(MS-101) HEALTH, SAFETY

AND ENVIRONMENT

Lecture 5 – Industrial Hazards

(Health, Safety and Environment)

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 CONTENTS

 Dow Index to Access Degree of Hazards

 Incidents Responsible for Onset of Hazards and Accidents

 Toxic gases

 Hazards while using Machinery

 Classification of Hazardous Materials

 Hazards Analysis Methods

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DOW INDEX TO ACCESS DEGREE
OF HAZARDS
 The Chemical, Petroleum and Natural Gas industries are prone to fire and explosion
hazards.

 Dow Index by Mond Division of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) provides separate indices
for fire (F), internal explosion (E) and aerial explosion potential (A) along with overall hazard
rating (R) as shown in Table.

 In this process Dow index (D) is calculated using following expression (1):

 D – The equivalent Dow Index

 M – Special hazard
 P – General process hazard
 S – Special process hazard
 Q – Quantity hazard
 L – Layout hazard
 H – Acute health hazard
 B – Material factor**

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DOW INDEX TO ACCESS DEGREE
OF HAZARDS
 The

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DOW INDEX TO ACCESS DEGREE
OF HAZARDS
 ** B Material Factor – This number is generally from 1 to 60, which denotes the intensity of
the energy release from the most hazardous material or mixture of materials present in
significant quantity in a unit or plant.

 Thus, to arrive at the numerical value (the quantitative assessment) of Dow Index D;
weighting is given to special hazards, process hazards, quantity of hazardous materials,
plant layout and the health hazards that are associated with the various operations involved
in the manufacturing process.

 It also includes material factor B, which is given by the equation 2.

 – Net heat of combustion (kJ/kg)

 In the computation of Overall Hazard Rating (R), equation (3) is used

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 INCIDENTS RESPONSIBLE FOR ONSET
OF HAZARDS AND ACCIDENTS

Spillage – which could be caused by:

 Overflow, backing up, blowback, air lock, and vapor-lock;
 Failure of control or major service;
 Surging, priming, foaming, puking, spitting;
 Condensed products in vapor, change in normal discharge;
 Malicious intent, vandalism.

Leakage
Which could be caused by:
 Broken, damaged or badly fitted pipe, vessel, instrument, glass, gasket, gland, seal, flange,
joint or seam-weld;
 Internal leaks, overpressure of pipe or vessel;
 Deterioration of bursting disc (pin holing).
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 INCIDENTS RESPONSIBLE FOR ONSET
OF HAZARDS AND ACCIDENTS
Unintended venting
Which could be caused by:
 Evaporation through open line, drain, cover;
 Relief valves leaking, bursting discs blown;
 Valve struck, scrubber overloaded, ejector failure;
 Equipment failed/out of service (e.g. scrubbers, flares), excessive pressure, wrong routing,
loss of vacuum;
 Vessel damaged, tilted, collapsed, vibrated, over-stirred;
 Overloading of open channel/conveyor.

Failures at normal working pressure

Which could be caused by:
 Inadequate design, materials, construction, support, operation, inspection or maintenance;
 Deterioration due to corrosion, erosion or fatigue;
 Mechanical impact.

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 INCIDENTS RESPONSIBLE FOR ONSET
OF HAZARDS AND ACCIDENTS
Equipment failure due to excessive pressure
Which could be caused by:

 Overfilling, over-pressurizing or drawing vacuum;

 Overheating or under-cooling;
 Internal release of chemical energy;
 Exposure to fire or other sources of external heating (e.g. radiation).

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 LOSSES IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
DUE TO FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
An analysis made for a period 1978–80 for the USA’s Chemical Industries for
losses incurred reveals that:
● Most frequent and severe losses are due to fire and explosions.
● An explosion causes more severe losses than fire.
● Main causes of explosions are accidental and uncontrolled chemical
reactions.
● Most explosions occur in closed buildings and involve batch reactions.
● Rupture of vessels, pipes and equipment contribute greatly to the magnitude
of fire and explosion losses.
● Release of flammable gases and liquids results from most of the fires.

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 TOXIC GASES

 Toxic gases are those which, on breathing in a sufficient quantity for a sufficient time, will
seriously disable and possibly kill the person. They act as a poison. They can be grouped
into three classes as detailed below, based on their action on the body:
1) Asphyxiate gases: These are either simple in nature which exclude oxygen from lungs,
for example, CH4 and CO2 . First symptom is fast breathing and hunger for air. With time
there may be vomiting, lying flat on ground, loss of consciousness and finally convulsion,
deep coma and death.
● CO is a chemical asphyxiate. Its affinity for hemoglobin is 210 times greater than O2.
● Thus, CO reduces the O2 carrying capacity of blood. The seriousness can be judged by the
presence of carboxyhaemoglobin in the blood. This can be calculated by:
b = 4ate/100
b = carboxyhemoglobin content in the blood, %
a = concentration of CO in air, ppm
t = time of exposure in hours
e = factor 1 for resting, 2 for walking and 3 for working

Continue…

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 TOXIC GASES

 If value of b is:
 below 20% – no symptoms
 20–30% – headache
 30–50% – dizziness, nausea, muscular weakness and danger of collapse.
 50% and above – Unconsciousness and death.

2) Irritant gases:
● These gases induce irritation to tissues such as skin, conjunctiva of eyes, the membranes
of the respiratory tract when they come into contact with them.
● If the gases are not soluble into the moist upper respiratory tract, they enter into the lungs
and cause exudation of fluid from the lungs, which may lead to suffocation.
● Nitric oxide, Nitrogen dioxide and Sulfur dioxide are the most common irritant gases.
Nitrogen dioxide can cause inflammation of lungs, which is great concern to health.

