7.

0 Safety issues and environmental impact

7.1 Detail safety considerations

In plant, safety consideration is the most important thing to taken care.

There are some aspects of safety which are site, plant layout, process
design and design stages. The health and safety at work (Act 1974) The
health and safety at work (Act 1974) provided a new legal administrative
framework to promote, simulate and encourage even higher standards
of health and safety at work. In chemical plant, the main hazards are
toxic and corrosive chemicals, explosions, fires and accidents common
to all industrial activities. The most important and crucial part of a plant
is a healthy and safe working environment for the workers and people
involved. The safety of materials and equipment can be control from
knowing the safety information for every materials and equipment used
in the plant (McLellan et al., 1995).

a) Plant safety

In plant, there are many factors influencing the safety of the

plant especially for the company that manufacture chemical product in
their plant. The factors are:

I. Chemical storage

Chemical storage in plants is very essential because it

has an enormous quantity of raw material and the
product with the chemical used for other processes such
as washing, water treatment and waste treatment.

II. Transportation

There are some factors linked to job in the handling of

chemicals within the plant for transportation. Workers
involved in managing the transport of chemicals such as
tanker lorry or forklift drivers must follow all handling
processes because they are the ones who are in charge
of moving the products on site and therefore indirectly
rely on them for the safety of other employees.
 III. Plant location
The plant location for chemical plant needs to be located
far from the residential fields to minimize the hazards or
likelihood of harming the public in any manner possible
for the plant place. In plants, usually occurring accidents
are linked to the cloud of fire, explosion, or vapour. All of
these variables can influence individuals and the
environment in a major disaster.

b) Workers safety

There are some basic safety rules for the workers which must
be observed when working in all chemical-manufacturing areas. Below
are some of the rules:

I. Always observed all safety regulations in the plant

II. All accidents have to be reported to the supervisor
instantly.
III. All staff are liable for the safety and security of their
colleague.
IV. The places of work must be clean and tidy to ensure
that no failure occurs.
V. Deficient equipment, unsafe circumstances and
unsafe procedures shall be reported to your
supervisor as quickly as they have been identified.
VI. Matches and lighters must not be brought into the
plant and left in the lockers space.
VII. Always wear the right Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE)
VIII. No smoking is allowed in the site

c) Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Employers are responsible for supplying and using Personal

Protective Equipment (PPE) at job. PPE is equipment that protects the
user from workplace health or safety hazards. It can include items such
as safety helmets, gloves, eye protection, high-visibility clothing, safety
footwear and safety harnesses. It also involves protective devices for
the Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE).

I. Safety Helmets
A hard hat is a type of helmet predominantly used in
workplace environments such as industrial or construction
sites to protect the head from injury due to falling objects,
impact with other objects, debris, rain, and electric shock.

II. Dust mask

There are now many types available, all of which provide
protection against damaging dust inhalation. Special
absorbent pads are covered with a perforated metal disc or
fitted to a molded rubber facepiece: the pads should be
changed regularly and after use the facepiece should be
cleaned. Most importantly, the dust masks do not give any
gas protection.

III. Air mask

The most popular air masks are the "army gas mask" sort:
with adjustable elastic straps fitting around the head, a
molded rubber front with two eye ports is kept face to face.
Air is taken from a canister attached to the body through a
flexible hose and a non-return valve in front of the mouth and
expelled between the lips and the mask's rubber sides. The
canister includes an appropriate, absorbent material and
therefore distinguishing the right canister for the
circumstances to be entered is of essential significance.

IV. Safety footwear

In industry, a steel-toe boot (also known as a safety boot,
steel-capped boot or safety shoe) is a durable boot or shoe
that has a protective reinforcement in the toe which protects
the foot from falling objects or compression, usually
combined with a mid-sole plate to protect against punctures
from below.
d) Emergency procedure

An emergency is an unplanned event that has the potential to harm

the life, health, or safety of a person, or to damage the environment or
public property (Incident Management and Reporting Guidelines, n.d.).
If there is emergency in the plant, below is the following procedures
should be followed:

1) Do not panic and stay alert

2) Assess the situation around the area
3) Wait for instructions from supervisor or shift manager
4) Avoid using the telephone

I. Fire protection
The significant hazard in chemical industries are fires that will
proceed to an explosion if any. Therefore, it is mandatory to
have any fire extinguisher medium available as such water
supplies, fireman and hydrants and foam.

1. Portable fire extinguisher - should be situated close enough

to the hazard to be accessible instantly, but far enough to
avoid the fire from using it.
2. Thermal and optical sensors - used to detect unseen fires
operating in two ultraviolet and infrared spectral areas.
3. Fire detection systems-should provide a quick and reliable
indication of fire presence, place, and size.

II. Instrument Protective System

1. Air Monitoring and Alarm - used to detect and quantify

airborne levels of hazardous substances and risks to safety
and health to determine the suitable amount of on-site
protection for employees.
2. Leak Detection Systems – give warning of exceeding the
worst permissible situation. To specify dangerous levels,
visual alarms should be intended in the scheme.
3. Emergency valves - All valves must be accessible for
emergency operation.
 III. Maintenance and Inspection

It is essential to perform adequate maintenance to prevent the

pitfalls or breakdown of the plant's tools or machinery.

