Computer-aided assessment of occupationally healthier processes during research and development stage

Each year more people die from occupational related diseases than are killed in industrial accidents. Therefore it is critical to start considering health aspect early when developing a new chemical process. In this paper, a computer-aided tool for assessing inherent occupational health is proposed for chemical process research and development stage. The method was developed based on the reaction chemistry data, which is the only data available at this stage. Three types of approaches were formulated to calculate the route index value using additive type, average type and worst case type calculations. The tool can be used to rank the alternative chemical synthesis routes by their health properties as well as characterize the hazard level of single process. Finally the tool was applied to six process routes for methyl methacrylate production for demonstration. The case study revealed hazards of the processes from different perspectives, e.g. the results from the additive-type calculation were mainly affected by the total number of steps in the route, which indicates the impact of process complexity on the level of hazard. The introduction of such tool provides a swift yet reliable means that will encourage health criteria to be considered earlier in process development besides economic, safety and environment.     

Strategies for assessing and reducing inherent occupational health hazard and risk based on process information

Over the last few decades, the concept of inherent occupational health has gained increasing attention to reduce occupational hazards that may adversely impact workers’ health. In order to assess occupational hazards in the chemical process, different inherent occupational health assessment methods have been developed at the early stages of process development and design. The methods in the order of process information availability – ranging from the detailed piping and instrumentation diagrams to a simple sketch of process concepts are the: occupational health index (OHI), health quotient index (HQI) and inherent occupational health index (IOHI). This paper proposes systematic heuristic frameworks to assist process designers and engineers in assessing and reducing inherent occupational health hazards or risks based on process information availability. Strategies for reducing health hazards or risks in the OHI, HQI and IOHI methods based on inherently safer design (ISD) keywords of minimization, substitution, moderation and simplification are included in this study. It is worth mentioning that the proposed frameworks act as guidelines for design engineers in systematically selecting the appropriate index and methodology to assess and reduce health hazards/risks based on the availability of the process information. A case study is solved to illustrate the proposed framework.     

Simple graphical method for inherent occupational health assessment

The concept of inherently safer design was introduced to design a fundamentally safer process so that hazards can be avoided or minimized rather than controlled or managed. The ideology has later been extended to the environmental, but not health criteria due to its complicated underlying principles. Even though health risk methods are already established, majority are for existing plants assessment. Early consideration of health aspect starting from process design stage however, has received much less attention. This paper introduces a simple graphical method to evaluate the inherent occupational health hazards of chemical processes during the R&D stage. A survey was conducted to identify the important health parameters for the graphical method development, involving nine world inherent safety and health experts. Based on their input, process mode, material volatility, operating pressure and chemical health hazard (toxicity and adverse effect) are the significant factors affecting inherent health hazards of chemical processes. The choice of parameters was bounded by the information availability at this stage. The method was applied on six routes to methyl methacrylate and ten routes to acetic acid. The parameters were plotted for each subprocess of the alternative routes. The ‘healthiest’ route was selected based on thorough hazards assessment across all the subprocesses. The first case study reveals the tertiary butyl alcohol as the ‘healthiest’ one as it poses relatively lower, or at least comparable hazards to the other routes due to exposure and health impacts. Meanwhile the acetic acid case study indicates ethanol oxide and ethyl oxide based routes as the inherently healthier as they operate at lower operating pressure besides posing comparable hazards level for the other three parameters, compared to the other routes. The case studies show that the inherent occupational health of a chemical process can already be evaluated easily in the R&D stage with the simple graphical method proposed.     

Occupational chemical exposure and risk estimation in process development and design

Each year more people die from diseases caused by work than are killed in industrial accidents. Therefore, methods are needed to evaluate occupational health hazards as early as possible when the process is still under development. A method for estimating inhalative exposures and risks in petrochemical and related plants is presented. The method is simple and suffices with the limited data availability during the early design stages.The steps of the method, which utilizes preliminary process flow diagrams are as follows: first the fugitive emissions and process plot areas are estimated based on precalculated process modules representing the typical process sections (such as a distillation unit). Chemical concentration in the air is then calculated based on the wind velocity probability and the estimated process cross-sectional area. For this purpose a typical wind velocity distribution in the area is used. The worker risk of exposure to chemicals is evaluated either based on the concentration in air by using the hazard quotient method or calculating the carcinogenic chemicals intake and the resulting risk of cancer. The values are compared to the benchmarks.As a result the process route health characteristics such as fugitive emissions rate, critical wind speed, chemical concentration in air and intake amount as well as the corresponding risk of exposure are produced. By using statistical meteorological data, health risks of occupational exposure can be estimated more realistically as probabilities. The approach is capable of comparing alternative processes to select the concept which is inherently occupationally healthier. Using this method, the exposure problems of a process can be identified earlier and proper decisions can be made early in process development or predesign stage.The concentration-based method is demonstrated by a case study of six competing manufacturing routes for methyl methacrylate (MMA). The C3 is found to be the most harmful alternative to health. Both concentration-based and intake-based methods are applied. The study indicates that the intake-based risk estimation benchmark is stricter than the exposure limit-based benchmark for carcinogens.     

