Citation

Ahn MS, Lee HE, Cheon KS, Joo HG, Ochang Chemical Safety Community, Son BS. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020; 17(6): e1927.

Affiliation

Department of Environmental Health Science, Soonchunhyang University, 22, Soonchunhyang-ro, Sinchang-myeon, Asan-si, Chungcheongnam-do 31538, Korea.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph17061927

PMID

32188000

Abstract

To prevent chemical accidents, the United States (US), the European Union (EU), and the Republic of Korea operate legal systems, such as risk management plans (RMP) and process safety management (PSM), to prevent chemical accidents inside and outside the workplace. The duty to implement chemical accident prevention systems and the criteria for being a target workplace are dependent on the designated quantities of chemicals handled. A chemical accident prevention system is obligatory for storage and handling of legally declared chemicals in the workplace. Benzene, toluene, xylene, methyl ethyl ketone, and ethyl acetate are all flammable materials that are commonly used as solvents in the chemical industry. These substances are grouped into flammable substances groups in the US and the EU, and are managed with the same designated quantities. However, in Korea, the designated quantities are: benzene, 10,000 kg; toluene, xylene, and methyl ethyl ketone, 200,000 kg; and ethyl acetate, 20,000 kg. In order to evaluate the validity of the chemical quantities, fire explosion scenarios during chemical accidents were modeled using two modeling programs, Areal Location of Hazardous Atmosphere (ALOHA) and Korea Off-Site Risk Assessment Supporting Tool (KORA) software, under the same conditions. Similar damage radii were found for the five flammable materials with both pool fires and vapor cloud explosions (VCE). Based on these damage radii, the designated quantities of five substances were calculated and included in the range (10,000 to 13,500 kg). The results show that current designated quantities underestimate chemical substances, and for the prevention of accidents and post-management after chemical accidents, it is necessary to manage flammable substances under one grouping.

Language: en

Keywords

Areal Location of Hazardous Atmosphere (ALOHA); Korea Off-Site Risk Assessment Supporting Tool (KORA); flammable substances; pool fire; process safety management (PSM); quantity of chemicals requiring preparation; risk management plan (RMP); vapor cloud explosion (VCE)