Industrial Hygiene

1. Background
2. Objectives of IH
3. Type of HI control
4. Estimation of evaporation rate, ventilation
rate of volatiles
Crowl & Louvar,
Chapter 3
2nd and 3rd editions
 Origin of Hygiene
• Hygeia was the Greek goddess of health

• Rene Dubos wrote: “For the worshippers

of Hygeia, health is …a positive attribute
to which men are entitled if they govern
their lives wisely”

• Prevention is key
 What Is Industrial Hygiene?
Definition: Science and art devoted to the
anticipation, recognition, evaluation, and
control of those workplace environmental
factors which may cause sickness,
impaired health and well-being, or
significant discomfort and inefficiency
among workers or among citizens of the
community
 Some Occupational Hazards
Chemical agents
• Gases, vapors and particulate aerosols
Physical (energy) agents
• Noise, ionizing / non-ionizing radiation,
heat and cold stress
Biological agents
• Infectious agents, allergens
Psychological stressors
Ergonomic/safety
 Examples of ODOR Threshold

[Table 3-9 in 3rd Edition]

Acetic acid 0.016 ppm

Ammonia 5.75 ppm
Camphor 0.051 ppm
Chloroform 11.7
Ethanol 0.136
Hydrogen sulphide 0.0005
Methanol 141
Ozone 0.051
Phosgene 0.55
 Government Regulations
1. Laws are enacted by the Government. The laws do not
have details on implementation.
2. The applicable government agency develops and proposes
a regulation. The regulation contains the details on
implementation. It is published in the Government
Register and a comment period and hearing is normally
held.
3. The Final Rule is published in the Government Register
and the Code of Government Regulations.
 Government Regulations
• The two regulations most applicable to
chemical plants are:
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA):
(NIOSH – Malaysia)
29 CFR 1910.119 “Process Safety Management
of Highly Hazardous Chemicals”
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – (DoE Malaysia):
40 CFR Part 68 “Risk Management Programs”.

• In 2006: Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards

(CFATS).
6 CFR 27

Table 3-1: Laws and Regulations

Table 3-3: Legislation to Chemical process safety. 2nd & 3rd Eds.
• Word file with abbreviations of institutions
relevant to chemical safety:
 Table 3-4 in 2nd Ed; Table 3-5 in 3rd Ed.
Identify the differences between PSM and RMP!
 Process Safety Management
(PSM) 29 CFR 1910.119

On July 17, 1990, OSHA published in the Federal

Register (55 FR 29150) a proposed standard,
—”Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous
Chemicals”—containing requirements for the
management of hazards associated with processes
using highly hazardous chemicals to help assure safe
and healthful workplaces. After discussions, the Clean
Air Act Amendments (CAAA) were enacted into law
(November 15, 1990).
Source: https://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3132.pdf

Specified minimum elements that the OSHA

standard must require employers to do, as follows:
(show osha pdf file)
Process Safety Management, some terms:

Catastrophic release: Highly hazardous

chemical: a substance
 Major uncontrolled possessing toxic,
emission, fire, or reactive, flammable, or
explosion explosive properties
 Involves one or more and specified by section
highly hazardous 1910.119(a)(1)
chemicals
 Presents serious
danger to employees
in the workplace
Process:
• Any activity involving a highly hazardous
chemical including use, storage, manufacturing,
handling, or the on-site movement of such
chemicals, or combination of these activities
• Any group of vessels that are interconnected, &
• Separate vessels which are located such that a
highly hazardous chemical could be involved in
a potential release
• All considered a single process
Category 1 29 CFR 1910.119 does NOT
Flammable Liquid apply to:
(per 1910.1200) or • Hydrocarbon fuels used
solely for workplace
consumption as a fuel not as
Flammable Liquid part of a process containing
with flashpoint below another highly hazardous
1000F on site at one chemical
location in a quantity
• Flammable liquids with a
of 10,000 lbs or
more flashpoint below
1000F stored in atmospheric
tanks or
transferred kept below
their normal
boiling point without
benefit of chilling or
refrigeration
Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) - this will be discussed
in more detail under Hazard Identification topic.

