People working in the chemical industry subject themselves to a high ratio of risks so it's necessary to station relevant chemical warning signs in areas which see unusual concentrations of hazardous materials. Any type of mishap happening will put the surrounding environment into danger. It's important to understand the degree of risks in various locations and then think of minimising the danger.
Perform assessment of chemical hazards
CHA (chemical hazards evaluation) is a process by which the risk surrounding the chemical industry is mapped. The potential of occurrence of dangerous conditions is also evaluated. A comparative analysis is done to judge the respective capacities of different chemicals to cause harm. Simple descriptions of the chemicals followed by the detailed study of chemical and physical properties of the chemicals are studied in the report.
There is another kind of report called Potential hazard analysis which is generated. The respective causes and the degree of harm that sudden fires, explosions, accidents, gas releases and chemical spills can cause are analysed in the PHA report. All equipment, laboratory goods, chemicals stored and processes of work are also analysed. These studies help the management to realise the potential for danger and fix the placement of warning signs.
Assessment of physical factors
In order to prevent the occurrence of an accident it's important to be mentally prepared for worst case scenarios. It's important to place relevant signs near places that have a high density of hazardous physical objects.
It's recommended that the staff understand the size, shape and kind of containers that contain chemicals. The assessment of the location, stacking processes and storage conditions of the chemical containers should also be evaluated.
Performing mitigation assessment
If you want to do risk management in chemical industries then you have to chalk out an emergency response. The current security systems in place at the chemical plant including the safety equipment used, precautionary measures followed, training of the staff in the chemical plant, placement of warning signs and maintenance of an emergency evacuation plan is assessed.
A professional is called in to judge the level of suitability of the current safety measures to the perceived risk of the industry. These kinds of processes are also known as security audit. Some factors which can be deemed dangerous to the chemical industry are containment loss, violence in workplace, infiltration, contamination, chemical spills, theft and bomb threats.
Important prevention strategies
There are number of things that can be done to increase the security level of a chemical industry. The most sensitive assets of the industry are recommended to be placed at the centre of structured concentric rings of security. The arrangement should be made so that an intruder has to pass through several difficult security measures to get access to the core area. Fences at property lines, resistant self locking doors, controlled chemical threat extinguishing measures are just some of the t