Numerous injuries and fatalities
in chemical laboratories in the
United States over the past few decades have suggested the need to
take measures that go beyond mere compliance and toward promoting
safer practices. A collaboration between the Center for Innovative
and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources and Purdue Process
Safety and Assurance Center assessed the current safety culture in
chemical laboratories at their academic and industrial partners by
conducting safety surveys. Key areas of improvement were identified
from the responses to the safety surveys, which if addressed can mitigate
the severity of safety incidents or prevent them from occurring. The
findings indicate that a majority of the respondents from academia
conduct comprehensive lab safety trainings (∼80%), have standard
operating procedures for potentially hazardous activities (∼90%),
regularly discuss safety-related issues during lab group meetings
(∼85%), or are involved in routine safety inspections (∼85%).
However, fewer of the academic respondents were aware of a database
for safety incidents in their departments (∼50%) or utilized
a standard safety review process for new experimental setups or modifications
to existing setups (∼70%). The results from industry respondents
suggest that improvements to commonly used hazard evaluation tools
and increased accessibility to comprehensive databases can increase
the effectiveness of hazard evaluation processes. Additionally, recommended
best practices and guidelines are provided for researchers within
the scientific community to develop key safety documentation that
will both strengthen the safety culture and improve safety performance
in their laboratories. Taken together, this safety initiative highlights
the much-needed attention and effort that are beneficial to promote
improved safety culture within academic and industrial chemical laboratories.
In the past several years, the U.S.
Chemical Safety Board has found
an increase in the frequency of laboratory accidents and injuries.
An independent survey of industrial and academic laboratories by the
authors indicated the shortage of documentation on best practices
and lack of free and user-friendly risk assessment tools to be some
of the key reasons for the occurrence of safety incidents. Thus, development
of a framework to document, assess, and mitigate hazards is a critical
starting point for ensuring safe laboratory practices. To address
this requirement, Reactive Hazards Evaluation Analysis and Compilation
Tool (RHEACT), an online platform to compile and scrutinize hazards-related
information, was developed. When planning an experiment, the researchers
provide RHEACT: (1) information about the chemicals involved in the
reaction, in the form of Safety Data Sheets (SDS), and (2) operating
parameters of the reaction. Through the user-supplied SDS, an operational
hazard matrix and a chemical compatibility matrix are generated. In
addition, adiabatic temperature rise of the reaction is estimated
to ensure that the chemistry is within user-controlled bounds. The
user is provided with a broad initial evaluation of potential hazards
and is notified of safety concerns associated with the reaction before
conducting the experiment. We believe that this user-friendly online
tool will help engender a safer laboratory working environment.
The safety and security of liquefied natural gas (LNG)
facilities
has prompted the need for continued study of LNG mitigation systems.
Water-spray curtains are widely recognized as an effective measure
for dispersing LNG vapor clouds (
Martinsen
Martinsen
Hydrocarbon Process.197756260). Currently, there are no engineering guidelines
available for water-curtain applications in the LNG industry because
of a lack of understanding of the complex interactions between the
LNG vapor cloud and water droplets. This work applies computational
fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to investigate the dominant mechanisms
observed in the forced dispersion of LNG vapor using upward-oriented
full-cone spray nozzles. An Eulerian–Lagrangian approach was
used for the continuous and discrete phases to simulate the energy
and momentum exchange between the two phases. Discussed are the physical
parameters that are essential inputs to the CFD simulation of the
water spray–LNG system. The prediction results were also validated
with the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center’s LNG
outdoor experimental data collected in March 2009 at the Brayton Fire
Training Field. On the basis of these findings, dominant mechanisms
that govern the effectiveness of water spray in the forced dispersion
of LNG vapor clouds are discussed.
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