Inherent occupational health assessment during basic engineering stage

Each year more people die from work-related diseases than are killed in industrial accidents. Therefore it is essential to evaluate occupational health aspect during the process design. Early evaluation of safety, health, and environmental (SHE) performance is advantageous, since the opportunities to make the process inherently benign are greater and the cost therefore lower. The methods for occupational health assessments need to be tailored to specific design stages, since the data availability is changing as the design proceeds. In this paper, an index-based method called the Occupational Health Index (OHI) is presented for the basic engineering stage. The OHI is the final of the three methods in series proposed for health assessment in development and design stages. The OHI is based on the information available in piping and instrumentation diagrams (PIDs) and the plot plan. Four health aspects are considered; chronic inhalation risks to noncarcinogens and carcinogens, acute inhalation risk, and dermal/eye risk. The index is demonstrated on separation system of a toluene hydrodealkylation process. The assessment results allow the level of occupational health risks to be evaluated, the sources of exposures be detected, and corrective actions taken in a focused way.     

Chemical process route selection based upon the potential toxic impact on the aquatic,terrestrial and atmospheric environments

This paper proposes a method to estimate the inherent environmental friendliness of a chemical process plant by considering the potential toxicity impact on the aquatic, terrestrial and atmospheric environments. A worst-case scenario of a total loss of containment in the plant is assumed. The method proposed by [Gunasekera, M.Y., Edwards, D.W. (2003). Estimating the environmental impact of catastrophic chemical releases to the atomosphere: an index method for ranking alternative chemical process routes. Trans. IChemE., Part B, Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 81(B6), 463–474] for determining the inherent atmospheric environmental friendliness of a chemical plant is combined with the method proposed by [Cave, S.R., Edwards, D.W. (1997). Chemical process route selection based on assessment of inherent environmental hazard. Computers Chem. Engng., 21, S965–S970], which estimates the inherent friendliness to the aquatic and terrestrial environments.Application of this method to six routes to produce methyl methacrylate shows that the acetone cyanohydrin based route is potentially the least inherently environmentally friendly. The highest potential hazard is observed in the aquatic environment due to the chemicals associated with the acetone cyanohydrin route.     

电子封装行业化学有害因素职业暴露评价

以法规及风险评价模型为基础,对电子封装行业内通常使用的化学有害因素进行职业暴露分析,将健康风险进行分级、定量评价,得出结论:行业中回流焊工艺可能产生的铅烟、电镀车间存在的硝酸、失效分析中使用的氢氟酸等,其职业暴露风险为中等风险水平;但由于化学物质的健康危害等级HR因其固有性而相对不变,而其会随控制措施的效果高低而变化的暴露等级ER是一个可变的要素,不同企业的控制措施的水平高低不同,其最终的风险等级可能是不同的。行业中使用的氢氧化钾、氢氧化钠的职业暴露风险为低风险水平,前提也是在合理有效的控制措施环境下。因此,控制措施的水平就是决定风险等级的最重要因素。时时地运行和维护有效的控制措施,是确保风险水平不发生变化的关键。     

几种职业健康风险评估法在采石行业的应用效果比较

比较4种职业健康风险评估模型在某采石场中应用的优缺点,探索适合采石行业职业健康风险评估的最佳方法。选取湖北鄂东某采石场为研究对象,进行现场调查和采样检测,应用4种模型进行评估分析:国际采矿与金属委员会职业健康风险评估模型(ICMM模型)判定采石场工人接触粉尘为不可容忍或者高风险水平;风险定义法(MES法)判定采石场工人接触粉尘和噪声为四级或三级风险水平;罗马尼亚职业事故和职业病风险评估方法(MLSP法)判定采石场工人接触粉尘和噪声为低风险或非常低风险水平;澳大利亚职业健康与安全风险评估管理导则(UQ法)判定采石场工人接触粉尘和噪声为高风险或中等风险水平。与有毒作业分级结果比较验证,ICMM模型、MES法、MLSP法相对一致,适合评估某一具体采石场的职业健康风险,UQ法因不考虑个体差异,更适合评估整个采石行业的职业健康风险。     

