Safety rating for chemical plants: A step in right direction

Chemical industry involves handling of hazardous substances, which if not handled as per prescribed guidelines can lead to disaster. While there are many regulations (pertaining to safety, environment, handling, manufacturing, etc) for the chemical industry in the country, there is no mechanism by which one can know the level of safety preparedness of the manufacturing unit. In order to usher in safety culture in the chemical industry, the Government is planning to introduce safety rating for chemical plants in India.
 
As a first step, on October 7, 2013, the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India, announced the proposal to have a rating system for Safety & Security of Chemical Plants in India.
 
A welcome step
Industry has welcomed the move, which propagates the need for zero accidents. “The industry handles hazardous substances, and, hence, there should be rating system for plants in chemical industry. It will go a long way in promoting the culture of safety in the industry,” said S R Lohokare, Managing Director, National Peroxide Ltd.
 
Agreed B Karthikeyan, Process Safety Expert, “The safety and security rating system is a good beginning. However, a good process safety record depends on the culture of the organisation and this has to be driven by top management on a day to day basis.”
 
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According to Karthikeyan, the key parameters for safety rating for a chemical plant should balance the needs for both occupational health & safety, and process safety. “Any rating system is a snapshot of the organisations safety performance. However, in process safety management, top management commitment and technical competency of the people who run the system are important for achieving incident free performance,” he added.
 
Incentivising safety
The draft Rating System envisages a 2-stage methodology for assessment of safe & secure performance of a facility. The first stage acts as a screening mechanism to filter out organisations that do not meet even the basic requirements of safety & security systems essential for a chemical, petrochemical, and petroleum industry. The second stage is a rigorous assessment to benchmark the various safety & security systems being practiced by the organisation against the framework stipulated in the proposed policy draft.
 
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The proposal for the new safety rating system also suggests that organisations with good safety performance will be incentivised. “This will go a long way in encouraging companies to go for safety ratings, thus helping the industry to improve its safety quotient,” said an industry expert.
 
Karthikeyan believes that the opposite of this must also be implemented - if an organisation that has been rated either 3, 4 or 5 star in the new rating system experiences a reportable accident after the award of the rating and within the periodicity of assessment, then the rating should automatically be downgraded to ‘Fair’. “This will ensure continued top management focus,” he said.
 
Rating, will it prevent disaster?
Inadequate awareness about handling of hazardous chemicals and products may lead to serious accidents with severe consequences on people, property and the environment. The rating system facilitates safe & secure handling, storage and processing of hazardous chemicals and in avoiding accidents and occupational diseases.
 
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But will the safety rating system make chemical plants safer? Karthikeyan answered, “This is a million dollar question. The history of process accidents in the chemical industry indicates that even those organisations with world-class safety management systems do experience fatal accidents or major loss of containment incidents occasionally. But these can be prevented if top management’s eye is on the ball continuously.”
 
As per the National Disaster Management Guidelines (2007) published by the National Disaster Management Authority, India has about 1666 Major Accident Hazard (MAH) units. Of the 602 districts in India, 263 districts have MAH units. Of them, 170 have clusters of more than five MAH units/hazardous/industrial pockets. “Between 2002 to 2006, 25 major chemical accidents have been reported in MAH units, involving 52 deaths and 238 injuries. The accidents involved chemicals like chlorine, ammonia, LPG and other hazardous chemicals,” informed Karthikeyan.
 
Experts believe that safety rating can minimise the chances of accidents if implemented in right spirit. “The safety rating system is a good though belated beginning in India. It is better, it is made mandatory for all MAH units in India,” opined Karthikeyan.