Disaster Management

Chemical Leaks/Spill Over

By Muhammad Idrees MSGSF12M003

Chemical Leaks/Spill Over

As the world is making rapid advancements in the field of industrialization, there are huge chemicals plants dealing with all kinds of chemicals. Some of these chemical plants deal with seemingly simple (non-hazardous) chemicals, while, some other chemicals could be dealing with hazardous materials.

Risks associated with chemicals and chemical industries include:

Risks due to blast of certain equipments involved in large chemical plants, e.g. boiler etc. Risks due to leakage of chemicals wherever they are stored/transported/used in small quantities etc.

Sometimes, seemingly harmless chemicals can also turn out to be hazardous, after they come in contact with other chemicals.

Most common kinds of problems that might be caused due to a chemical leak/plant accident might include:

Blast and explosion Irritation to eyes, throats etc. Pollution and/or poisoning of air, water-bodies etc. Impact on vegetation and animals (including fishes in water-bodies) Difficulty in breathing etc. Fumes Heat and/or fire etc.

The amount of safety measures employed by chemical plants is a function of:

Risk and hazard associated with the specific chemical plants Local laws and regulations Vigilance level of local community Technical competence of the plant managers The companys own standard of ethics vs- shortterm profitability decisions etc.

Some of the other major incidents involving chemical units include:

Chemical warehouse fire in the Delhi Gate area of the city Lahore caused due to sulfur dioxide leak (13th July 2013). A factory was caved-in due to boiler explosion in Saidpur Multan Road Lahore last year. Two blasts in chemical plant in Japan on 23rd April 2012. Contamination of the Songhua River in China following an explosion at the Jilin Chemical Industrial Company plant in Novement 2005. Gasoline pipeline explosion at Ihado in Nigeria in May 2006 Explosion at Azote de France (AZF) factory near Toulouse, France which released Ammonium Nitrate in September 2001

Chemical warehouse fire in the Delhi Gate area of the city Lahore caused due to sulfur dioxide leak (13th July 2013).

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According to the findings of the report, the fire was caused due to a sulfur dioxide leak at the warehouse. The report further states that most of the chemical warehouses in the area are illegal, while all of them are not equipped to deal with emergency situations.

A factory was caved-in due to boiler explosion in Saidpur Multan Road Lahore last year.
Last year a boiler was exploded in a factory which was completed caved in into the earth situated at Saidpur Multan road Lahore. Most of the workers of this factory were died and very few of them were left alive.

Two blasts in chemical plant in Japan on 23rd April 2012.

See video which is given with this document.

Contamination of the Songhua River in China following an explosion at the Jilin Chemical Industrial Company plant in Novement 2005. Gasoline pipeline explosion at Ihado in Nigeria in May 2006 Explosion at Azote de France (AZF) factory near Toulouse, France which released Ammonium Nitrate in September 2001

The preparedness for people around large chemical plants and storage facilities include:
Be aware as to what are the kind of chemicals being used/produced/stored/handled at the facility Besides knowing the names of these various chemicals, the people should also learn, the toxicity level of these chemicals, their important properties, including reactivity with other chemicals found/used/stored in the nearby areas Be aware of the various processes/machines etc. involved which could create a blast/explosion etc.

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Installing a mechanism for alerting, when something goes wrong. This is for the factory to alert the local community that something has gone wrong. This could be as simple as siren based system Installing a mechanism for the community to be able to alert the factory staff, in case they notice something going wrong (e.g. unusual discharge from chimney and/or any other kind of liquid/gaseous vent/outlet etc.). This could be as simple as the phone nos. for the important factory department being available easily with many people in the community.

If you are still not aware of what kind of chemical is involved, it is best to stay away. Some general rules of thumb include:
If its a gaseous substance, stay upwind. The gaseous element wont reach you If its a liquid substance, stay upslope. The liquid element wont reach you If its some kind of explosive, a good rule of thumb would be: Stretch your active hand (right for most people) in front of you. Fold the palm into a fist, but, put your thumb up. Bring this thumb in the line between your eye (one eye closed, the thumb is in the line with the other eye) and the incident. If the thumb can cover the incident fully, you are most probably at a safe distance from the hazard. Please remember that this is a general rule of thumb. There might be some specifically vigorous events (say: nuclear reactions etc.) where this rule wont work in the sense that a false sense of security might be created.