Chemical accident
A chemical accident is the unintentional release of one or more
Process safety is the engineering discipline dealing with chemical accident hazards understanding and management. Process safety's scope extends however to fires and explosions from hazardous materials generally not referred to as 'chemicals', such as refined and unrefined hydrocarbon mixtures.
Frequency
Chemical accidents are relatively common in the United States, with a significant accident occurring on average multiple times per week. Most chemical accidents never make national headline news. American chemical industry public relations professionals claim that such accidents are becoming less frequent but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency states that they are increasing in frequency, with higher average annual rates of population evacuations and of people needing medical treatment resulting from chemical accidents. Texas is the leading U.S. state in chemical accidents.[2]
Examples
The most dangerous chemical accident recorded in history was the 1984
The 2020 Beirut explosion was one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in history.[4] It happened when approximately 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate inside a warehouse at the port exploded.[4]
Regulation and government agencies
European Union
In the European Union, incidents such as the Flixborough disaster and the Seveso disaster led to legislation such as the Seveso Directive, which mandates safety reports to be prepared by process and storage plants and issued to local and regional authorities.[5]
United States
In the United States, concern about chemical accidents after the Bhopal disaster led to the passage of the 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. The EPCRA requires local emergency planning efforts throughout the country, including emergency notifications. The law also requires companies to make publicly available information about their storage of toxic chemicals. Based on such information, citizens can identify the vulnerable zones in which severe toxic releases could cause harm or even in some cases death.
In 1990 the
See also
References
- ^ "Chemical Incidents". WHO. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
- ^ Gillam, Carey (2023-02-25). "Revealed: the US is Averaging One Chemical Accident Every Two Days". Retrieved 2023-11-14.
- ^ PMID 15882472.
- ^ S2CID 233546424.
- ^ "Industrial accidents". environment.ec.europa.eu. 2023-09-28. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
- ^ "About The CSB". Retrieved 2023-11-14.
- ^ "Chemical Accidents: About". OECD. Archived from the original on 2008-05-31.
External links
- 24-7 Response
- Brandweerinformatiecentrum voor gevaarlijke stoffen/Fire services information centre for dangerous goods (in Dutch)
- OECD Programme on Chemical Accidents: Environment Directorate
- Preventing Chemical Accidents – How to Prevent Chemicals From Contaminating Your Workplace – Safety Storage Systems
- U.S. Chemical Safety Board