Safety and security paramount :

Chemical-based industries must be safeguarded

By Ranil Wijapala

A number of chemical -based accidents and pollution to the environmental were reported recently. The accident at Rathupaswala which resulted in tragic deaths, the huge fire reported at a warehouse in Colombo port and the recent incident in Piliyandala where toxic gas discharged from a detergent manufacturing plant affected residents, reminds us of the need to give serious thought to chemical- based industries. It is high time the authorities took stock and took relevant preventive measures.

According to Dr. Rohan Perera, Director of the National Authority for the Chemical Weapon Convention attached to the Ministry of Industries and Director of the Institute of Human Resource Advancement of the Colombo University,

“This is not only because people are affected due to chemical-based accidents but also to safeguard these industries which generate foreign exchange. They must follow guidelines when handling these chemicals “, he said.

“These industries should not be shut down due to these incidents but follow guidelines to prevent chemical accidents. This is the primary task when reacting to chemical -based accidents”, he said.

“We know of an incident concerning a leading company in Sri Lanka which manufactures and blends laundry detergents, cleaning and sanitation preparation for textile as well as for consumer use. The National Authority for the Chemical Weapon Convention(NACWC) also sent a team to inspect it and to find the reason behind this incident”, he said.

“We found a large stock of chemicals in the storage facility.

Thio Urea , Ammonia and Tri Chloro Cyonic Acid was stored in the same place.”, he said.

“During the rainy season there is water movement in the facility. Water reacts with some of the chemical components which are stored here. This triggered the reaction between the Tri chloro Cyanuric Acid. With the reaction with water it releases chlorine gas into the environment.

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This reaction is highly exothermic and releases a large amount of heat to the environment and this chlorine triggered the burst of the ammonia gas cylinder and the ammonia reacted with chlorine and produced ammonium chloride which forms a white mist which spread throughout the neighbouring areas in Piliyandala”, Dr. Perera said.

“We have observed that this factory stores a large number of chemicals which react differently. They have not been separated based on their reactivity”, he said.

“These chemicals can react with each other at the same spot. The mist spread because there were no proper storage standards recommended for industries in Sri Lanka. ”, he said.

The Central Environment Authority (CEA) recommends storage standards when providing the environmental license for industries in Sri Lanka. It includes the waste management and storage mechanisms of the chemicals. The NACWC issues import license.

“In case of an emergency we inspect the industry. We look into the input and output of the industry, the purpose of the chemical and how much they produce”, he said.

“If these industries ask for assistance regarding storage or chemical handling, we help them to keep their industries in the same capacity. We are not the regulatory body”, he said.

“We need chemicals for industry. Our priority is to safeguard these industries. Unfortunately those dealing with chemicals do not take advantage of this facility and even the expertise knowledge to safeguard the chemical industries”, Dr. Perera said.

These accidents have occurred in the past three to four years due to the increase in production and increase in demand for consumer products in Sri Lanka.

A major concern regarding chemical -based industries is the lack of skilled and responsible people handling these chemicals.

“We ask industrialists to make sure that there are responsible people handling the chemicals”, he said.

“During inspections we found that people handling chemicals had no proper knowledge and expertise. They don’t know how to act in case of emergencies.

They have no idea about the medical aspect and are automatically exposed to these chemicals. This is the critical situation our industries face”, he said.

Despite the availability of expert knowledge of locals trained abroad at the NACWC, these industries do not take advantage of this ability. Irresponsible and improper handling of chemicals by unskilled and irresponsible people ends up with accidents compelling industrialists to shut down industries in the face of agitation. According to Dr. Perera, President Mahinda Rajapaksa in discussion over the Rathupaswala incident clearly said that all chemical- based industries must move into the industrial zones.

“Shifting these industries to isolated areas is one solution. This is what countries like Korea, Japan and China practise.

They have special industrial zones for industries dealing with the hazardous chemicals. Unfortunately here if land and building is available investors open chemical industrial facilities without informing the relevant authoroties”, Dr. Perera said.

“We came to know about this facility where a large quantity of chemicals are produced only after this incident”, he said.

But closure is not the solution considering the number of people losing their jobs and the foreign exchange we will lose after shutting them down.

“We have to safeguard these industries by implementing a chemical safety, inculcating a security culture taking into consideration the health and safety of workers”, Dr. Perera said.

One can imagine the cost Sri Lanka has to pay when workers and people are affected not knowing the health impact. Sometimes workers handle chemicals without masks, gloves or any protective gear.

Widespread kidney disease affecting farmers by using large quantities of chemicals for their farm lands without protective gear is a clear example. That has resulted in increased expenditure as these farmers have no health insurance.

“This money spent for them comes from the tax payer. It is just a tter of wearing a mask or donning a pair of gloves which will cut medicl costs but farmers are illiterate and are not aware. The NACWC recently started a chemical weapon safety program to enlighten industrialists.

“We have conducted a series of one- day workshops in collaboration with the Institute of Human Resource Advancement of the University of Colombo to make sure that these industrialists are aware how to handle these chemicals ”, Dr. Perera said. “There is something known as the boomerang effect. These people are not aware of this effect, it should be very clearly addressed.” “To safeguard industries, their storage facilities should be maintained making sure that these type of incidents do because of the multiple costs involved”, he said.

Another issue Sri Lanka is facing at present is unauthorized import of chemicals.

Although the NACWC is the authorised agency to approveimport of the hazardous chemicals , many emergency chemicals are imported by various means.

“Today chemicals are freely available from India and China where you can buy anything without a license and can be brought to the country without legal sanction,” Dr. Perera said.

“If you go to Bankshall Street in Colombo huge chemical storage facilities available there and you will be surprised to see the extent to which they are stored. They release chemicals to buyers even without knowing what the use is.

They just want to sell the chemicals . Even cyanide is sold in kilos and import emergency chemicals overnight”, he said.

“We found that they were bringing these chemicals in their baggage to Sri Lanka . There is no mechanism to detect the chemicals. They bring chemicals at a higher price because customers are ready to pay exhorbitant rates for emergency chemicals ”, he said.

“The recent incident in the Colombo port is also due to storage of chemicals and we have to investigate to find out who provided the license to bring these chemical to Sri Lanka”, Dr. Perera said.

“IThe Organization of Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in Syria won the Nobel Peace Prize this year for acting for the Chemical Weapon Safety and Security of the World.

Our organisations must be concerned not only about chemical safety and the security culture in the country but make sure that it will not affect industries and the future investment in Sri Lanka in the long term”, Dr. Perera said.