A Practical Guide to Hazardous Area Classification
Miami-FL, Feb 16, 2010- If you are looking for a practical guide to Hazardous Area Classification, then look no further.There is a new ebook in a flip page format (just looks like a real book), that has all the essential information that you need to know about area classification.
As you must have known by now, area classification is very important to industries and facilities that handle, store or otherwise process hazardous (flammable liquids and vapors). Also, if a facility is handling large amounts of dusts (like grain dust or coal dust), then it needs to be classified also as a hazardous area, with the code that is applicable to dusts. This classification can be sometimes very intimidating and even confusing, what with the plethora of varying standards and codes. The IEC system and the North American (NEC) systems are covered for vapors, gases, as well as dusts. Actual real life area classification drawings are provided, that really area a help, as compared to the same stale figures that are repeated in all publications.
This guide is a fast start to your area classification exercise. It is always a good safety practice to review the hazardous area classification of an industrial facility, every few years, due to the changes, modifications in equipment or new layouts that have now become a permanent development in most plants. If the area classification was done ages ago, then it is better to review it once again, to confirm that the old classification still holds, or to change it if necessary.
This guide provides a very concise overview and even provides a step by step procedure that was followed while doing an area classification. Definitely a must have book for understanding area classification.
Also, since a trial version is available, you can download and see for yourself immediately. Click here to get it.
Note that you will require a DNL reader to view it (similar to Adobe reader but much better), you can get it from here.
Lax about safety standards in your plant? Get ready to pay heavy fines
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 The Justic Department has reportedly fined MFG Chemical, Inc. $270,000 for a toxic release on April 12, 2004 of extremely hazardous chemicals at the company’s Dalton, Ga., plant.
The toxic release resulted from a runaway reaction at the plant leading to an extreme increase in temperature and causing an explosion that released toxic gases to the atmosphere.
The surrounding community within a half mile radius of the MFG plant was evacuated. Several hundred people, some of which were emergency responders, were treated for exposure at the local hospital. One-half mile of vegetation south of the MFG plant was also burned and much of the aquatic life was killed throughout several miles of surrounding creeks.
The complaint, filed today in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleges that MFG failed to adhere to the Clean Air Act’s general duty of care provision. The general duty of care requirement obligates companies handling extremely hazardous substances to take preventative measures to identify the risks involved and to reduce the risks by providing layers of protection on their equipment such as high temperature alarms, automatic feed shut off mechanisms, adequate pressure relief systems and a vapor release recovery and containment system. The complaint alleges MFG failed to identify the risk of a runaway reaction through its failure to calculate the temperature/time profile and to have appropriate layers of protection in place prior to the incident.
MFG has implemented measures to address conditions at the plant contributing to the explosion and release, including halting the use of allyl alcohol and hiring an experienced safety engineer to oversee its compliance with its Clean Air Act obligations. MFG also paid for the clean up of surrounding contaminated creeks.
Copies of the stipulation of settlement are available on the Department of Justice Web site at: http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html
