Articles Tagged with ''chemical industry''

Employees inside chemical manufacturing plants are exposed to some of the most unforgiving work conditions in the industrial sector.

The Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) has established a new professional designation for engineers and practitioners working in the chemicals, petrochemicals and affiliated industries. The CCCPS Certified Process Safety Professional certification allows employers to verify an employee or job-seeker’s proficiency in, and ongoing commitment to, process safety principles and practices and to verify that they are trained and invested in the latest process safety techniques and knowledge.

All over America and across greater Houston, capital of the nation's petrochemical industry, hundreds of chemicals pose serious threats to public safety at facilities that may be unknown to most neighbors and are largely unpoliced by government at all levels, a yearlong Houston Chronicle (http://bit.ly/1VSg45P) investigation reveals.

The Maryland Department of the Environment says Memphis-based Verso Corp. will pay a $10,000 settlement for two chemical spills that tainted the Potomac River last fall. Agency spokesman Jay Apperson said the amount is the same as a fine the agency proposed in February.

OSHA calls it “The standard that gave workers the right to know, now gives them the right to understand” and its next big deadline is coming up on June 1, 2016.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to revise its Risk Management Program (RMP) regulations to improve chemical process safety, assist local emergency authorities in planning for and responding to accidents, and improve public awareness of chemical hazards at regulated sources.

The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) last week voted on its final report and safety recommendations on the April 17, 2013, West Fertilizer fire and explosion in West, Texas, which resulted in 15 fatalities, more than 260 injuries, and widespread community damage.

Seadrfit Operations, the second largest Dow facility in Texas, covers 4,700 acres, employs 1,200 people and operates as one manufacturing complex with eight production plants. The plastics and specialty chemicals produced at the site are used in a variety of consumer products for everyday application.