Presented at the Division of Chemical Health and Safety technical sessions at the Denver 2011 American Chemical Society Meeting

1. It's not about chemical safety
Neal Langerman
Advanced Chemical Safety
San Diego, CA

2. Field Operations Safety
• Operations which involve chemicals and fall outside the
normal discipline of “chemical safety”.
• Environmental sampling
• Construction related
• Environmental Site Assessments
• Remediation

3. Environmental Sampling
Slip, trip. Fall
Heat
Stings and bites
Chemical?

4. Construction
Electrical
Slip, trip, fall
Heat
Impact
Toxicity????
PCBs

5. Construction
Sewer gas
Light NAPL (gasoline
derived)
Height
Slip trip. fall
Collapse
Air quality

6. Environmental Site Assessments
Slip trip fall
Heat
Impact
Chemical ????

7. Remediation
Confined space entry
Slip trip fall
Noise
Heat
Impact
Chemical ???
Tank cleaning
(industrial waste water)

8. Activities with significant chemical safety
impacts
Hazards:
Chemical
Slip, trip, fall
Heat
Impact
Noise

9. Pre-Plan

10. Pre-Plan

12. WEST
Offices
4th St. 3rd St.
Northwest Alley
Incident Command (NWA)
Exclusion Zone 1
Southeast Alley
(SEA)
Exit Exit
Evacuation Route Entry/
S Evacuation Route N
Decon 1
O O
U Entry/ Exclusion Zone 5 R
Entry/
T Decon 4/5 Decon 2 T
H FTU H
Exit Exit Exit Exit
Gate Paint Gate
Department
Plating South Plating Plating
(PS) Center (PC) North (PN) Norheast Alley
(NEA)
Exclusion Zone 4
Exclusion Zone 2 Lab
Exit
Northeast
Neighboring Outside
Residences (NEO) Gate
Exclusion
Zone 3 Evacuation
Entry/ Route
EAST Decon 3
Support Zone
Entry/Decon Area
Sand Bagged Visqueen Covered Exclusion Zone

14. High level supervision needed

15. Site Safety Planning
As a minimum the plan must
• Name key personnel
• Task/operations risk analysis
• Employee training
• Personal protective equipment
• Air monitoring program
• Personnel medical monitoring
• Site control measures
• Decontamination procedures

16. Additional Site Safety Issues
• Emergency planning/medical facilities
• Confined space procedures
• Medical surveillance program
• Weather-related problems
• Buddy system
• Communications (visual/verbal)
• Spill containment

17. It's not about chemical safety
• Field operations require realistic hazard recognition and
risk assessment
• Chemical risks usually are lower than occupational risks
• Slip, trip, fall is frequently a high impact risk
• Specialized hazards must be considered
• Overhead power lines
• Heavy equipment movement and noise
• Traffic

18. It's not about chemical safety
• Be very familiar with the activity
• Plan carefully
• Be flexible
• Review activity daily and adapt

19. It's not about chemical safety
• Questions, comments …