Inherently safer practices are an approach to the design of safer chemical processes with clear potential benefits related to safety, health, and the environment. Following are strategies for achieving an inherently safer process:
HAZARDOUS MATERIAL REDUCTION
Reduce the amount of regulated substance inventories by minimizing the quantity stored and the amount that is in a process at any given time. This can be accomplished by optimizing the quantity used or shipped, using on-site continuous feedstock production and the use of close coupled reactors to eliminate the need for intermediate storage and minimizing piping carrying regulated substances throughout the facility.
SUBSTITUTION: Replace regulated substances with less hazardous ones.
PROCESS DESIGN: Use less hazardous process or storage conditions (e.g., temperature, pressure, etc.) or a less hazardous form of a material to minimize potential release impact.
PROCESS AND STORAGE SITING: Design stationary sources that minimize the impact of a release of a regulated substance or energy (e.g., providing adequate distance between unloading, storage, and processing facilities to reduce the potential for one incident to initiate another incident in a nearby unit, storing and handling regulated substances as far as possible from the surrounding community, using secondary containment to minimize the impact of loss of primary containment of regulated substances, etc.).
SIMPLIFICATION: Design stationary sources that make operating errors less likely and that are forgiving of errors that are made.