A method to
determine plant
or process
chemical
hazards and
develop policies,
procedures
and safeguards
against
emergencies
which may
occur
 For example:

• Shall be conducted as soon as possible but no

later than (NLT):

NLT Initial Process completed by 

25% May 26, 1994
50% May 26, 1995
75% May 26, 1996
Completed by May 26, 1997

• After May 26, 1997 - Acceptable if requirements

of initial PHA are met
 PHA = Process Hazard Analysis
(this will be discussed in more detail under Hazard Identification topic)

• Updated and revalidated by a team meeting at

least every 5 years

• Update and retain the PHA for each process for

the life of the process

Operating Procedures
• Written, for safely conducting activities
involved in each covered process
Steps to cover for each Operating Procedure
- this can be helpful for your assignment.

Addresses at least:
•Startup following
• Initial set-up turnaround or
• Normal operations emergency shutdown
• Temporary operations • Operating Limits
• Emergency shutdown • Consequences of
• Emergency operations deviation
• Normal shutdowns • Steps required to
correct or avoid
deviation
Methods used to determine and evaluate
hazards: (this will be discussed in more detail under Hazard Identification topic)
 
• What If
• Checklist
• What If/Checklist
• HAZOP (Hazard & Operability Study)
• FMEA (Failure Mode & Effects Analysis)
• Fault Tree Analysis
• Event Tree Analysis
• An Appropriate Equivalent Methodology
 Relevance to your assignment, some points:

Existing information about a

OSHA standard: 29 CFR process (assign 1)
1910.119

Search for additional information to

complete process description
Process Safety (assign 1)
Management
(PSM)
Search for additional information to
Discussion of the process incomplete
terms of process description
PSM criteria. (your assignment 1) 1)
(assign

Process Hazard
Analysis (PHA) Discussion of the process in terms
of PSM criteria.
(assign 1)

Methods: e.g. HazOP; Apply HazOp & RA methods to

evaluate the identified hazards
Event tree; Fault tree (assign 2)
 Additional points on chemical plant safety.
THE SEVEN GREATEST THREATS TO PROCESS PLANT SAFETY:

1. Nuisance trips:
Emergency shutdowns and subsequent startups are among the
greatest threats to plant safety. They divert attention from situations
that could present real danger, and result in unnecessary shutdowns
and restarts – all of which pose additional risk.

Sources: failures due to systems wearing out, spurious equipment

failures and human failures caused by alarm floods.

Recommendations:
Lifecycle equipment management, asset management, embedded
diagnostics and alarm management all help to eliminate nuisance
trips.

Source: http://global.wonderware.com/BR/Documents/Desafios%20na%20seguran%C3%A7a%20de%20uma%20f
%C3%A1brica.pdf
2. Insufficient use of the full functionality of
the control and safety system:
Process control and safety systems continue to do
the ‘heavy lifting’ in keeping plants operating
safely, but few companies take full advantage of
their capabilities.

Recommendations:
Alarm management, loop management, inhibit and
bypass management, and the smart integration of
control systems help to ensure that you are
maximising the full safety potential from your
system investment.
4. Training limitations:
Comprehensive hands-on safety training is difficult
– if not impossible – to deliver. No matter how
talented the trainers and trainees, or how effective
the curriculum, classes and materials,
conventional training can go only so far in
conveying the realities of a hazardous situation.

Recommendations:
However, today’s simulation and virtual-reality
techniques allow operators to experience
hazardous situations and consequences with a
realism that has never been possible before.
5. Lack of visibility of safety status:

While safety breaches usually result from a

combination of factors that have been deteriorating
over time, in many cases no one knows there is a
problem or that an incident has occurred. Most
plants are collecting the data that could provide early
warning of problems, but it is usually fragmented,
haphazard and not in a safety context.

Recommendations:
Simulation techniques, real-time monitoring sensors
and operator dashboards can help provide a realistic,
dynamic view of safety conditions.
6. Unnecessarily exposing people to hazardous
environments:
Protecting the community, environment and
personnel is key to a sustainable safety programme.

Recommendations:
Simulated training, fire and gas detection systems,
smart instrumentation, and personnel location
systems can minimise human exposure to hazardous
situations.
7. External threats
The realities of terrorism and business disruption
due to plant safety incidents are critical
considerations for plant managers.