化工过程开发中本质安全化设计策略

本质安全化设计是预防人为失误及设备失效、降低化工过程风险应优先采用的技术。在比较传统设计方法与本质安全化设计方法的基础上,讨论了化工过程开发各阶段实现本质安全的机会,认为在开发初期,实施本质安全化的成本低,难度小;通过分析可行性研究、工艺研究、概念设计、基础设计、工程设计等阶段本质安全化设计的影响因素、设计目标和设计方法,探索化工过程开发中本质安全化设计策略,提出了化工过程本质安全化设计流程。通过工艺过程本质安全设计、工艺流程的简化和优化、不同设计方案的本质安全度评估等措施,可提高化工过程本质安全水平。     

职业安全卫生标准体系建设初探

职业安全卫生标准体系是企业安全科研生产工作的基础 ,是推广试行职业安全卫生管理体系 (OHSMS)的有效技术支撑条件。笔者通过分析职业安全卫生标准应用的实际 ,探索性地提出建立适应企业职业安全卫生管理、研究以及 OHSMS需要的标准化管理体系 ;论述并研讨该体系建立的思路、原则和查询方法以及应用过程的管理 ;以此为职业安全卫生管理、研究和试行OHSMS奠定基础并提供有益的帮助。     

An airport occupational health and safety management system from the OHSAS 18001 perspective

Occupational health and safety represents a set of technical, medical, legal, psychological, pedagogical and other measures with the aim to detect and eliminate hazards that threaten the lives and health of employees. These measures should be applied in a systematic way. Therefore, the aim of this study is to review occupational health and safety legislation in Serbia and the requirements that airports should fulfill for Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series certification. Analyzing the specificity of airport activities and injuries as their outcomes, the article also proposes preventive measures for the health and safety of employees. Furthermore, the airport activities which are the most important from the standpoint of risks are defined, as the goals for occupational health and safety performance improvement.     

International survey on the education of occupational health nurses

In 1990 the Scientific Committee on Occupational Health Nursing (SCOHN) of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) carried out a survey on the education of occupational health nurses (OHN) in various countries. A questionnaire with 23 questions was mailed to 50 countries.Replies were received form altogether 37 countries (74%). The length of the general nursing education varies from two to five years, being three years in 21 countries. In two European countries it is less than three years.Some special training in occupational health is included in the general nursing education in 14 countries. However, the length of this training varies considerably. The special training is the longest in Denmark, Finland and Norway.According to the answers, special postgraduate courses are organized in 21 countries. Training in occupational health is also included in the public health nursing education of 12 countries.University level programs on occupational health nursing are available in eight countries. Joint education on occupational health at university level has been organized for various professionals in 13 countries. The length of this education varies greatly from some months to several years. In four countries the length of this joint education is one academic year.General nursing education is the basic requirement for occupational health nurses in most of the countries surveyed. However, training in occupational health is not included in this education in most of the countries. Special postgraduate courses in occupational health are organized in 21 countries to OHNs who are employed in Occupational Health Services. There is an urgent need to develop the education of OHNs in most countries surveyed.     

Comparison of inherent safety indices in process concept evaluation

In conceptual design, process routes can be compared and ranked by using inherent safety indices. In this paper, some inherent safety index methods presented in literature are compared and their properties and limitations discussed. As a case study, an inherent safety evaluation of methyl methacrylate process routes is presented. Three index based inherent safety evaluation methods are compared with expert evaluations on methyl methacrylate process routes and their subprocesses. Also the index based inherent safety ranking of process routes is compared with an expert ranking.     

基于本质安全的化工工艺物质危险指数研究

建立了基于本质安全的化工工艺物质危险性的评价体系,包括火灾危险性、爆炸危险性以及毒性等3个评价指数.基于风险的思想,各个评价指数均包括概率指标与后果指标.为了全面反映化工工艺的实际情况,在各个评价指数中均对所有物质的相应指数值加和.参数的取值以以往的指数法为基础,为了消除边界波动效应,取值采用内插法.由于各个指数的量纲...     

企业职业卫生综合风险管理评估体系的研究与应用

为了能够全面、客观地评估企业职业卫生风险管理质量,利用美国EPA吸入风险评估模型、新加坡化学物职业暴露半定量风险评估模型以及风险指数评估模型,对作业场所存在的职业病危害因素进行风险水平评估,并结合企业职业卫生管理评估模型,对企业职业卫生管理水平进行定量评估,以风险等级和管理水平,综合判断企业职业卫生风险水平。将该体系应用于实例分析,结果表明:体系在充分考虑企业职业病危害因素时空分布以及企业管理现状的基础上,能够定量评估职业病危害因素的急慢性影响以及企业职业卫生管理水平。     

Occupational Safety Culture Index (OSCI)——measuring the community and employees awareness,attitude and knowledge towards workplace safety and health in Hong Kong SAR

