How to prevent major accidents involving hazardous chemicals?

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How to prevent major accidents involving hazardous chemicals? Source: China Chemical Industry News. Added on: 2016-10-19 20:01:41. Views: 131. How to prevent major accidents involving hazardous chemicals? Experts say – focus on improved design, strengthen training, and identify risks. On September 27th, during the Forum on Preventing Major Accidents in the Hazardous Chemicals Sector, held concurrently with the Eighth China International Safety Production Forum, experts and enterprise representatives agreed that a prevention-oriented approach combined with addressing both symptoms and root causes is the fundamental strategy and experience for ensuring safe production. To prevent major accidents involving hazardous chemicals, it is necessary to prioritize safety investments from the outset and achieve intrinsic safety; leaders and employees must receive proper training; and effective risk identification and management are essential to prevent accidents from occurring. Process safety must be addressed at the source. Bonnat Saler, an expert in fire and explosion risk prevention at France’s **Institute of Safety, states that taking measures to prevent risks during the design phase of industrial processes is the most effective approach. Chen Qi, General Manager of Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Co., Ltd., strongly agrees with this view. He believes that only by emphasizing investment in safety and achieving intrinsic safety can a barrier to risk prevention be established from the source. Firstly, advanced, safe, and reliable process technologies must be adopted from the outset of process development and engineering design, top-tier design firms should be selected, and the design work should be carried out to meet high standards, ensure high reliability, and enable long-term operation. Secondly, for large-scale equipment, key units, as well as important pumps and valves, the most secure products are used; every component such as pipes, flanges, welding rods, and gaskets is purchased to the highest standards. At the same time, a responsibility system for monitoring equipment manufacturing must be implemented to ensure the quality of equipment production. Strict controls must be applied at the point of material entry, with spectral analysis used to verify the composition of each steel plate and pipe that enters the factory, thereby ensuring the safety of all materials used. Once again, it is necessary to select construction firms with first-class project construction capabilities and a good record in terms of safety, as well as qualified workers for specialized tasks. Specialized workers such as welders must be assessed and verified; those who pass the assessment are issued permits to carry out their work. Additionally, quality supervision must be maintained throughout the process to ensure the quality of welding and installation work. Personnel training must be universal; people are the core element of safety management. Du Hongyan, a professor-level senior engineer at the Safety Supervision Bureau of Sinopec Group, believes that safety training is a fundamental measure to ensure continuous and stable safe production. Everyone who takes up a job must undergo safety training; those who fail such training are not allowed to work. Employees who do not receive training represent moving sources of danger. The principal persons in charge of various units, safety production managers, as well as managers of specialized departments such as production, technology, and equipment; personnel engaged in special types of work and those operating special equipment; front-line production workers; and the principals of contracting units and project managers are all required to receive safety training and pass relevant assessments. Du Hongyan also stated that diverse safety training methods can improve the quality and effectiveness of personnel training. For example, by establishing training simulation systems, practical training facilities, and a combination of simulation and practical training, computer simulation systems can be used for simulated operations, allowing trainees to practice in various complex scenarios. This helps operators of production facilities to simulate different emergency situations, while using physical models enables trainees to develop a practical understanding more quickly and grasp the key points of safe operation. “In the selection of personnel, it is necessary to ensure that they have the appropriate expertise, and professional teachers should be hired to provide onboarding and specialized training. At the same time, it is necessary to implement a safety production responsibility system for all employees; from management to staff, everyone must embrace a strong culture of intrinsic safety, and safety production responsibilities must be thoroughly enforced at all levels of the enterprise. ”Chen Qi said. Risk identification must be carried out on a regular basis. Yang Huaning, head of the State Administration for Work Safety, believes that everything can be understood. As long as we correctly understand and grasp the laws and characteristics of safe production, and properly handle the relationships between humans and nature, between humans and technical equipment and facilities, and between humans and society, it is possible to **improve the relevance, predictability, and effectiveness of safe production efforts. Chen Qi stated that risk management helps to effectively prevent and avoid the occurrence of safety accidents. To carry out risk management in the field of hazardous chemicals, the following measures should be taken: First, comprehensive training on risk identification methods must be provided, with all employees – from company leaders to managers and operators – participating in this process. Risk identification should be integrated into routine safety inspections to ensure it becomes a regular practice. Second, risk identification in areas that are considered “two key points and one major hazard” needs to be strengthened. For areas such as plant zones and tank farms, which represent major sources of danger, in addition to carrying out risk identification, relevant experts should also be invited to conduct risk assessments. Third, safety regulations and systems must be established, along with a management framework for safety standards. When it comes to risk management, Chen Qi believes that first and foremost, it is necessary to ensure the safe and stable operation of the equipment. Production processes must be carried out with precision to avoid frequent fluctuations in process parameters. Equipment maintenance should be conducted to the highest standard, with any abnormalities addressed promptly. Leaks and other issues at the site of the equipment should be virtually eliminated. Additionally, the PDM predictive monitoring technology for pumps should be adopted to enable early detection and resolution of problems. Secondly, strict control is exercised over the management of hazardous operations in installations and tank areas. All types of such operations must be reported to the safety management department in advance, and can only be carried out after evaluation and approval. For all hot work, fire trucks must be stationed on site to ensure safety during these hazardous operations. Hot work is strictly prohibited during the production and operation of tank areas. Third, in addition to carrying out operations and monitoring from the control rooms in each plant’s tank area, a central monitoring room is established to provide secondary monitoring for the entire plant. The functions of the central control room include video surveillance of the entire plant, as well as monitoring of the production process parameters of various units and tank areas; it is responsible for issuing timely alerts, coordinating actions, and providing supervision in case of any abnormalities.