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Hazard Reviews2

safety

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8 views

Hazard Reviews2

safety

Uploaded by

arnel.sahidsahid
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How Do I Conduct a Hazard Review?

Start by taking the time to ask yourself these simple risk assessment
questions:

 Why am I doing this?


 What could go wrong?
 How likely is it to happen?
 How could it affect me or others?
 What should I do about it?

If the risk is too great, STOP! Control the risk and prevent the accident!

Step 1: Before you begin the hazard assessment, you will need to know:

 Possible physical and health hazards of all chemicals and hazardous materials used in the procedure,
including flammability, corrosivity, reactivity, toxicity, chronic and acute health hazards, and
Occupational Exposure Limits.
 Hazards related to the lab equipment used in the procedure (vacuum, temperature, etc.)
 Required engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment.
 Waste disposal requirements
 Emergency requirements.

Step 2: You will also need to know what the exposure potential to these
materials are, including:

 Amount of material used


 Dispersion Potential (Volatility, Dustiness)
 Operating Temperature
 Frequency of Use
 Safety controls available

This information will not always be available for all the hazardous materials
and processes in the procedure. It is possible to group these during a risk
assessment based on prior knowledge. This is similar to control banding used
in industry.

 Assign categories of risk to some or all chemicals (carcinogens, reproductive toxics, acutely toxics,
explosives, unstable processes, pyrophoric materials), apparatus and equipment.
 Apparatus under high vacuum, heated oil baths, ultra-centrifuges, NMR equipment and high temperature
ovens are classified as presenting a greater risk compared with other apparatus and equipment.
 Vacuum distillations, work with Class III and IV lasers, work with radioactive materials, work with unstable
or explosive chemicals, handling highly toxic, reproductive hazards and carcinogens are high risk.

Step 3: Evaluate the risk: Hazard + Exposure = Risk

A "What If" analysis can be used to perform the risk assessment. This is a
brainstorming approach in which a group of experienced people familiar with
the process ask questions about possible undesired events. It is a series of
questions that begin "What if.?"
 Each question represents a potential failure in the facility or misoperation of the procedure and is used to
identify hazards, consequences, severity, likelihood, and recommendations.
 The responses are evaluated to determine if a potential hazard can occur.
 If so, the adequacy of available safeguards is weighed against the probability and severity of the scenario
to determine whether modifications to the system should be recommended.
 What-If questions need to be asked about equipment failures, human error, and external events (utility
interruptions).

Additional information on "What If" and risk assessment techniques can be


found in: Handbook of Occupational Safety and Health, Second Edition,
edited by Lou Diberardinis, Chapter 6 Risk Assessment Techniques, Thomas
M. Dougherty, pp. 127-178, John Wiley and Sons, 1999.

If the assessment shows that the risk is too great, consider ways to lower the
hazards, exposures or risks by:

 Substitute hazardous chemical for a less hazardous alternative.


 Reduce the quantity to lessen the intensity of any hazardous condition. Work with a few grams or a
fraction of a gram.
 Purchase and use dilute solutions instead of concentrated solutions.
 Replace equipment requiring 120 volts AC with equipment that will run on 24 volts AC.
 Reduce buildup of static charge by grounding the containers or apparatus involved.
 Use lower temperatures instead of higher temperatures.

Use these forms to help in conducting a hazard assessment for your


procedures:

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