Industrial Hygiene in the Chemical Industry - Coursework Example

Industrial Hygiene Table of Contents Introduction 2 Industrial Hygiene: A brief Introduction 3 Industrial Hygiene in Chemical Industry 3 Job Hazards 4 Designing and Implementation Process of Industrial Hygiene 5 5 Anticipation 6 Recognition and Evaluation 6 Designing and Control process 7 Works Cited 10 Appendix 11 Introduction Hazards can be defined as a situation that generates a level of threat to the health, life, environment and property. While on the other hand industrial hazards are the harmful effects on the environment, human being, and flora & fauna due to the activities of an industry. Industrial hazards can be classified into fire and explosion hazards, electrical hazards, chemical hazards, mechanical hazards and other miscellaneous form of hazards. Therefore in order to ensure safety at the workplace it is necessary for the industries to implement a hygiene program. Such programs will not only ensure good health of the workers, but also makes sure that natural environment gets preserved. In the context of the project, chemical industry has been chosen where the implementation of hygiene program will take place. Chemical industry is one of the rapidly growing industries of the world. Chemicals have now become a necessity of life as it gets directly or indirectly used in the daily life of human being. It has enhanced the quality of life of human beings. Over the last few years, use of chemicals has increased drastically. Furthermore researchers emphasizes that the trend will continue as chemicals have a direct impact on the lives of human beings. Nevertheless rapid growth in the usage of chemicals has generated a great deal of concern over the health issues of the industry workers as well as the general public. There have been hardly any works on controlling the hazards associated with the chemical processes (Fulekar 1). In the present context of chemical industry, workers are highly exposed to the ill effects of chemicals. This phenomenon in turn initiated the need of industrial hygiene. The next half of the report will present a brief introduction about the industrial hygiene and its accountability in the chemical industry. Industrial Hygiene: A brief Introduction Industrial hygiene is defined as the process by which identification, evaluation and controlling of the industrial hazards takes place. The primary intention of industrial hygiene programs are to ensure that workers get least exposure to the various forms of hazards. Awareness about industrial hazards has been since the ancient times. The relation between the workers health and working environment has been identified in the early 4th century B.C., when Hippocrates found toxicity in the mining industry. Apart from this, there had been a number of instances that revealed health risks of the workers in factory. The identification of health risks and potential toxic items continued till the early modern age. However after that, human being started to discover the ways by which the impact of hazards on human life can be lessened. This has led to the concept of industrial hygiene. The concept of industrial hygiene got a further boost in the early 20th century when a number of people tried to enhance the level of hygiene in the industries. Industrial Hygiene in Chemical Industry In the present working environment of the chemical industry, workers are highly exposed towards the potential risks of chemical hazards. Chemicals are inflammable as well as highly reactive. This is the reason why chemicals are referred to as ‘hazardous’. The chemical hazards can be in the form of solids, aerosols, and liquids. Chemicals constitute of a number of potential hazards, but the level of impact is dependent upon the intensity of toxic elements, concentration in the environment and the duration of exposure to the open air. In general these toxic elements get inside the human body through the process of skin contact, inhalation and ingestion. Also exposure with these chemicals may cause huge injuries to the human health. Some of the evident effects of chemical exposure include skin burn, anthrax, ache, ulcer in various places, irritation on the wind pipe, cancer and may cause problem in the respiratory system of human being. Although there are unavailability of a proper hygiene program, workers still takes basic precautionary measures in order to safeguard themselves from the possible effects. In general workers use personal protective cloths and keep first aid medicine to sustain the initial injuries. Despite of these precautionary measures and tools accidents still cannot be controlled. A number of such chemical hazard related accidents occurred in the recent past. For instance the accident of Union Carbide Complex popularly known as Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984 has reported caused death of 2000 people and 50000 odd suffered injuries. Hence for chemical industries, with such occurrences safety and hygiene in the plants and factories has become a necessity program. Job Hazards In order to be effective in the process of identification, evaluation and recommending controls about the industrial hygiene, one must be familiar with the characteristics of hazards. In general potential hazards are mainly physical hazards, chemical hazards, biological hazards, ergonomic hazards and air contaminators. However there are situations when engineering controls as well as effective workings will not be feasible. In that cases appropriate tools which are personal needs to be used. Some of the examples of personal tools are safety glasses, gloves, safety shoes, helmet, respiratory item and protective clothing. Furthermore, to be more effective it should be properly fitted, regularly maintained and replaced when necessary. Designing and Implementation Process of Industrial Hygiene Now in order to design and implement a sound hygiene program in the chemical industries, certain steps are needed to be followed:- Anticipation Recognition Evaluation Control Figure 1 – Flow of industrial Hygiene Program (Source: Armypubs 11) In this context the first step is to carry out a review of the existing hygiene program (if the company has any). Also planning and possible reasons of new hygiene program is looked upon. The second step is about the identification of potential hazards associated with the chemical industries. In this aspect the possible hazards can be identified by a number of factory or plant assessment methods such as dust sampling, walk through survey