In This Edition: (Click on Bullet to Jump to Story)

  EPA News:  SOCMA Adopts SVA Methodology

  OSHA News:  OSHA Revises Exit Route Standard

  CSB News:  CSB Calls for Chlorine Hose Validation after Accident

   Industry Focus:   
          1.  AcuSafe Special Feature:  Preventing the Proliferation of Chemical Weapons – A New Mutual Responsibility

          2.  Georgia-Pacific Accident Findings Released, Faults Sewer Design

          3.  CSB to Investigate First Chemical Corp. Explosion

    Resources:  
           1.  PSM Interpretations - Management of Change

           2.  Revised Program Available for "Hazards XVII" Symposium

           3.  Baltimore Passes Landmark Chemical Safety Legislation

  Incident News:  
           1.  Monthly Summary of Incidents, September 21 - December 15, 2002

  Events Update:  
           1.  UMIST "Hazards XVII- Process Safety - Fulfilling our responsibilities" Symposium, March 25-27, 2002 Manchester UK

   Other:  

           1.  AcuTech Announces 2003 ATI Course Offerings

SOCMA Adopts SVA Methodology
Members of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) made a commitment to voluntary site security practices with the formal adoption December 10 of the Security Code of Management Practices as part of SOCMA's Responsible Care® program. To help member firms implement these new security practices, which are now a condition of membership, SOCMA has developed and made available online a chemical site Security Vulnerability Analysis (SVA) methodology and a computer-based model to help enhance existing security efforts at batch and specialty chemical manufacturing facilities.

Complete text of this press release is available at SOCMA's website at: http://www.socma.org/HeadlineNews/sva_launch.htm

OSHA Revises Exit Routes Standard
Requirements for exiting buildings quickly during an emergency have been rewritten in a user-friendly format that is easier to understand, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has announced. The revised Exit Routes, Emergency Action Plans, and Fire Prevention Plans Standard became effective on December 7, 2002.

 For full text of  the OSHA press release, click here or go to:  http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=9810&p_text_version=FALSE

CSB Calls for Chlorine Hose Validation
Finding that the use of an incorrect hose led to an August 2002 chlorine leak near St. Louis, a new safety advisory issued today by the CSB calls on other chlorine users to verify the materials of construction of their chlorine transfer hoses. The advisory grows out of an August 14, 2002, chlorine release at DPC Enterprises in Festus, Missouri. In that incident, a transfer hose failed catastrophically during the unloading of a chlorine rail car. Due to the malfunction of an automatic shutdown system, the leak continued unabated for several hours, eventually causing the release of about 48,000 pounds of toxic chlorine gas. Sixty-three people, including workers and nearby residents, sought hospital treatment as the result of the leak.

Full text of this press release can be found at:  http://www.chemsafety.gov/news/2002/n20021201.htm, and the associated safety alert can be found at: http://www.chemsafety.gov/news/2002/docs/ChlorineHoseSafetyAdvisory.pdf

AcuSafe Special Feature:  Preventing the Proliferation of Chemical Weapons – A New Mutual Responsibility
Facilities handling hazardous chemicals now have to consider a possible threat of attack with the purpose of causing an intentional release to the environment and great harm to exposed populations. But this is not the only issue to be evaluated in Security Vulnerability Analyses. One of the unfortunate realities of terrorism is that there is the potential that certain chemicals can be misused to make chemical weapons of mass destruction. Any business that manufactures, stores, processes, or handles chemical substances that could be used for that purpose has a heightened responsibility to prevent the sale or theft of these materials to potential terrorists.

Find this AcuSafe feature at  http://www.acusafe.com/Newsletter/Stories/1202NewsProliferation.htm.

Georgia-Pacific Accident Findings Released, Faults Sewer Design
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board voted 5-0 on November 20 to approve the final staff report into the root causes of the January 16, 2002, hydrogen sulfide gas leak at the Georgia-Pacific Naheola pulp and paper mill in Pennington, Alabama, which took the lives of two workers and injured another eight. The Board concluded that plant management had not followed good engineering and process safety practices when in 1995 they connected a drain from a tank truck unloading area into an acidic process sewer system. The plant was then owned by the James River Corporation, which later merged with Fort Howard and was acquired by Georgia-Pacific.

The Board recommended that Georgia-Pacific Corporation review sewer system safety at all its plants to prevent the inadvertent mixing of potentially reactive chemicals - including those that can form toxic gases.   Full text of this CSB Press Release can be found at http://www.chemsafety.gov/news/2002/n20021122.htm, and the full report can be downloaded from the CSB website at http://www.chemsafety.gov/news/2002/docs/DS-GP_11_25_02.pdf

CSB to Investigate First Chemical Corp. Explosion
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) will conduct a full investigation of the October 13th distillation tower explosion at First Chemical Corp. near Pascagoula, Mississippi, where CSB investigators are continuing to conduct interviews and collect other data.

More details are available from the CSB website at http://www.chemsafety.gov/#ChemFirst

PSM Interpretations - Management of Change
AcuSafe presents the twelfth installment in a series of feature articles entitled "PSM Interpretations."  In this edition of AcuSafe News, we present a series of questions  regarding applicability and interpretations surrounding Management of Change   Management of change is a highly vital element in any process safety program. Many of the catastrophic accidents over the past few decades can be traced, in large part, to a management of change system that was not in palace or was not functional (e.g., Flixborough, Bhopal).

Find this AcuSafe feature at  http://www.acusafe.com/Newsletter/Stories/1202NewsPart12Interpretations.htm.

Revised Program Available for "Hazards XVII" Symposium
The organizers of the "Hazards XVII" Symposium scheduled for March 25-27, 2003, in Manchester, UK.   Full text of the program can be found at http://www.acusafe.com/Newsletter/Stories/28063 - HazarfXVII Programm.pdf.

Baltimore Passes Landmark Chemical Safety Legislation
Before an audience of public safety officials, municipal leaders, and industry representatives, the Mayor of Baltimore signed into law an ordinance to strengthen the security and safety of hazardous materials at manufacturing facilities in the city. The landmark ordinance, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, was developed with the cooperation and support of the Maryland Chemistry and Industrial Technology Alliance (MDCITA).

Full text of the MDCITA press release can be found at can be found at http://www.acusafe.com/Newsletter/Stories/CITAPressRlease102802.doc

Monthly Summary of Incidents, September 21, 2002 - December 15, 2002
We collect stories about major spills and releases from around the globe. This month's installment (http://www.acusafe.com/Newsletter/Stories/1202News-MonthlyIncidents.htm) summarizes a total of 22 incidents brought to our attention between September 21, 2002 and December 15, 2002. Most of the incidents covered have caused significant injury, deaths, or major property damage. Accidents in Romania, U.K.,  Japan, Nigeria, France, Bulgaria, Russia, Thailand, Columbia, India, Germany, Canada, Malaysia, Morocco, Mexico, Italy,  and the U.S. are represented.  We welcome input to this effort by submitting summaries of other notable events to editor@acusafe.com.

The aim of this symposium is to bring together international experts and practitioners in both process safety and environmental protection to present and discuss their work. The symposium will seek to raise awareness of these issues and provide information about new and recent legislation in these fields." For more information go to http://www.icheme.org/events/hazardsxvii/ 

To see the complete 2003 ATI course schedule, please click here or go to:  http://www.acutech-consulting.com/training/index.html