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Disaster Management 

Chemical Leaks/Spill Over

By Muhammad Idrees

MSGSF12M003

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Chemical Leaks/Spill Over

• As the world is making rapid advancements in

the field of industrialization, there are huge

chemicals plants – dealing with all kinds of 

chemicals. Some of these chemical plants deal

with seemingly simple (non-hazardous)

chemicals, while, some other chemicals could

be dealing with hazardous materials.

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Risks associated with chemicals and

chemical industries include:

• Risks due to blast of certain equipments involved in

large chemical plants, e.g. boiler etc.

•

Risks due to leakage of chemicals wherever they arestored/transported/used in small quantities etc.

Sometimes, seemingly harmless chemicals canalso turn out to be hazardous, after they come

in contact with other chemicals.

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Most common kinds of problems that might be caused

due to a chemical leak/plant accident might include:

• Blast and explosion

• Irritation to eyes, throats etc.

• Pollution and/or poisoning of air, water-bodies

etc.• Impact on vegetation and animals (including

fishes in water-bodies)

•

Difficulty in breathing etc.• Fumes

• Heat and/or fire etc.

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The amount of safety measures employed by

chemical plants is a function of:

• Risk and hazard associated with the specific chemical

plants

• Local laws and regulations

• Vigilance level of local community

• Technical competence of the plant managers

• The company’s own standard of ethics –vs- short-term profitability decisions etc.

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Some of the other major incidents

involving chemical units include: Chemical warehouse fire in the Delhi Gate area of the city

Lahore caused due to sulfur dioxide leak (13th July 2013).

A factory was caved-in due to boiler explosion in SaidpurMultan Road Lahore last year.

Two blasts in chemical plant in Japan on 23rd

April 2012.  Contamination of the Songhua River in China – following an

explosion at the Jilin Chemical Industrial Company plant inNovement 2005.

Gasoline pipeline explosion at Ihado in Nigeria in May 2006

Explosion at Azote de France (AZF) factory near Toulouse,France which released Ammonium Nitrate in September2001

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Chemical warehouse fire in the Delhi Gate

area of the city Lahore caused due to

sulfur dioxide leak (13

th

July 2013). 

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• According to the findings of the report, the

fire was caused due to a sulfur dioxide leak at

the warehouse. The report further states that

most of the chemical warehouses in the area

are illegal, while all of them are not equipped

to deal with emergency situations.

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A factory was caved-in due to boiler explosion

in Saidpur Multan Road Lahore last year.

• Last year a boiler was exploded in a factory which

was completed caved in into the earth situated at

Saidpur Multan road Lahore.

• Most of the workers of this factory were died and

very few of them were left alive.

bl h l l

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Two blasts in chemical plant in Japan

on 23rd April 2012. 

• See video which is given with this document.

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Contamination of the Songhua River in China

 – following an explosion at the Jilin ChemicalIndustrial Company plant in Novement 2005.

Gasoline pipeline explosion at Ihado in Nigeria

in May 2006Explosion at Azote de France (AZF) factory

near Toulouse, France which released

Ammonium Nitrate in September 2001

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The preparedness for people around large

chemical plants and storage facilities

include:• Be aware as to what are the kind of chemicals being

used/produced/stored/handled at the facility

• Besides knowing the names of these various

chemicals, the people should also learn, the toxicity

level of these chemicals, their important properties,

including reactivity with other chemicals

found/used/stored in the nearby areas• Be aware of the various processes/machines etc.

involved which could create a blast/explosion etc.

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• Installing a mechanism for alerting, when somethinggoes wrong. This is for the factory to alert the localcommunity that something has gone wrong. This couldbe as simple as siren based system

• Installing a mechanism for the community to be able toalert the factory staff, in case they notice somethinggoing wrong (e.g. unusual discharge from chimneyand/or any other kind of liquid/gaseous vent/outlet

etc.). This could be as simple as the phone nos. for theimportant factory department being available easilywith many people in the community.

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If you are still not aware of what kind of 

chemical is involved, it is best to stay away.

Some general rules of thumb include:

• If it’s a gaseous substance, stay upwind. The gaseous element wontreach you

• If it’s a liquid substance, stay upslope. The liquid element wontreach you

• If its some kind of explosive, a good “rule of thumb” would be: Stretch your active hand (“right” for most people) in front of you.Fold the palm into a fist, but, put your thumb up. Bring this thumbin the line between your eye (one eye closed, the thumb is in theline with the other eye) and the incident. If the thumb can coverthe incident fully, you are most probably at a safe distance from the

hazard. Please remember that this is a general rule of thumb. Theremight be some specifically vigorous events (say: nuclear reactionsetc.) – where this rule wont work – in the sense that a false sense of security might be created.