Question #1
Hazards posed when one interacts with hazardous materials available at the refinery and related facilities, including the by-products, incident fire and release of acidic gas.
Crude oil consists of petroleum hydrocarbons. When the products are discharged into the environment through leakage, spillage, or combustion; physical, chemical as well as biological activities occur. The aliphatic compounds in crude oil react with oxidizing compounds like nitric acid, oxygen or heat; they burn to generate carbon II Oxide and water.
Sulfur in crude oil burns in air to produce sulfur dioxide. At about 400 – 500 ppm, exposure to sulfur oxide is considered lethal. Also, sulfur dioxide dissolves in water to form sulfurous acid, a strong corrosive acid that causes burns in all entry points that are listed in the OSHA’s database of Hazardous Chemicals.
The chief products of refinery: naphtha, gasoline (petrol) diesel and kerosene are vulnerable to fire. The products can ignite easily and cause infernos or explosion.
Polythene terephthalate (PETE) a typically recycled plastic burns when it is exposed to the igniter. It produces large amounts of smoke, carbon II oxide, and other poisonous gasses and fumes such as hydrogen chloride (HCl), ammonia (NH3), sulfur IV oxide, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and hydrogen cyanide.
When the acidic gasses combine with atmospheric clouds, they form acidic rains which are poisonous to the living organisms. Sulfur dioxide, in particular, is very critical. Sulfur dioxide from burning petroleum produces sulfurous acid and sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid causes corrosion of metallic objects and health problems such as irritation of eyes, respiratory system, gastrointestinal system, and the skin. The acid is also associated with the larynx, lung cancer as well as Para nasal sinus.
The extremely exothermic reaction can result in huge explosions. For instance, shrapnel from the explosions can travel very fast to far places for example, to the cities, traffics, and cause piercings on the body hence, causing fatal injuries or even deaths (Sanders, 2005, p. 81).
Question #2
Actions that must be taken by UIC to counter this incident
The emergency personnel must be fully prepared to counter any release of chemicals. Particularly, the incident commander must be knowledgeable of the reactivity of all the chemicals at the incident scene. According to OSHA, a Unified Incident Command (UIC) is defined as the structure that coordinates the Incident Commanders of all large enterprises that take part in incidence to align an efficient reaction while performing their jurisdictional duties at the same time. The lead refinery representative is entitled to ensure the safety of the responders and at the same time minimize the consequence of the event on the surrounding. The representative is responsible for conserving the environment and the property as they try to achieve the aims of the incident response.
At the very initial response, the UIC must inform the right authorities. In this case study, when harmful materials are released into the environment, or oil spillage has occurred, the IC must inform the National Response Center. The commander then establishes the appropriate command and structure after the proper authorities have been informed. From this stage, an assessment is conducted, which encompasses:
Confirmation of critical information about the event,
Assuring the scene of the incident is secure,
Assessing the incident situation, actions, safety measures, worst-case potential and the resources needed, and
Building the right IMS structure.
After assessing the incident, the right response is conducted. The world oil and gas industry organization formed to conserve the environment and social affairs has laid down guidelines and incident direction and emergency reaction. In particular, it spells rules on oil spillage and response actions.
Question #3
When a polymerization unit is immersed in a fire, my response will be affected:
A polymer is described as a substance made up of repeated units referred as monomers that are categorized in high molar mass ranging from millions of grams/formula unit. The process of merging these monomers together to create a polymer is termed as polymerization (Martinez, 2012, p. 19). Plastics are products of polymers. Most plastics used all over the world are cheap but flammable. The flammability is the ability of the substance to ignite easily and get combusted at great speed with huge inferno, an indicator of a fire hazard.
In this case study, it can be seen that the plant for recycling plastic is situated along the fence of the refinery plant when combusted, it would lead to serious damages as well as health hazards over the people living in the residential areas next to the plant. In this case, the community lives just 1000 ft north of the plant.
Question #4
Corrective actions that should be conducted by the refinery to avoid the occurrence of the incident
References
Hopkins, A. (2008). Failure to Learn: The BP Texas City refinery disaster. Sydney, N.S.W: CCH Australia.
Martinez, Y. (2012). Refinery fire incident: Tosco Avon Refinery. N.C., Information Age Pub.
Sanders, R. E. (2005). Chemical process safety: Learning from case histories. Amsterdam: Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann.
