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Case Study: Health & Safety Plan Development
Author discusses the development of a health and safety plan for a industry handling hazardous material. Review by Archana Durai.
The proposed site for investigation is a pesticide plant belonging to a multinational organization founded in 1980. The plant spans in 50 acres in area, situated in an industrial site 25 miles from urban environment. The plant was used to manufacture pesticides and also served as a distribution hub. Operations at site included manufacture of pesticides, storage of chemicals and repackaging of chemicals from railcars and drums. The waste generated in the process was disposed in discharge ponds.
On 3 December 1984, one of the storage containers leaked letting out a thick cloud containing a mixture of methyl isocyanate (MIC) (toxic gas, lethal, highly irritant), chloroform, volatile organic carbon (VOC) and hydrochloric acid (HCl). The MIC, an intermediate product used to make carbaryl, wafted through the atmosphere and killed 8000 people, affecting hundred thousand more – mostly through inhalation & skin contact. Due to this, the plant was shut down and the site was placed under national priority list (NPL) – a published list of hazardous waste sites.
A Government agency was interested in determining the level of contamination and needed an investigation plan to be done to determine the level of contamination at the site. The activity of formulating an investigation plan was given to a private contract.
The purpose of the contract was to provide level of impact caused by the leakage of gases on the environment (air, water and soil), the impact caused by the disposal of chemical to the lagoons (ground water contamination) and measures to be taken to avoid the potential harm to surrounding environment.
The work of this contract includes labor and equipment requirement for conducting the required air monitoring, ground water sampling, well monitoring, and soil sampling.
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