Recommendations:
These can be mitigated by defence-in-depth
security
programmes and by careful integration of safety
and control systems
 Recommendations to maintain plant safety
1. Monitor equipment proactively:

Proactive equipment condition monitoring can extend to all

assets and processes that are critical to safe plant performance.
Data from asset management systems can be integrated into an
overall plant safety view. This allows modification of the safety
envelope model and real-time updating of plant safety
dashboards, providing a measure of overall integrity
of the plant. This can also integrate condition management,
computerised maintenance management, condition-based
maintenance (CBM) and reliability-centred models – all of which
contribute to operations and maintenance (RCO/RCM) solutions
that improve plant safety.
 Recommendations to maintain plant safety
2. Utilise embedded diagnostics:

It is essential to have confidence in the operational

effectiveness and correct functioning of the installed safety
systems.
Embedded automatic diagnostic features
of control systems, instrumentation and control elements
increase this confidence, and allow plant personnel to focus
on production.
Data derived from a testing and diagnostic framework can
automatically reveal the appropriate communication
strategies, and coordinate the interaction of
the personnel communications, asset management and
maintenance functions.
 Recommendations to maintain plant safety
3. Rationalise and prioritise alarms:
Alarms are often the first layer of protection, and provide the
first indication that there is a potential unsafe condition on the
site.
However, too many process alarms occurring at once can
decrease the integrity of the alerts and the effectiveness of
the operator response.
An effective and efficient alarm management system
promotes both safety and performance.
Alarm rationalisation based on industry standards applies
layers of protection to link the alarm priority with the time
required to respond effectively to an alarm before the plant
must undergo a costly shutdown.
This reduces nuisance trips by enabling operators to attend
only to alarms associated with real dangers.
 Recommendations to maintain plant safety
4. Do not bypass inhibit-and-bypass management functionality:
Highlighting significant deviations from the normal operational state, and
adjusting the online plant safety case, requires a robust management
system to monitor, record and report the status on all inhibit events and
override conditions.
This allows for handover shift reports and key performance indicators to
detect patterns and trends, as well as status reports identifying and
explaining the application of a bypass.
It also enables automatic removal of specified bypasses after a
configurable period, and advises when the plant achieves a steady
operational state.
Inhibit and bypass management functions communicate with all
electronic systems, facilitate the systematic recording of events from
other systems, and provide a formal rule-based interpretation of the
overall plant inhibit condition. They initiate reports and display the
operational status of the plant emergency systems
1.
 CHEMICAL (or MATERIAL) SAFETY DATA
SHEET
1. Identification: - Name of the 8. Exposure controls and
substance or preparation; - personal protection
Name, address and 9. Physical and chemical
telephone of the properties
company/supplier 10. Stability and Reactivity
2. Composition and information 11. Toxicological information
on ingredients
12. Ecological information
3. Hazard identification
13. Disposal considerations
4. First-air measures
14. Transport information
5. Fire-fighting measures
15. National regulations and
6. spillage, accidental release references
measures
16. Other information
7. Handling and storage
EXAMPLE (Word file)
Example of MSDS, worddoc
 2. Anticipation
• Anticipation/recognition of potential or
actual hazards through knowledge of:
• –Materials
• –Operations
• –Processes
• –Conditions􀂊
Scope of IH activities encompasses the
“cradle-to-grave” concept (research
through waste disposal)
 3. Evaluation
• Evaluation of environmental factors
through:
–Measurement of exposure intensity
–Determination of exposure frequency, and
duration
–Comparison with regulatory, professional,
and internal standards
• Judgment: weigh all factors
Environmental/Occupational Health Paradigm
 Sampling and Measurement
• OSHA and NIOSH publish sampling and
analysis procedures appropriate for
particular substances
• ASTM has standards on instrumentation,
sampling and analytical procedures
• ACGIH publishes a book on Air sampling
instruments
 4. Control
• Employ methods to eliminate or reduce
exposure resulting in elimination or
reduction of the occurrence of
occupational disease through:
–Engineering (including process)
interventions
–Administrative/programmatic measures
–Personal protective equipment (PPE)
Opportunities for Control
 Types of Controls:
1. Engineering controls:

