SinodosChemistry

Sustainable growth is the key for future development and survival of our organizations, communities and human kind itself. Although this has been understood in depth my most engineering and developmental pioneers during the last two decades, implementation of basic principles and plans is somewhat delayed, especially in the developing countries. Sustainable development envisions a future that is not built on the next generations’ shoulders; on the contrary, future growth should rely on today’s managerial planning and efforts based on our understanding of future needs and scientific and technological advances.

Environmental, Health and Safety [EHS] practices state a number of rules, plans and principles that should be adopted in order to assure future survival of our financial and living models. These attributes of EHS provide guidelines, examples and rules for the successful implementation of successful sustainable development. EHS is now on the hands of EHS managers and workers of various organizations, communities and governments, depending on the EHS management model of choice of those organizations. The usual approach is a management based on participation of every single individual of an organization in the EHS management systems, as ISO9000 series dictate. According to EHS management systems developed by the ISO organization, management should ‘empower’ employees by providing continuous training, supervision, and by requiring their suggestions, participation and ideas. Newest approaches however, like the rigorous Six-Sigma [SS], assign the planning, maintenance and implementation of EHS management system to EHS experts, named as ‘belts’. In Six Sigma and related approaches these experts are the sole individuals responsible for using advanced statistical tools, EHS software, evaluating levels of conformance and decision making. Six Sigma approaches are mostly adopted by manufacturing global pioneers while ISO9000 series management systems are used widely by most organizations due to their easiness of implementation and maintenance and their lack of need of real EHS experts.

EHS software is coming to aid organizations in their efforts to optimize their working environments and minimize their environmental impact. Carbon footprint reduction is an aim of most current EHS software. Such software products comprise methodologies, databases of national and local regulations, information storage systems and hazards evaluation tools [statistical approaches] that offer solutions required by different organizations.

EHS practices and sustainable growth mainly rely on basic principles, including:

-        Efficient and effective use of resources, including minerals, chemicals, water and others

-        Efficient management of manufacturing and producing activities

-        Optimization of manufacturing processes

-        Creating eco- consciousness among individuals, communities and organizations

-        Developing novel manufacturing and producing technologies

-        Large scale recycling

-        Minimization of wastes [hazardous wastes and energy wastes]

EHS management requires a number of conditions for its successful implementation: EHS trained managers, EHS tools [EHS software, EHS literature, EHS databases] and established policies and procedures. EHS principles are closely interrelated; Environmental impact of a manufacturing [or producing] activity is closely related to Health and Safety impact on its workers and closely residing inhabitants. Highest impact most commonly comes from hazardous wastes and energy wastes from such organizations. In order to minimize such wastes, organizations need to establish and keep policies that ensure:

-        Chemical Inventory keeping

-        Safe practices during working with chemicals and hazardous materials in general

-        Safe ways of discarding of spilled chemicals or control of chemicals leakages

-        Safe ways of treating incidents and accidents

-        Existence of personal protective equipment [PPE] for protection against any possible hazard in the workplace

-        Existence of plans for handling medium and large scale incidents including chemicals related incidents [SEVESO, SEVESO II]

-        Proper training of all personnel on chemical properties [based mainly on corresponding Material Safety Data Sheets – MSDS] of all chemicals present in the workplace [inventory] and on emergency response

-        Proper training of emergency response teams

-        Plant wide provision of information to all employees in relation to chemical risks, plans of evacuation, control measurements, and emergency response.

Chemical inventory is a basic requirement for any organization handling, using or just storing or transporting chemicals. Chemical inventory comprises a list of all chemicals present, including their CAS numbers [others are also attached depending on geographic regions of interest], Safety Data Sheets [SDS], Quantities, exact storage locations and precautions, identification of person responsible for keeping and distributing, and other information deemed important by the organization (for example, in humid climates other restrictions are imposed due to the effects on instability of various groups of chemicals). Chemical inventory is kept electronically via EHS software either on local or cloud resources. Before the emergence of EHS software and cloud storage technologies, organizations had to store and manage a heavy load of information on ‘paper-based’ means or local drives. The emergence of EHS software and off site storage approaches have reduced both the time required and the safety of data managing procedures. Inventory should be visible by chemists and management although it should be editable only by the inventory supervisor.

