Gas Safety Do's and Dont's

1. GAS SAFETY IN
HAZARDOUS INDUSTRIES
Syed Najaf Ali Project on gas
Safety At ROURKELA STEEL PLANT

2. What is a hazardous
industry? ? ?
Hazardous industry can be defined
as an enterprise engaged in
hazardous process which may cause
adverse effect on health of the
people and the environment unless
special care is taken in relation
to its raw materials, by-
products, waste materials and the
effluents thereof.
Contd. .

3. What is a hazardous industry? ?
?
It is an industrial enterprise in which
i. Dangerous, flammable, and/or toxic
chemicals are used or manufactured.
ii. Toxic emissions are released or
generated from such business
iii.Large quantities of energy or energy
forms are used.
iv. Explosive or highly volatile substances
are used and/or manufactured.
v. Poisonous or lethal gases and/or
substances are used or manufactured

4. In Short . . .
Any industry /
enterprise
handling/dealing with
hazardous substances may
be put under the
category of hazardous
industry, as per the
Environment (Protection)
Act, 1986

5. E(P) Act, 1986 came
into existence mainly
due to:
MIC leak at Bhopal, MP
in Dec 1984
Oleum gas leak at Delhi
in Dec 1985

6. Bhopal Gas Tragedy
― Occurred on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984
at the Union Carbide India Ltd. (UCIL)
pesticide plant at Bhopal
― A leak of methyl isocyanate gas
resulted in the exposure of hundreds of
thousands of people.
― Immediate official death toll was 2259,
and Govt. of MP confirmed a total death
of 3787 related to gas release
― Other estimate says 3000 died within a
week, another 8000 have died from gas
related diseases.

7. Bhopal Gas Tragedy
― A Govt. affidavit in 2006 stated
more than 5.5 lakh injuries were
caused by gas leak
― As many as 25,000 deaths have
been attributed to the disaster
in recent estimates
― The Bhopal Disaster is considered
to be one of the world’s worst
industrial catastrophes

8. Bhopal Gas tragedy

9. Oleum Gas Leak at
Delhi
― Oleum gas leak occurred on 4th and
6th Dec. 1985 from Shriram Food and
Fertilizers Ltd. complex at Delhi
― This leakage occurred soon after the
infamous Bhopal gas leak and created
lot of panic in Delhi
― One person died and few were
hospitalised
― The company was engaged in
manufacture of caustic chlorine
including its by-products like soap,
glycerin, and technical hard oil.

10. List of hazardous
Industries, as per E(P)
Act, 1986
1. Chemical industry like:
― Inorganic manufacturing Industries
viz. Acids, alkalis, prod. of
mineral salts etc.
― Organic manufacturing industries
viz. Synthetic plastics, Synthetic
detergents, pesticides, phenol,
organic solvents etc.
― Miscellaneous viz. calcium carbide,
Aluminium dust etc.
― Paints, enamels, colours etc.

11. List of hazardous
Industries, as per E(P)
Act, 1986
2.Petroleum products like:
― Crude oil refining, naphtha
cracking etc.
― Carbon black manufacture
― Lubricating and fuel oils
― Petroleum coke
Contd. . .

12. List of hazardous
Industries, as per E(P)
Act, 1986
3. Metallurgical industries:
― Sintering, smelting
― Blast furnaces
4. Leather and other animal
products
5. Manufacture of explosives &
ammunitions
6. Manufacture of cement and
refractory

13. List of hazardous
Industries, as per E(P)
Act, 1986
7. Fertilizers
― Nitrogenous and phosphatic
fertilizer manufacturing on large-
scale
8. Textiles
― Oil sheets and waterproof clothing
― Wool spinning
9. Foods
― Alcohol distilleries and Breweries
― Sugar refining

14. Commonly found
gases/vapours in
hazardous industries
Coke Oven gas Carbon dioxide
Converter Gas Benzene
Blast furnace gas Toluene
Mixed gas Carbon disulphide
Nitrogen Chlorine
Hydrogen Hydrogen sulphide
Ammonia Nitric acid
Contd. . .

15. Commonly found
gases/vapours in
hazardous industries
Nitrogen dioxide Phosphoric acid
Nitrous fumes Sulphur dioxide
Petroleum
hydrocarbon
Water vapour
Phenol Acetylene
Phosgene

16. Hazards of Industrial
gases
Potential hazards of
industrial gases can be
categorized into:
> Poisoning
> Asphyxiant
> Fire
> Explosion

17. Safe Operating Limits
Safe Operating limits of these
gases are indicated by following
terms:
i) Threshold Limit Value (TLV)
ii) Explosive limits (Lower & Upper)
iii)Auto-ignition temperature

18. Gas/Vapour TLV (ppm) Lower
Explosive
Limit
(% by
volume)
Ignition
temperature
(0C)
1. Acetylen
e
- 2.5 305
2. Ammonia 25 15.0 630
3. Benzene 10 1.2 555
4. Carbon
dioxide
5000 - -
5. Carbon
monoxide
50 12.5 605
6. Carbon
disulphi
de
20 1.0 102

19. Gas/Vapour TLV (ppm) Lower
Explosive
Limit
(% by
volume)
Ignition
temperature
(0C)
8. Hydrogen - 4.0 560
9. Hydrogen
sulphide
10 4.3 270
10. Methane - 5.0 595
11. Nitric
acid
2 - -
12. Phenol 5 1.7 605
13.
Phosgene
0.1 - -
14. Propane 1000 2.1 470

20. Prevention and control
a. Design
→ Understand the process clearly
→ Conduct Hazard Analysis (HAZAN)
→ Think wild
→ Devise Hazards Operability
(HAZOP) study
i) Evacuation
ii) Purging
iii)Public address system
→ Safety requirements

21. Prevention and Control
b. Process
→ Monitoring parameters (flow,
pressure, temperature, level etc.)
→ Signal transmission, data storage,
retrieval
→ Historical trend, alarm (audio-
visual)
→ Automation, process control

22. Prevention and Control
c. Operating disciplines
→ Preparing and following up
i) Standard Operating Practices
(SOP)
ii)Standard Maintenance Practices
(SMP)
iii)Standard Safety Protocols
→ Review the above at regular
intervals and revise, if
required

23. Prevention and Control
c. Operating disciplines
→ Involve all concerned agencies
before taking up any job
→ Conduct refresher course at
regular intervals
→ Prepare and display MSDS at all
important places
→ Conduct mock drills
i) On-site ii) Off-site

24. Emergency Situation
Can be handled by:
― Military-type preparedness
― Under one Commander
― With Arjun’s vision
― Without creating panic and
― With the help of everyone
around you

25. In short, to ensure gas
safety in Hazardous
industries
Have a clear concept
Think beyond where others
can’t reach
Develop a competent team
Always remember you are in a
Chakra-Vyuh
Never lose sight of success
and then you will