In any modern country, there is a fairly large number of diverse chemical objects. The unpredictability of accidents and the rapid spread of contaminated air require urgent measures to ensure the safety of the population.
Protection against hazardous substances
Providing chemical protection of the population is reduced to the use of the following methods of protection:
- Use of respirators, gas masks, protective suits.
- Protective structures.
- Temporary shelters.
- Evacuation of the population from the danger zone.
All of these methods can be used alone, or in combination with others.
In order to prevent accidents at chemically hazardous facilities by surprise, it is necessary to take the necessary measures in advance. These include:
- Bringing into operation the warning system of the population.
- Ensuring that personal protective equipment is available and stored in certain rooms.
- Shelter preparation.
- Determination of the evacuation area.
- Development of the most effective measures to protect the population in certain cases.
- Training management bodies and forces that are designed to eliminate the consequences of the accident.
Only carefully planned emergency actions can ensure the safety of people.
Features of chemical protection of the population
Chemical protection is a whole complex of measures that are designed to exclude or at least mitigate the harmful effects of AXO (hazardous chemicals) on the population and working personnel of the enterprise. Most of all activities should be carried out in advance, as well as urgently in the process of eliminating the consequences of the accident.
Measures for chemical protection of the population, which can be attributed to the main ones, are as follows:
- Confirmation of the fact of the accident and notification of the population about it.
- Clarification of the situation in the accident zone.
- Compliance with all rules and chemical safety standards in the contaminated area.
- Providing the population and employees of the enterprise with all means of protection.
- If necessary, it is necessary to evacuate people from the zone of possible infection.
- Shelter of the population in shelters that can protect against hazardous chemicals.
- Emergency use of antidotes and skin treatments.
If an emergency occurs, in order to carry out specific measures, the situation in the accident zone is clarified, an investigation is conducted for the presence of hazardous substances. It also studies the nature and volume of the discharge, in which direction the wind carries poisonous substances, how vast is the territory covered by the consequences of the accident.
All employees of the enterprise are required to receive personal protective equipment. The liquidators of the consequences of the accident should be dressed in a chemical protection suit and gas mask.
Dangerous objects
This type of enterprise includes those in which the storage, processing and use of hazardous substances takes place. Accidents at chemically hazardous facilities can lead to infection of people or their death from exposure to toxic substances.
These enterprises include the following:
- Chemical and oil refineries.
- Petrochemical industry enterprises.
- Sewage and water treatment plants where chlorine is used.
- Refrigeration units, if they use ammonia.
- Warehouses where pesticides are stored.
- Vehicles carrying chemically hazardous goods.
- Landfill chemical industry waste.
All hazardous enterprises can be divided into several categories according to the degree of danger:
- 1st — in the event of an accident, more than 70 thousand people fall into the affected area .
- 2nd - from 40 to 70 thousand.
- 3rd - less than 40 thousand.
- 4th — in an accident, the danger does not go beyond the boundaries of the enterprise.
In our country there are more than 3 thousand such hazardous facilities. With such an amount, knowledge of the properties of chemical substances, a preliminary assessment of the possible consequences, the ability to correctly and quickly take urgent measures to eliminate the accident are the main condition for ensuring the chemical protection of the population at the highest level.
Chemical accidents
Such an emergency situation is usually called a violation of technological processes at enterprises, damage to pipelines, storage facilities and storage tanks, vehicles carrying hazardous substances. All this can lead to the release of chemicals into the atmosphere, which will lead to infection of people and the biosphere.
If the situation entailed human casualties, severe destruction of facilities, great damage to the environment, then it is already possible to state not just an accident, but a real industrial catastrophe.
Any emergency at a chemical plant is most often accompanied by explosions and fires. As a result of these processes, non-toxic substances are converted into hazardous substances and harm human health.
Causes of an accident at a chemical facility
Among the main reasons due to the fault of the accident are the following:
- Depreciation of production equipment or inadequate and poor-quality repair and maintenance.
- In the process of production or processing, technological processes are violated.
- Improper equipment operation.
- Storage of hazardous substances is carried out in violation of the rules and regulations.
- Security systems at the enterprise do not work.
- Errors that were made during the construction and design of facilities.
- Violation of discipline in the workplace.
- Storage limits for hazardous substances exceeded.
- Natural disasters.
- Act of terrorism.
If we analyze the causes of the accident, we can say that the human factor plays a decisive role . Often our negligence leads to dangerous consequences.
Regardless of the type of accident, the provision of chemical protection of the population should be carried out efficiently and in a timely manner. And accidents can be classified as follows:
- Private The consequences cover only one workshop or installation.
- Object accident. It covers only one enterprise and does not go beyond it.
- Local. The consequences affect the whole city or area.
- Regional - applies to several regions.
- A global accident captures not only the regions of one country, but can go beyond it.
Striking factors
When an emergency release of hazardous substances occurs, a primary infected cloud is formed, which consists of drops and aerosol that can settle on the ground and infect it.
If containers for storage or transportation are damaged, then hazardous substances scatter, begin to evaporate, and a secondary infected cloud forms.
These clouds have various properties. For example, the primary cloud spreads further, acts only at the moment of its passage, but contains a large concentration of hazardous substances. The secondary cloud, although it has a small amount of CWS, but its effect is carried out until the complete evaporation or destruction.
During any chemical accident, there are both main manifestations and additional ones. The main ones are the release of hazardous substances, and additional ones already include fires, explosions that can accompany accidents.