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 TOXIC GASES

3) Poisonous gases:

● These gases destroy tissues with which they come in contact. Nitric oxide, Hydrogen sulfide
and Sulfur dioxide are not only irritant but also poisonous.

● The Bhopal disaster in 1984 in India has demonstrated the hazards associated with
liquefied gases. Prominent liquefied toxic gases include: Hydrogen chloride (HCl), Hydrogen
sulfide (H2 S), Chlorine (Cl2 ), Ammonia (NH3 ), Sulfur dioxide (SO2 ), Phosgene (COCl2 ),
Hydrogen fluoride (HF) and Hydrogen cyanide (HCN).
● In addition to these there are about dozen more, which are considered to be toxic.

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 HAZARDS WHILE USING MACHINERY

 ‘A cracked bell can never sound well, nor will equipment run smoothly without preventive or
predictive maintenance’.

 Every industry invariably uses machines, equipment, appliances, tools and tackle for
carrying out various unit operations, and is liable to have hazards due to the following:

 Hazards while operating machines and equipment; and working in a construction site
 Crushing
 Shearing
 Cutting or severing
 Entanglement
 Drawing-in or trapping
 Impact
 Stabbing or puncture
 Friction or abrasion
 High pressure fluid ejection
 Electrical shock
 Noise and vibrations
 Contact with extremes of temperature
 Falling from height.

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 HAZARDS WHILE USING MACHINERY

Ways to eliminate or reduce hazards are listed below:

1. Operating as per the laid out rules, regulations, norms, procedures, and best practices.

2. Making those involved aware of all these aspects through effective training programs
including supervisors and managers.

3. Selection of equipment that is safe, simple to operate and maintain. User-friendly machinery
is always advantageous.

4. Proper layout to house, maintain and up keep equipment is equally important.

5. Periodic check-ups including preventive and predictive maintenance of plant, machines,

equipment, structures and buildings.

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 HAZARDS WHILE USING MACHINERY

6. Effective illumination, ventilation, hygiene, drainage, welfare amenities, first aid, fire
extinguishers at strategic locations, provision of safety wear and appliances including PPEs
as appropriate in a given situation.

7. Display of procedures, caution – boards wherever required in languages prevalent at the

workplace.

8. It has been found that most accidents occur due to moving machinery, falling and rolling of
materials, and people falling from heights. Provision for effective guards, fencing, barriers
and dykes wherever required is mandatory to guard against such hazards. Equally important
is regular checkups and maintenance.

9. Effective security to prevent unauthorized entry. Preventing unauthorized operation of any

equipment is equally important.

10. Automation of the operations that are repetitive in nature and bring excessive fatigue and
strain to workers. They are potential source of accidents.

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 HAZARDS WHILE USING MACHINERY

11. Checking for their effectiveness and proper working conditions of the tools and tackle such
as lifts, cranes, chains, rope slings etc. before their use; must be ensured.

12. Use proper ladders, lifts, bridges, and crossovers wherever required.

13. For any operation identify hazards, try to reduce or eliminate them and at the same time
carry out a risk analysis to understand the potential hazards, and formulate an action plan to
deal with them.

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 HAZARDS WHILE USING MACHINERY

 ‘A

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CLASSIFICATION OF HAZARDOUS
MATERIALS
The hazardous substances/materials could be classified as follows:
 Explosive materials
 Compressed gases
 Flammable liquids and solids
 Chemically reactive materials
 Biologically active materials
 Radioactive materials
 Toxic materials

 In our day-to-day life, consumable hazardous substances can be in various forms; such as
liquids (paints, cleaners, solvents); dusts and fibers (from vacuum machines) fumes or
smoke, bacteria (such as those causing legionnaires’ diseases), vapors (such as petrol) or
gases.

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CLASSIFICATION OF HAZARDOUS
MATERIALS
 How these substances could cause harm would depend upon the port of entry into the body,
which could be any of these or their combination: breathing, swallowing or absorbed through
the skin. In addition, contact with some substances can cause irritation or corrosive burns.

 Many substances affect health, not just safety. The risk to harm from a substance would not
only depend upon the properties of the substance but its concentration and the way it is
used. For example, cleaning with solvents can be a risk, especially in a confined space with
poor ventilation – people become ill or could even die from the harmful vapors.

 People engaged in working with hazardous substances should answer these questions:
 Do I have clear instructions as how to use this chemical?
 Have I read the SHOC (Safe Handling Of Chemicals) Card’s details? and do I understand what it
says?
 Have I clear instructions on what PPE I need?
 Do I know what to do in the event of something going wrong?

 In the event of a substance affecting skin after contact, or splashes into eyes, wash with
plenty of water, and seek first aid.

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 HAZARDS ANALYSIS METHODS

 Every industry has hazards of various kinds, and there are a number of methods/ techniques
that are applied to identify them.

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 HAZARDS ANALYSIS METHODS

 Every.

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 HAZARDS ANALYSIS METHODS

 Safety Review
 Check List
 Relative Ranking
 Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA)
 What-If Analysis
 What-if – Checklist
 Hazards and Operability Analysis (HAZOP)
 Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
 Fault Tree (FT) Analysis
 Event Tree (ET) Analysis
 Cause-Consequence Analysis (CCA)
 Human Reliability Analysis (HRA).

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