News Article
Understanding HazMat Handling Procedures
Understanding HazMat Handling Procedures
By Don Groce, technical product specialist and research chemist, Best Manufacturing Company
Knowing the potential dangers involved in the handling of hazardous materials in the workplace can make all the difference in maintaining a safe environment in life-threatening situations. Accidents or incidents involving hazardous materials can endanger both the individual employee who is handling the hazardous material as well as co-workers and unsuspecting people in the vicinity of the workplace. Any spill or incendiary event that occurs can pose an imminent threat to the health and safety of anyone exposed to the materials. The materials or their combustion byproducts can be detrimental to the environment as their byproducts from combustion or exposure to water can cause widespread contamination of the environment and subsequent exposure issues.
The first step in handling such materials is training. Safety officers and industrial hygienists must train employees about the hazards of toxic, flammable or reactive chemicals. The chemicals must be properly stored and segregated from other reactive chemicals.
Employees must be trained how to respond in the event of an emergency, including when to evacuate and when they should call for professional rescue teams. It is essential whenever chemicals are involved that the oxygen level be measured before any attempt to rescue begins. If the oxygen level is below 19.5 percent, a corrected fitted Self Contained Breathing Apparatus must be worn to protect the rescuer, so that he or she does not also become a victim of the accident.
This is especially true in light of the events and concerns raised in the past few years since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Since that time, Congress has been looking much more closely at scenarios where a terrorist group or hate group could use chemicals as weapons. HazMat incidents may involve accidental or intentional release of hazardous chemicals that can be very toxic, corrosive, flammable or reactive.
The Department of Homeland Security has classified the agents that could be used by terrorists as CBRN or Incendiary agents. That is chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or incendiary agents. A major portion of Homeland Security involves protection from chemicals that are not nerve gases or blister agents such as Sarin, Soman, VX or Mustard Gas. These Toxic Industrial Materials (TIMs)are chemicals other than chemical warfare agents that have harmful effects and are used in a variety of settings such as manufacturing facilities, maintenance areas and general storage areas. They may not be immediately dangerous to life and health (IDLH). However, they can have very serious effects on an individual's health after multiple low-level exposures. Some common examples include, but are not limited to
Some of the chemicals considered TIMs are a bit surprising. For instance, readers probably could not fathom where Sarin or Mustard Gas could be found, but even in small municipalities, almost everyone could think of where you could find sulfuric acid, chlorine gas or anhydrous ammonia. Almost everyone can remember driving next to a tanker of fuel on the highway or seeing huge fuel storage tank farms many places throughout our communities. These are potential soft targets for terrorists.
These materials are considered TIMs because they are produced in quantities of >30 tons per year at one facility. They are not as lethal as nerve gas, but much more dangerous because of the amount of chemical (multi-ton) available for terrorists to use. These chemicals are so much more widely produced, stored and transported that they could be more of a threat to more people than even nerve gas. A tanker of sulfuric acid or gasoline in the hands of terrorists would be highly toxic and cause extreme injuries.
In preparation for such unthinkable incidents, safety officers and industrial hygienists must specify the proper personal protective equipment (PPE). First responders must be trained how to identify the hazard. Determination of the hazard that is present is the first step. HazMat teams that have air monitoring equipment must be contacted.
The initial isolation zone -- a circle around where the actual ground zero event occurred -- can be anywhere from 100 feet up to seven miles depending on the toxic nature or flammability of the substance identified. For the initial area surrounding a HazMat or TIM occurrence, PPE includes Level A fully encapsulating suits with Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus. These Vapor Protective suit ensembles are designed for maximum protection in the Hot Zone. These suit ensembles must be certified as compliant with NFPA 1991 Standard on Vapor-Protective Suits for Hazardous Chemical Emergencies or NFPA 1994 Standard on Protective Ensemble for Chemical/Biological Terrorism Incidents.
The area immediately surrounding the Hot Zone is the Warm Zone, where decontamination of the first responders occurs. In this area, Splash Protective suit ensembles are worn. These Level B ensembles should be certified as compliant with NFPA 1992 Standard on Liquid Splash-Protective Ensembles and Clothing for Hazardous Materials Emergencies.
In an effort to provide the most qualified safety PPE for first responders, the Department of Homeland Security announced on February 26, 2004 that DHS grant money must be used to purchase Personal Protective Equipment that has been certified as compliant with one of five different NFPA Standards.
The Interagency Board for Equipment Standardization and Interoperability was designed to establish and coordinate local, state and federal standardization, inter-operability and responder safety to prepare for, respond to, mitigate and recover from any incident by identifying requirements for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear or Explosives incident response equipment. For more information on which products are certified visit the Responder Knowledge Base at www.rkb.mipt.org
These standards are pre-existing and were developed by the National Fire Protection Association long before the deadly attack on the World Trade Center towers in New York on September 11, 2001.
NFPA 1999, Standard on Protective Clothing for Emergency Medical Operations
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