Instructions
OSHA issued the Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous ChemicalsStandard (PSM) (29 CFR 1910.119) which contains requirements for the safemanagement of chemicals for companies that exceed OSHA’s threshold quantitiesfor highly hazardous substances. This standard requires the establishment of amanagement program that includes conducting process hazard analyses,establishing detailed operating procedures, and includes other importantrequirements to mitigate the possibility of a serious, chemical relatedincident occurring at the facility.
For this assignment, suppose you are a safety manager at a chemicalmanufacturing facility that manufactures concentrated nitric acid. You haveheard that employees who load nitric acid into rail tank cars have beenchecking the pre-inspection checklist from the rail shipping office instead ofactually inspecting the vehicles with the checklist in hand as required bythe operating procedure. This has not been the first time the shipping crewhas been lax about process safety related work rules. Based on thisscenario, please compose a research paper which includes the followinginformation:
Identify the chemical properties, uses, and primary hazards associatedwith common oxidizers including concentrated nitric acid.
Identify important occupational exposure limits (OELs) associated with atleast 3 common oxidizers.
Identify PSM requirements that would be useful for preventing orminimizing the consequences of a significant oxidizer related incident.
Using the OSHA Standard and your own experience, justify and validate theimportance of the PSM standard to your facility (if it stores andprocesses highly hazardous materials) or a facility that may impact yourcommunity or a near-by community. Examples might include a watertreatment facility that utilizes liquefied chlorine gas, a coal firedpower plant that utilizes liquefied chlorine gas for water treatment,a food processing plant with a large ammonia refrigeration system, afertilizer manufacturing or storage facility, a chemicalmanufacturing facility, etc..
Your research paper must be at least two pages in length. You are required tocite the OSHA Standard 29 CFR 1910.119 in your response as well as at least twoother sources, one of which must come from the CSU Online Library. All sourcesused, including the textbook, must be referenced. Paraphrased and/or quotedmaterials must have accompanying citations in APA format.
