Chemicals investors demand safety skills

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Chemicals investors demand safety skills

January 29th, 2010

Chemicals handling safety in Africa is of increasing concern to foreign investors, as developers seek to escape rising costs in the first world.

African chemicals development remains an investment option as business in traditional markets, like USA, Japan and Europe, turn to lower cost producers, reports Louise Lindeque, manager of Responsible Care in South Africa, after an Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons course on promoting chemical safety management in Africa, at the Bergische University of Wuppertal in Germany in November.

Delegates to the OPCW course included chemical safety managers from Cote D’Ivoire, Sudan, Mauritius, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, South Africa and Burundi.

The chemicals sector is well represented throughout Africa with a strong presence in Southern Africa where chemicals such as liquid fuels, plastic products, inorganic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and rubber products are produced.

For the continent to continue competing for business, industrialising African countries should employ measures to ensure the health and safety of workers, handlers, transporters, and public.

Training topics range from a modern approach to safety and loss prevention, to HAZOP, to state of the art occupational Sheq regulation in Germany and Europe, and environmental protection.

The course was led by Prof Dr Ing Uli Barth, professor of Methods of Safety Engineering at the University of Wuppertal.

“The approach that involves greater emphasis on technological measures to control hazards and failures that could cause loss of life and property, has to be embraced by process industries in African countries,” explained Lindeque.

“Knowledge and skills will ultimately enhance the effectiveness of safety management systems. These help to ensure long term sustainability and effective Sheq performance.”

Automated modelling

Also covered in the course is computational modelling to ensure safe plant design, hazard indices and basic process safety management information.

Students learn about disaster management and emergency response at the local fire station in Wuppertal, while a site visit to Bayer chemical production site demonstrates the importance of close cooperation between the emergency response departments and chemical manufacturing industries.

“There is a large demand for training in engineering process, quality and environmental management systems, as well as safety aspects for chemical process applications in the industry from governmental agencies and academic institutions where the new generation of chemist and engineers in Africa are educated,” explained Lindeque.

Process Safety Forum

Responsible Care hosts a quarterly Process Safety Forum where member companies share best practice and pool resources, particularly for the benefit of small companies that lack resources for training.

This is also an opportunity to keep members updated of their progress and receive feedback of the experiences and concerns arising from workplace incidents. Members also share anonymous incident reports, circulated by Lindeque, in order to learn from one another’s experience.

“African states delegates were enabled to implement modern technical safety practices and fulfil their responsibilities to develop sustainable safety management in the chemicals industry,” said Lindeque.

* Contact Responsible Care via Louise Lindeque on rcare2@caia.co.za

PHOTO; Louise Lindeque, manager of Responsible Care in South Africa.