1. Continuous training is vital for high-pressure plants.

Mechanics and supervisors must bear the ongoing
knowledge of working on the specific equipment learning
process.
2. Maintenance and operations should be distinct functions
with the common goal of ensuring the plant's secure,
constant and profitable operation, but with main attention
concentrated differently–equipment maintenance and
process operation.
3. The organisation should include structured technical staff so
that they can concentrate their efforts on the maintenance
elements of technical problem-solving.

e) Health Hazard Materials

I. Sulphur
Based on the Safety Data Sheet (SDS), if ignited by
spark or flame, sulphur will burn in air yielding oxides of sulphur.
This means that any air suspended Sulphur dust in the plant is
at risk of ignition from flame, static or friction spark. When
handling Sulphur, it is suggested to use spark-resistant
instruments, nonferrous conveyor parts etc. Formation of
sulfuric acid mist should be avoided by exposure of sulphur
trioxide to water vapor. In case of accumulation of Sulphur dust
in a particular section of the plant, the area classification must
be adhered too.

Steam may be added to a molten Sulphur tank's vapor

headspace during storage as a type of blanketing to displace
any air (and therefore oxygen) present. In case of a fire in molten
sulphur small to medium storage tanks, splashing of sulphur is
preferred to water, as steam formation could pressurize the
 confined space within a storage tank. However, a good spray or
water fog is preferred for bulk storage tanks of molten sulphur.
It is suggested that carbon dioxide fire extinguishers combat
sulphur fires

II. Oxides of Sulphur

Very toxic sulphur dioxide inhalation is considered fatal
or at least causes excessive nose and throat irritation. Skin
contact damages skin comparable to sulfuric acid and direct
contact with liquefied gas if sulphur dioxide can freeze or chill
the skin. Effects on contact with eyes etc. have comparable
implications to prior materials. Workers, like Sulphur Dioxide,
may be prone primarily through inhalation and skin contact. It
may take time to detect toxic impacts.
In the sector, personal protective equipment in the form
of respirators, respiratory equipment (for emergencies), dust-
tight glasses (Sulphur handling areas), safety lenses with side
shields (Molten Sulphur storage areas), face shields, fire
retardant garments, heat-resistant gloves (Sulphur molten
storage area) are used based on data collected on safety
aspects (Klosowski, Schaffrath, & Seifert, 2009).

f) Transportation and storage

Sulfuric acid is categorized as a flammable solid from a transport view
and the appropriate sign should be displayed on the transport. In bulk
storage fields, the sign can also be presented. Chemicals transportation
is controlled by government agencies to guarantee that minimum
requirements are met with regard to the equipment and processes used
with the ultimate objective of protecting the general public. Relevant
information should be displayed in the container label. There are
labelling techniques for hazardous materials. A sample label whose
content is consistent with the Globally Harmonized Chemicals
Classification and Labelling of Chemical (GHS) is provided below. The
U.S. apex body dealing with industrial safety, the Occupational Health
and Safety Administration has made it compulsory to display such
labels during the storage and transport of chemicals such as sulfuric
 acid. Another federal agency that issues safety standards in the US, the
National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), also deals with safety
elements. The NFPA triangle shows the health (blue), flammability (red)
and reactivity (yellow) hazard presented by a chemical and another
chemical-specific hazard (Kumareswaran, 2013).

7.2 Environmental Impact analysis

In order to ensure that there is no spillage in the river or other

locations that can be harmful to human or other living items, the
environment also needs to be considered. This chemical product cannot
be tossed into the drain and must be prevented from entering the public
sewer or releasing to the environment. Next, ensure that this material
and its container are disposed of in a dangerous or special waste
collection that are according to the Hazardous Waste Regulation. The
other environmental elements are the place strategies. The plant must
be far away from the institutional or residence. This is because the gas
released from the plant is a dangerous gas that can influence people or
other living things (Kim & Chae, 2016). Below shows the environmental
impact analysis:

a) Waste disposal/ management

Due to the acids produced, the manufacturing of sulfuric acid

can be dangerous to humans and the environment. For the treatment
of sulphuric acid, the effluent treatment is required. According to
(Cavallini, 2016), the following steps should generally be followed by all
effluent treatment techniques: impurity precipitation, solid separation
from fluid, and pH adjustment. In addition, neutralization is another
easiest way to treat a weak effluent of acid. The addition of calcium
hydroxide is required to form the calcium sulphate or gypsum in order
to neutralize the sulphuric acid. In addition, calcium hydroxide is the
least costly neutralizing agent available for the treatment of an acidic
effluent.
 b) Noise

For noise pollution, the sources of noise in plant is coming from

equipment itself during the processing of plant which may exceed the
local decibel limit. The noise produced by the plant could render the
surrounding area uncomfortable as it could be regarded as noise
pollution.

c) Workplace Exposure
Those that working with sulphuric acid tend to expose to the
chemical hazard either in manufacturing operations or in other process
that deal with this product. It is because this product will undergo many
processes such as packaging, sampling and testing. So, the possibility
for the workers to expose to the chemical is higher. Engineering
modifications to the process equipment should be suggested inside the
plants in order to reduce the emissions to the acceptable levels.

d) Emission to the environment

Due to the release of compounds such as sulphur dioxide into

the atmosphere and mixing with water, oxygen and other chemicals,
sulphuric acid can cause acid rain to the surroundings. Then, in clouds,
fog or rain, the acid particles dissolve to create acid rain. Other than
that, it also provides the aquatic life with mild acute toxicity (Likens,
2004).

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