• Substitution – replacing a hazardous

materials with a non-hazardous one
• Isolation – use a barrier between a
source of contaminants and workers
• Ventilation – general or dilution
ventilation, and local exhaust ventilation
2. Work practices and Administrative controls
• Housekeeping – regular cleaning
• Materials handling or Transfer procedures – to
remove generation of hazards during process of
transferring (e.g. loading/unloading generates dust;
transferring liquids generates vapors/spills)
• Leak detection programs – visual inspections, auto
sensors systems;
• Training – staff
• Modifying the work – limiting exposure periods,
share activities between workers
• Personal hygiene – cleaning skins, eyes, change
cloths, ete
 OPERATIONAL CONTROL PROGRAMMES
• In the workplace, workers are exposed to chemical
hazards in various activities such as transfer,
storage , handling and use in the workstation and
waste disposal.
• For the safe handling of chemicals it is necessary
to take several preventive measures.
• Technical measures can be instituted to eliminate
or reduced the worker exposure.
• The priority is to eliminate whenever possible very
hazardous chemical form the workplace by
substitute with less hazardous chemical or process.
If substitution is not possible, prevent
exposure to the chemicals by
implementing engineering control.
Measures that should be considered in
engineering controls ( but not limited to )
are:
1. enclosure or isolation.
2. wet methods
3. use of industrial ventilation system
4. change of process
• In some situations where substitution and
engineering controls is not reasonably
practicable and reliance has to be placed with
personal protective equipment.
• It must be remembered that personal
protective equipment should always be the
last to be considered!
• For technical measure to be effective, safe
work practices and procedures should be
developed and implemented hand in hand with
the technical measures.
 Technical measures are but not limited to:
• isolation of ignition sources.
• development of procedures to cover handling/ use
operating procedures during manufacture,
transport, storage, use and disposal of chemicals.
• development and implementation of safe system of
work such as permit to work system, modification
procedure, maintenance and repair procedure,
inspection and testing.
• housekeeping
• hygiene facilities.
• emergency procedure and facilities.
• posting of warning sign
 3. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
for Hazardous Chemicals
• Dust masks and
respirators
• Glasses, goggles, and
face shields
• Hearing protection
• Gloves
• Foot protection
• Head protection
• Aprons or full-body suits

47
 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for
Hazardous Chemicals

48
 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for
Hazardous Chemicals

49
 Hazardous Materials First Aid
• Eyes: Flush with
water for 15
minutes
• Skin: Wash with
soap and water
• Inhalation: Move to
fresh air
• Swallowing: Get
emergency medical
assistance
50
 Spills and Leaks
• Evacuate the area
• Notify a supervisor
or the emergency
response team
• Remove ignition
sources (if safe to
do so)
• Stay away
•51 Call 9-9-9
 2. Evaluation of
chemical hazards
Qm=Mass rate of volatile material
 Accumulation rate is ‘0’

Applying ideal gas law: m=mass; ρ=density;

v=volatile species; b=bulk species;
Rg=ideal gas constant
T and P, absolute temp and pressure
M=molecular weight of volatile species
mv/Vb=C=Qm/kQv
 Vapor Pressure

Given two substances of the same

volume, which one has more potential
hazard?

–Example: Motor oil vs. ether?

Ether has more potential hazard than

motor oil due to its high vapor pressure
and volatility
 Examples of Health Effects
Asphyxiants: Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide
Irritants: Chlorine, formaldehyde
Anesthetics: Toluene, benzene
Hepatotoxins: Carbon tetrachloride, chlorobenzene
Nephrotoxins: Toluene, xylene
Neurotoxins: Carbon disulfide
Hematopoietictoxins: Benzene, carbon monoxide
Pulmonarytoxins: Nitrogen dioxide, phosgene
Carcinogens: Benzene, vinyl chloride monomer
Ideal Gas Law
Conversion of Units
VP and Concentration
Selection of methods to control
identified hazard:
Table 3-9: Chemical Plant Control Techniques
Generalized form:

In many cases Psat » ρ

Eq.3-12
KA is often very small compared to displacement and can be neglected.
Control of identified hazard:
 Purposes of Industrial Ventilation

• Control of toxic air contaminants to

acceptable levels
• Control of noxious odors
• Control of heat and humidity for comfort
and health
• Prevention of fire and explosions
 Types of Industrial Ventilation
1. General ventilation
–Control of temperature, humidity, and odors

2. Dilution ventilation
–Maintain control of low toxicity gases and vapors
below acceptable levels through dilution of
concentration

3. Local exhaust ventilation

–Capturing and removing contaminants at or near
their sources of emission
–Prevents the transmission of contaminant to worker
–Given priority in “Hierarchy of Controls”
 Ventilation Terminology

Air velocity through the

cross-section of the duct

Air velocity at the hood or slot

opening. n important design
parameter
 Basic Ventilation Equation
Where:
Q = air flow rate (ft3/min)
A = cross-sectional area of duct or opening (ft2)
V = average air velocity (ft/min)

Example:
–If fan is unchanged and number of hoods is
doubled, then the resulting hood face velocities
will be 1/2 original velocity (possibly reducing air
velocity to less-than-needed capture velocity)
Hood Proximity and Exhaust Volume
Use of Enclosures
Direction of Air Movement
Direction of Air Movement
Eq. 3-3