Maduako Adaeze

14CN017215
Chemical
Engineering
CHE 211 Term
Paper

Friday , 28th October 2016

INDUSTRIAL SAFETY
Industrial safety in the context of occupational safety and
health refers to the management of all operations and
events within an industry, for protecting its employees
and assets by minimizing hazards, risks, accidents and
near misses. The relevant laws, compliance and best
practices in the industry have most of the issues
addressed for the best protection possible. Employers are
to make sure that these are strictly adhered to have
maximum safety.
Industrial safety covers a number of issues and topics
affecting safety of personnel and equipment in a
particular industry. The following topics are generally
discussed:

General Safety - General aspects of safety which are

common to all

Occupational Safety and Health - Particularly

associated with the occupation

Process and Production Safety - Safety in the process

and production etc.

Material Safety - Safety of the materials used in the

production

Workplace Safety - Safety issues directly related to

the workplace

Fire Safety - Fire safety, in particular the risks

associated to the industry

Electrical Safety - In general and in particular, arising

from the equipment used

Building and Structural Safety - Safety in general

including installations as per existing building code

Environmental Safety - Issues of environmental

safety (direct or indirect impact of the industry)

Effect of Lack of Adequate Attention to Industrial Safety

Measures
Okolie and Okoye (2012) stress that the importance of
safety on construction sites and safety of workers can
never be over emphasized, because when accidents
happen on site, they cause many human tragedies, demotivate workers, disrupt site activities, delay project
progress, and affect overall project cost, productivity and
reputation of the firms concerned. In addition, Mthalane,
Othman and Pearl (2008) identify loss of productivity,

disruption of current work, training cost for replacement,

damages to plant, equipment, completed work,
corrective actions to prevent re-occurrence of accident,
degradation of efficiency expenditure emergency
equipment, slowdown in operations, costs of workmans
compensation, medical payments, insurance premium,
costs of rescue operations and equipment, loss of
function and operations income, payments for
settlements of injury or death claims, legal fees for
defense against claims and increased insurance costs as
major economic impact of site accident on construction
companies. In Hrymak and Perezgonzalez (2007), case
studies on twenty (20) construction sites in Ireland show
that a wide range of negative costs and effects resulted
from the accidents in terms of financial costs to
employer. Employer costs from the accidents included
salary costs for replacement staff or overtime payments,
production and productivity losses, retaining costs,
personal injury claim compensation, repair bills, medical
and travel expenses and increased supervision. Also, Li
and Poon, (2009) reveal that there are substantial
number of court cases in Hong Kong with respect to
workers compensation for non-fatal accidents.

Case Study of Lack of adequate attention to

industrial safety
The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (also referred to as the
BP oil spill, the BP oil disaster, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill,

and the Macondo blowout) began on April 20, 2010, in

the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect.
Following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater
Horizon oil rig, a sea-floor oil gusher flowed for 87 days,
until it was capped on July 15, 2010. Eleven people went
missing and were never found and it is considered the
largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the
petroleum industry, an estimated 8% to 31% larger in
volume than the previously largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill.
The US Government estimated the total discharge at 4.9
million barrels (210 million US gal; 780,000 m3). After
several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was
declared sealed on September 19, 2010. Reports in early
2012 indicated the well site was still leaking.
A massive response ensued to protect beaches, wetlands
and estuaries from the spreading oil utilizing skimmer
ships, floating booms, controlled burns and 1.84 million
US gallons (7,000 m3) of Corexit oil dispersant. Due to the
months-long spill, along with adverse effects from the
response and cleanup activities, extensive damage to
marine and wildlife habitats and fishing and tourism
industries was reported. In Louisiana, 4.6 million pounds
(2.09 million kg) of oily material was removed from the
beaches in 2013, over double the amount collected in
2012. Oil cleanup crews worked four days a week on 55
miles of Louisiana shoreline throughout 2013. Oil
continued to be found as far from the Macondo site as the
waters off the Florida Panhandle and Tampa Bay, where
scientists said the oil and dispersant mixture is
embedded in the sand. In 2013 it was reported that
dolphins and other marine life continued to die in record
numbers with infant dolphins dying at six times the
normal rate. One study released in 2014 reported that

tuna and amberjack that were exposed to oil from the

spill developed deformities of the heart and other organs
that would be expected to be fatal or at least lifeshortening and another study found that cardiotoxicity
might have been widespread in animal life exposed to the
spill.
Numerous investigations explored the causes of the
explosion and record-setting spill. Notably, the U.S.
government's September 2011 report pointed to
defective cement on the well, faulting mostly BP, but also
rig operator Transocean and contractor Halliburton.
Earlier in 2011, a White House commission likewise
blamed BP and its partners for a series of cost-cutting
decisions and an inadequate safety system, but also
concluded that the spill resulted from "systemic" root
causes and "absent significant reform in both industry
practices and government policies, might well recur".
In November 2012, BP and the United States Department
of Justice settled federal criminal charges with BP
pleading guilty to 11 counts of manslaughter, two
misdemeanors, and a felony count of lying to Congress.
BP also agreed to four years of government monitoring of
its safety practices and ethics, and the Environmental
Protection Agency announced that BP would be
temporarily banned from new contracts with the US
government. BP and the Department of Justice agreed to
a record-setting $4.525 billion in fines and other
payments. As of February 2013, criminal and civil
settlements and payments to a trust fund had cost the
company $42.2 billion. In September 2014, a U.S. District
Court judge ruled that BP was primarily responsible for
the oil spill because of its gross negligence and reckless
conduct.

In July 2015, BP agreed to pay $18.7 billion in fines, the

largest corporate settlement in U.S. history.
The prevalence of accidents on sites may have
considerable impact on worker productivity and
performance. It is also capable of undermining the
reputation of companies and increasing expenses
incurred by firms. Some recommendations have been
suggested here on how industrial safety can be achieved.
Managers should ensure that only properly trained
workers should be involved in handling of materials/
objects on construction sites to minimize the risk of
accident. Organizations should improve their attitude
towards safety issues by promoting safety and enforcing
safety policies. Training and continuous education on
safety precautions should be conducted for employers
periodically to minimize construction accidents.

References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill
https://www.safeopedia.com/definition/1052/industrial_sa
fety
Enhassi, A., Choudhry, R. M., Mayer, P. E., and Shoman,
Y., Safety Performance of Subcontractors in the
Palestinian Construction Industry. Journal of Construction
in Developing Countries, 13(1), (2008),51-62