During an emergency of this kind, radiation and chemical protection of the population is mandatory, because the main damaging factor is the infection of the lower layers of the atmosphere, soil, water, which leads to the defeat of people and other living creatures. Its scale depends on the size of the infection zone.
In total, three such zones are considered:
- Deadly.
- Toxoses, incapacitating.
- Threshold toxoids.
Additional damaging factors include:
- Shock wave
- Radiation.
- Defeat by fragments.
- The action of toxic substances, which in large quantities are formed during the combustion of HOV.
Effects
Not a single accident at a chemically hazardous enterprise passes without a trace. Therefore, the state system of ensuring public safety is so important. The consequences that occur after emergencies can be divided into two categories: immediate (they occur immediately) and remote.
The immediate consequences are:
- Defeat people and animals.
- Severe poisoning.
- Wounds, burns.
- Mental disorders that occur after exposure to chemicals.
- Acute poisoning by combustion products.
- Material damage resulting in partial or complete destruction of objects.
- Environmental pollution that threatens environmental disaster.
The consequences can be so serious that even protective equipment, for example the protective suit L-1, does not save them. If you put it on after the accident, then valuable time can be lost, and a person will still receive a portion of toxic substances.
Chemical classification
Chemical contamination can occur with various substances, all of them have one common quality - it is toxic to the human body. The degree of this quality is different for different substances. Depending on this, 4 hazard classes of chemicals are distinguished:
- Extremely dangerous.
- Highly hazardous.
- Moderately dangerous.
- Low hazard.
Any damaging substance can have a heterogeneous effect on the human body. But as the main symptom, one is used that leads to acute poisoning and damage.
By the nature of the exposure, chemically hazardous substances can be divided into:
- Choking agents. These include chlorine, phosgene.
- Poisonous. They cause general intoxication of the body. These include carbon monoxide.
- At the same time, asphyxiating and generally toxic effects are exerted, for example, by nitrogen oxides, hydrogen fluoride, sulfur dioxide.
- Neurotropic and asphyxiating effects, such as ammonia.
- Metabolic toxic substances, such as ethylene oxide.
- Substances that disrupt metabolic processes in the body.
Such substances, as a rule, are always in abundance in chemical plants. For example, workers at a nitric acid plant must wear the L-1 protective suit. Personal protective equipment in the form of gloves, gowns, respirators, and even gas masks are present at workplaces.
Specific exposure to chemicals
Protecting the public from chemical contamination is a top management priority. The importance and urgency of these measures is also explained by the fact that in addition to the general toxic effect of AHOV, the following risks can cause:
- Embryotropic. It has a negative effect on the formation of the internal organs of the fetus, which is fraught with the appearance of congenital malformations and developmental abnormalities. It is because of this factor that a pregnant woman should be transferred to another safer job as soon as possible. This is a situation where even a chemical protection suit does not help.
- Carcinogenic Chemicals can activate the activity of cancer cells, which leads to the development of cancer. All this also depends on the time of work in hazardous production, the degree of exposure to chemicals. The danger of these CWDs is that their effects may occur in a few years.
- Genotoxic. It provokes mutations of genes, the risk of cancer is increasing. If mutations occur in germ cells, then this leads to the birth of children with developmental abnormalities or deformities.
- Immunopathogenic effect. It manifests itself in a decrease in human immunity. Often accompanied by respiratory diseases.
- Reproductive risk is associated with impaired reproductive health.
- Metabolic disorders. There is a failure in the metabolic processes in the body.
- Allergenic Many chemicals begin their negative effects with allergic reactions. This may be an exacerbation of bronchial asthma or dermatitis.
As can be seen from this list, toxic substances can have a rather serious and unpredictable effect, therefore, the protection of the population during chemical accidents should be carried out efficiently and quickly.
The behavior of the population before the accident, during and after it
If people live near chemical objects, they should be aware of the danger of this enterprise, and what measures should be taken during emergency situations. The provision of chemical protection of the population includes preventive and explanatory work in its list.
People need to know how to protect themselves from possible infection. Personal protective equipment must be prepared in advance. They should be stored in an accessible place so that they can be used at the first alarms.
During an accident, the public is alerted with a siren or a long beep. People should be informed in advance what these signals mean.
Employees of the enterprise can carry out their work in personal protective equipment. If the technological process can be stopped, then the workers descend into the protective structures.
The population can be given the following recommendations regarding behavior after receiving a signal about an accident:
- If the headquarters of the civil defense informs about events taking place on television or radio, then all its recommendations must be followed.
- Wear protective equipment.
- Take shelter in the nearest defenses.
- If the command is given not to go anywhere, then try to seal the windows and doors well. You can additionally hang them with blankets.
- If it is recommended to leave your home and go down to the shelter, you must turn off all electrical appliances, turn off the gas, take all your documents, necessary things. Do not go outside without first wearing a gas mask, a respirator, or at least a cotton-gauze bandage.
If you find yourself in a direct cloud of chemicals, you need to take a shower, and throw away all the infected things. Try not to drink water from natural sources, fruits and vegetables directly from the garden.
At the first suspicion of poisoning, it is necessary to drink as much fluid as possible and immediately consult a doctor.
Any accident at a chemical plant is easier to prevent than to spend huge amounts of money later on to eliminate its consequences. At each hazardous facility, measures must be developed that reduce the likelihood of an accident by several times. At such enterprises, strict control should be exercised over all technological processes, compliance with the rules and norms of storage, processing and transportation of hazardous substances.