Safety Data Sheets are the core of any EHS management system. These sheets include all required information related to a chemical’s EHS properties and required handling in the event of any incident or accident. SDS include fifteen sections that offer information on:

-        Chemical properties, compound identification, hazards, composition, safe handling approaches, emergency response methodology and others [sections 1-8]. This information is designed to be quickly understood by individuals in need.

-        Detailed chemical, physical and stability information as well as other scientific information [exposure limits, toxicological limits and doses, specific factors affecting instability and increased hazards] are presented in sections 9-11 and 16. This information is presented in detail in order to provide the EHS managers/ experts with data required in the efficient planning of EHS management system in a chemical lab, chemical manufacturing facility, or any chemical related environment, including transportation.

-        Sections 12 to 15 have been included in the MSDS to provide compatibility with the UN Globally Harmonized System [GHS] of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals.

GHS was adopted by UN in 2003, and OSHA followed in 2009. GHS follow a modified philosophy of contents, including detailed information on:

-        Acute toxicity

-        Irritation effects

-        Various levels of exposure related toxicity

-        Other effects such as mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, and sensitization

-        Physical hazards are covered in detail, paying increased attention to a number of chemical groups such as pyrophoric substances, self heating substances and flammable species.

GHS has been revised several times up to date, in an attempt to always stay up to date with current needs of users and regulations. Considering its growing popularity within national Health and Safety organizations worldwide, it is probable that it will dominate the classifications methodologies in the near future. 

Hazardous Waste management is a part of EHS management in any related organization. Hazardous waste management affects the economics, profile, sustainability and conformance to rules and legislation of chemical handling organizations. The efficient management of any hazardous wastes relies on a group of factors such as:

-        Monitoring of production, presence and relative flows

-        Use of EHS software that includes databases of physical and chemical properties and methodologies of discarding and safe handling

-        Monitoring of emergency situations

-        Training of handling experts

-        Periodical and often evaluation on environmental impact on and off site

-        Continuous sampling and analysis of pollutants at all waste exists

-        Cooperation with local authorities and third party organizations

-        Understanding of the importance of conforming to local and global legislation and guidelines

-        Continuous investigation on pollution control and minimization technologies

Unprecedented advances have occurred in pollution control and minimization technologies during the last decade. These advances can be attributed partly in the advanced in nano chemistry related fields [physical and chemical processes at nano scale] and partly to EHS management importance worldwide recognition. Novel technological advances that have boosted pollution control and minimization efficiency include:

-        Novel Green House Gases [GHG] and Carbon Dioxide adsorbents, including microporous ordered activated carbons, templated microporous carbons, solid amines, doped Metal Organic Frameworks [MOFs], novel Covalent Organic Frameworks [COFs], Microporous and Carbonaceous Materials comprising MOF cores, and many more.

-        Novel organic and hybrid separation membranes that exhibit extreme desired permeabilities and selectivities, allowing almost complete separation of pollutants from air and water streams [and other aggressive streams such as acidic natural gas streams]

-        Novel solvents with extreme eco friendly properties called Ionic Liquids [ILs] that exhibit huge potential for removing and detecting pollutants even at very low concentrations [ppm and ppb] from various streams.

-        Computational power increase that has allowed for (a) a boost in theoretical chemistry investigations of various chemical and physical properties of pollutants and (b) a boost in computational chemistry investigations of various pollution control technologies [physical and chemical adsorption, separation, oxy fuel combustion, reaction pathway optimization, heat transfer control, etc]

It is expected that scientific development in the above mentioned fields will lead to further possibilities in EHS management and its worldwide recognition and acceptance, bringing the future of tomorrow closer to today.