An Unending Search for Safety

By John S. DeMott

The goal: isolated plants, good engineering and careful workers

Every day in the U.S. the chemical and petroleum industries produce about 275 million gal. of gasoline, 2.5 million lbs. of pesticides and herbicides, and nearly 723,000 tons of dangerous wastes. Some 250,000 loads of hazardous materials, chiefly petrochemicals, are shipped across the country by rail or road. Considering the volume of this production and movement, fatal accidents are few, just eight deaths last year. One reason, contends the chemical industry, is its elaborate and expensive safety precautions. Says Bruce Karrh, a physician who is also vice president for safety, health and environmental affairs for Du Pont: "We began by manufacturing explosives, and we have retained our extreme sensitivity for the question of safety." The attentiveness has paid off. The chemical industry's safety record in 1983 showed 5.2 reported occupational injuries per 100 workers, vs. a 7.5 average for all manufacturing.

The quest for safety starts with plant construction. Whenever possible, chemical companies have tried to build factories away from population centers. Especially overseas, those factories often become magnets, attracting other business and housing. Says Jeffrey Leonard, senior associate at the Washington-based Conservation Foundation: "Many plants are located on the outskirts of cities only to have the sites overrun by bursting populations." Union Carbide officials point out that the Bhopal factory was built in the early 1970s on a site surrounded by unused public land, but a community grew up around it. At the .Pemex plant in Mexico, where an explosion killed at least 452 people last month, a city of shanties developed in the 20 years after the facility was constructed.

Petrochemical companies attempt to build safety into their plants from the bottom up. Says Geraldine Cox, vice president and technical director for the Chemical Manufacturers Association, a trade group: "We try to design safety into our systems." That frequently means extensive redundancy-two valves, for example, where only one is needed. It means building storage tanks to withstand pressures and temperatures well above expected maximums. Adds Cox: "It's a process of calculating extremes, then designing beyond that." Every year the association reviews 1,200 engineering standards with an eye to making them sharper and tougher. American Cyanamid, a New Jersey-based chemical company, spent more than $10 million on safety features for just one plant in Pearl River, N.Y., where 4,000 people are employed. Allied, another New Jersey chemical giant, estimates that between 15% and 30% of the capital cost of building or expanding its plants is spent on features designed to assure their safe operation.

Once built, U.S. chemical plants are maintained according to rigorous schedules. Allied says that so far this year its safety systems have undergone 48 reviews by outside consultants, 70 studies by insurance companies and more than 30 inspections by company officials. At plants around the U.S., Du Pont fire-brigade people and local fire fighters train together once a year at the company's expense.

Good engineering and careful inspections, however, are not enough, since the most frequent cause of accidents is human error. Companies and manufacturing groups have a continual program of training films, manuals and classroom instruction to educate workers on safety procedures and what to do in case of accidents. Allied says that as much as one-quarter of a manufacturing supervisor's time is devoted to health, safety and environmental training.

Many of the most serious industrial-safety problems involve the transportation of chemicals. In elaborate detail, the Department of Transportation has compiled regulations for the handling of 3,000 dangerous products. Says Thomas Charlton, chief of the standards division in the department's office of hazardous materials: "We regulate every container from laboratory jars to railroad tank cars."

Trucks used for shipping chemicals must be strong enough to survive a rollover without breaking open, and tank cars a derailment. Hydrogen cyanide, a lethal poison, can be transported only in carriers with 1-in.-thick, high-strength steel bulkheads. When a railroad car carrying petrochemicals overturns, the reason may be loose rails, which can break off from their ties and puncture the front of an oncoming tank car. Therefore, industry rules were established that call for adding more insulation and head shields. Cost: $452 million.

Many regulations for transporting dangerous materials have been born of disasters. In 1978, 23 cars of a slow-moving Louisville and Nashville train derailed in Waverly, Tenn. A day later, a tanker containing propane exploded, killing 16 railroad workers, Government officials and bystanders, and injuring 30 others. Investigators learned that a railroad wheel had broken and had sent the cars off the track. Later, the Government banned that type of wheel from use on trains carrying hazardous materials.

Even with the best equipment and well-trained workers, mishaps can still occur. Since 1972, the Chemical Manufacturers Association has maintained CHEMTREC, the chemical transportation emergency response center, to help local authorities. CHEMTREC staffs a round-the-clock 800-number hotline. Police and fire officials can call to find out what kind of chemical they are dealing with in a spill, and what to do about it. CHEMTREC'S files contain information on 60,000 substances. Its communications lines can link fire fighters and company experts in transcontinental conference calls. For spills of unusually hazardous materials, such as cyanide, chlorine, vinyl chloride and liquefied petroleum gas, chemical manufacturers use CHEMTREC as a communications command center. Dispatchers will then notify the technical team closest to the spill.

While stunned by the Indian disaster, American chemical engineers are eager to learn its causes so that it will not be repeated. Says Du Font's Karrh: "We cannot dismiss a catastrophe like Union Carbide's. We are awaiting the results of the investigation, and you can be sure that we will learn from it all we can." -By John S. DeMott. Reported by Jay Branegan/Washington and Raji Samghabadi/ New York

With reporting by Jay Branegan/Washington, Raji Samghabadi/ New York