergency

phone line to the fire department. An infirmary and first aid center will also be available to attend to

the health needs of workers and provide emergency services for personnel who become victims of

any incident.