Promoting occupational safety and health in Hong Kong,Special Administrative Region of China is an important and ongoing mission. As the major organization with statutory responsibilities,the Occupational Safety and Health Council understand the importance to strengthen and cultivate our safety culture. It is widely believed that numbers of occupational related diseases and injuries could be prevented with the improvement of the awareness and attitudes of the employees and the public. Therefore,a comprehensive and in-depth study to monitor the occupational health and safety level and status of the community and working population is needed. Objectives: Our Council has developed the Occupational Safety Culture Index ( OSCI) to measure the current level of community and workplace safety and health awareness,knowledge and attitude. Benchmarking measures of the key safety performance indicators are to be derived thereof. Methods: A territory-wide random telephone survey was conducted to assess the community and employees’awareness,attitude and knowledge in 2008. A structured questionnaire was designed with the content validity and reliability assessed before the survey administration. A series of quality control approaches were also applied to assure the quality of the fieldwork and the reliability of the data. Results: 1,531 eligible participants’data were collected and computed into 2 types of composite indices,Occupational Safety Culture Index ( Community) ( OSCIC) and Occupational Safety Culture Index (Workplace) (OSCIW) . With the maximum score of index at 100,the overall score of OSCIC is 66. 9 and the OSCIW is 61. 3 in Hong Kong. Achievements: OSCI served as an effective management tool to measure the safety culture in Hong Kong. With a representative sample and high quality study control and validated assessment approaches,the OSCI and the sub-indices are reliable indicators to assess the effectiveness of safety culture enhancement strategy and the OSH intervention measures.     

A transportation network assessment tool for hazardous material cargo routing: Weighing exposure health risks,proximity to vulnerable areas,delay costs and trucking expenses

The inherent risks associated with accidental releases of hazardous materials during transport have drawn attention and concerns in the recent decades. The aim of this study is to propose a tool for evaluation and comparison of the transportation networks which can be used to assess the routing options between origins and destinations of the cargos for their suitability for transporting hazardous material cargos by tanker trucks and to identify routes which provide lower accidental release risks, lower public exposure risks, and offer economical benefits. Each route segment of transportation networks were evaluated using specific criteria which included health risk and cost of delay in case of an accidental release of materials, trucking cost and proximity to vulnerable areas. Since, the health impact of hazardous materials differ depending on the characteristics of the material being transported as well as release quantities and atmospheric conditions; this paper aimed in providing a tool that can be used to estimate the impact radius (for health risks) after accidental release of hazardous materials by taking into account different atmospheric conditions based on the meteorological data and solar elevation angle. The Gaussian air dispersion model paired with ArcGIS using Python programming were employed to estimate the health risk impact zones by considering the meteorological data, and accordingly to analyze road segments for cost impacts (delay and trucking costs), and the proximity to vulnerable areas. The route assessment tool was demonstrated with a case study. The results of this study can efficiently aid decision makers for transportation of hazardous materials.     

基于模糊综合评价的化工工艺本质安全指数研究

建立化工工艺的本质安全评价指标体系,包括可燃性、爆炸性、毒性、反应性、温度、压力、储量等7个指标。为解决前人指数法中的边界波动效应,采用模糊综合评价建立化工工艺本质安全评价指数模型,确定各指标的权重、危险分级及对各分级的隶属函数。以甲基丙烯酸甲酯的5条工艺路线为例进行分析,结论与前人提出的指数方法的评价结果相吻合,表明该指数方法可以用来进行化工工艺的本质安全评价,以指导设计初期的本质安全型工艺路线选择。     

2000-2009年全国职业中毒状况规律分析和对策探讨

职业中毒是我国的主要职业病之一,严重影响着劳动者的健康和社会的和谐稳定。根据卫生部2000-2009年公布的职业病统计数据,分析总结我国职业中毒的发生规律。结果表明：职业中毒是仅次于尘肺病的第二大类职业病。职业中毒占职业病总数的12.8%-18%,在职业中毒病例中,急性职业中毒占22.4%-39.6%,慢性职业中毒占60.4%-77.6%。职业中毒总人数变化从2000年到2005年较平稳,从2006年起,呈波浪形上升趋势,但其增幅远小于职业病总数和尘肺病新发病例人数的增幅。其中,急性职业中毒总人数略有下降趋势,慢性职业中毒总人数呈波浪形上升趋势。引起急性职业中毒占前两位的化学毒物主要是一氧化碳和硫化氢,引起慢性职业中毒占前两位的化学毒物主要是铅及其化合物和苯。中小企业职业中毒发生率高。建议各级职能部门重点加强相关行业的监管,尤其是其中的中小企业的监管;履行指导的职责,加强有效果的安全教育和培训;同时加强职业监控监护。