and chemical sampling. Once the identification process gets over, the next step is to implement the designed program into the proposed plant or a factory. Anticipation Industrial hygienist identified that working practice, administrative control and engineering are the primary measures in dipping the level of employee exposure to the potential hazards. Each of the elements has different functions. The first step is to identify the need of a hygiene program. IT is one of the important processes of the entire implementation process. As based on the identification and type of hazard the program gets designed. Therefore the designing phase of the implementation process is highly dependent upon the anticipation stage. With the proper anticipation, recognition process also gets filtered. Recognition and Evaluation The recognition process is also known as the assessment process. In this context mainly the possible hazards are recognized. It can be done through walk through survey, data sampling and chemical sampling methods. Walk through Survey: It is one of the traditional methods. In this process the hygienists examines a workplace or the entire working environment in order to determine the type of possible hazards. Data Sampling: In this respect sample of factory dust are taken and gets examined to identify its level of toxicity. In this context generally scientific processes are used. Chemical Sampling: In this context wide range of chemicals are being tested in order to identify the level of inflammability, and toxicity of the chemicals. Designing and Control process The proposed solution in this context i.e. the designed hygiene program is the 5s housekeeping model. The 5s is the acronym of Japanese words. It stands for ‘Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu and Shi tsuke’. This Japanese technique can be easily incorporated in a chemical plant in order to ensure industrial hygiene. Though the implementation of the technique is simple but after the implementation, sustaining it is considerably difficult. 5s technique facilitates a number of essentials. It mainly ensures that the factory or the plant where it is going to be implemented reduction in wastages, improved productivity, safety and superior quality output takes place. Apart from this it also helps to retain the good employee by offering highest level of hygiene in the workplace. Moreover the system is quite simple as well as inexpensive. Further it helps to continue the improvement process by offering additional tools. As according to the name, there are 5 stages through which the program can be implemented. The stages are described below:- 1. Seiri or Sort: - This is the first stage of the implementation process. In this step the program gets rid of the excess equipments and materials of the factory that causes hazard in the form of dust. This activity is also known as ‘red tagging’. Also equipments that will become obsolete after a period of time will be tagged, for the future references. Also vital equipments gets prevented from getting damaged. 2. Seiton or Set in Order: - The second step in the process is to ensure that all the tools, materials and equipments have a specified location so that they are easily accessible. Visual workplace principles in this context can help to serve the purpose. Apart from this, activities such as creation of tool boards and creating work cells will assist in the process of setting the factory in order. 3. Seiso or Shine: - The third step emphasizes on the removal of grime, dirt and dust from the plant. The primary intention of this stage is to make the equipment look like new, so that workers feels like using them whenever necessary. 4. Seiketsu or Standardize: - The fourth step is about the establishment of standard of the workplace. The standard needs to be followed by the workers on a daily basis for the purpose of maintain the first 3 stages. Also regular activities are needed in order to ensure positive from the first 3 stages. A delay may certainly reduce the impact. It can be done through the following process:- Development of a 3s schedule. Assigning individual responsibilities to the individuals. Integration of the 3s duty to the regular working activities. Development of the maintenance schedule. 5. Shi tsuke or Sustain: - The fifth and the final step are to convert these processes and activities into a regular habit. Regular practice of the aforementioned steps will ensure longer sustainability of the system. Apart from the aforementioned design some of the other actions to improve the hygiene of a chemical industry are as follows:- Development of leak proof pipeline from where the chemical wastes will flow out. Storage tank and piping must be properly differentiated. Explosive and flammable chemicals should be kept at a specified place. Materials must be resistant to chemicals. Also smoke alarm, warning mechanisms will further strengthen the proposed design. Now after designing the program of industrial hygiene mainly in accordance with the chemical industry, the next step is the implementation part. The program can be implemented through the following process:- To create an awareness among the workers about how the 5s framework is important for the safety and hygiene of the factory as well as for the employees. A specified deadline needs to be set, and in between that all the processes should be accomplished. This will ensure effective as well as timely implementation of the new design. Management personnel need to get involved in the process in order to carry out supervision, and to make sure timely availability of the required resources. Rewarding and recognizing the employees will also help to implement the program firmly. With this activity, the resistance to change from the part of the employee will be less. Finally the management should develop a sense of excitement and satisfaction among the employees. This can be achieved by portraying all the benefits of the program like high morale, recognition, safety and a healthier place to work. Works Cited Armypubs. “Industrial Hygiene Program.” Department of the Army (2010). PDF file. Fulekar, M H. Industrial Hygiene and Chemical Safety. New Delhi: I. K. International Pvt Ltd, 2006. Print. Appendix Gantt chart Objectives WK1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Anticipation about the need of hygiene program                 Recognition of hazards                 Designing the program                 Implementing the design                 Controlling the program                 Read More