Business Memo
Re: OIS operations project
There are a lot of pharmaceutical companies, doing great job in manufacturing lifesaving drugs. A person working in such an organization would have to come in contact with a lot of chemicals. Also, waste generated from such industry is more hazardous, since most of these are chemical and liquid waste. (As well as gasses)
This is a report of how the department of health, safety and environment handles all these waste products, and provides with a clean environment surrounding the organization.
REPORT ON A TOUR TO A PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
My contact person was Mr. Thomas Gregory, who explained to me that waste management, was a part of a department called as ‘S.H.E’ or the ‘safety, health and environment’. This department, S.H.E deals with all issues of safety of a person, health and the environment, wherein the waste management comes in.
According to Thomas, the wastes generated from a pharmaceutical industry or the medicine units, come from many departments, and each type of waste is treated separately.
They call all these wastes ‘effluent’, when they are liquid wastes. There are huge treatment systems employed, to treat these and make it completely harmless when they open it up to the nearby fields.
These treated wastes, are used by nearby farmers, for irrigation purpose. Before release of the ‘treated water’ to the environment, these are tested in a laboratory, set up especially in the S.H.E department, to check many parameters. Only if they are met with (parameters are satisfactory), the water is released.
Each and every activity is dealt with specialized engineers, appointed for that particular purpose. A person handling laboratory is a science graduate or post-graduate, specialized in the chemical sciences, while a person operating the treatment plant has a diploma in engineering.
Though most of the machinery used were fascinating, and much like those shown in science fiction movie, they were not as gleaming as the movie ones. When asked about it, Thomas was happy to explain that these machineries come in contact with so much of ‘waste’ that they get corroded easily. Care is usually taken to alternate these machineries with a certain time frame, for their maintenance.
Thomas also explained that waste is of two kinds, a liquid one and a solid one.
For solid wastes, he took me to a machine (a huge one!) he called it ‘Incinerator’, where they burn those solid wastes, which are quite harmful, if stored. Some of the solid wastes though, are treated, and used as manure. (not sure what kind of wastes)
There were many processes and equipment’s, which, though was explained quite well, were beyond my comprehension. Apart from this, the safety department deals with all kinds of safety equipment’s like goggles, safety hats/helmets, shoes, etc. and make sure that those entire person working in the specified area has these equipment’s with them.
Conclusion:
It was a very informative tour, and I learnt that apart from manufacturing, waste management also plays a very important role in the all-around development of a company. The license to operate, which each company needs, is obtained after a visit to their waste management facilities.
