The chemical
industry: how safe and how environmentally regulated?
Safety must be at the top of the chemical industry’s agenda and for good
reason. Many of its products are potentially hazardous at some stage during
their manufacture and transport. These chemicals may be solids, liquids or
gases, flammable, explosive, corrosive and/or toxic.
Manufacturing processes
frequently involve high temperatures, high pressures, and reactions which can
be dangerous unless carefully controlled. Because of this the industry operates
within the safety limits demanded by national and international legislation.
Risks and injuries
In spite of dealing with hazardous operations, the chemical industry
actually has a lower number of accidents than industry as a whole. Between 1995
and 2005, across the whole of European manufacture of all types, there were
over 4 injuries for every 1000 employees, twice that sustained in the chemical
industry.
US data, recorded as days lost due to accidents, show an even starker
difference; the number of days lost in major companies in the chemical industry
through accidents is 4 times less than in manufacturing generally.
Environmental regulations
There are serious concerns about the potential impact of certain
manufactured chemicals on living organisms, including ourselves, and on the
natural environment. These concerns include air, land and sea pollution, global
warming and climate change, ozone depletion of the upper atmosphere and acid
rain.
The chemical industry has a world-wide initiative entitled Responsible
Care. It began in Canada in 1984 and is practiced now in over 60 countries. It
commits national chemical industry associations and companies to:
Continuously improve the environmental, health, safety and security
knowledge and performance of our technologies, processes and products over their
life cycles so as to avoid harm to people and the environmentUse resources
efficiently and minimise wasteReport openly on performance, achievements and
short comings Listen, engage and work with people to understand and address their
concerns and expectationsCooperate with governments and organisations in the
development and implementation of effective regulations and standards, and to
meet or go beyond themProvide help and advice to foster the responsible
management of chemicals by all those who manage and use them along the product
chain.
In the US, chemical companies spend over $ 12 billion a year on
environmental, health and safety programs. This has, for example, has led to
the reduction of hazardous releases to the air, land and water by over 70
percent over the last 40 years.
Another environmental measure concerns the use
of energy. In the 20 years from 1990, the chemical industry in the US saved
energy at the average rate of 2.1% and in Europe at more than 4%. This also
reduces the emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, at a rate of
nearly 2.5% and 6% per annum in the US and EU, respectively.
Regulations are in force in every major country. In Europe, they are
enforced through REACH (Registration, Evaluation Authorisation and restriction
of Chemicals). They are fundamentally changing the way chemicals are made, sold
and used, by providing a single standardised framework for the safe management
of chemicals.
REACH places the responsibility on both manufacturers and
importers to ensure that all chemicals produced in quantities greater than one
tonne a year do not adversely affect human health or the environment. The
industry provides comprehensive documented information for all qualifying
chemicals and related substances, enabling users of the chemicals to ensure
that adequate controls are in place.
Chemicals which are produced in amounts of
1000 tonnes or more per year must have been registered by December 2010 and
those greater than 1 tonne must be registered by June 2018.
Only a small proportion of chemical wastes are toxic or hazardous. Most
of these, together with materials which resist natural breakdown, are
incinerated at high temperature. Whenever possible, the waste itself provides
the fuel for this process. The gases produced are thoroughly cleaned and
‘scrubbed’ before release into the atmosphere, leaving only ash for disposal.
Examples of how by-products are dealt with are seen throughout the units on
this web site.
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