S A F E T Y

MCA Awards to 4 6 Firms Almost 400 chemical plants gain recognition for perfect safety records during 1957

.AL RECORD N U M B E R of 46 member firms of the Manufacturing Chemists' Association are represented by 397 chemical plants winning the associa­tion's Certificates of Achievement. T h e annual presentation, started in 1951, is made to individual plants of member firms which have completed the year with no industrial injuries. For consideration, a plant must have employed effectively 10 men at a rate of 2000 manhours each for a plant total of 20,000 manhours for the year.

Total number of companies re-port­ing injury statistics during 1957 was 104. O n this basis, almost 457c of the reporting membership had at least one plant experiencing a perfect year safetywise. Las t year, 335 plants rep­resenting 45 companies were given the awards for their 1956 records.

Du Pont l ed the field by a large margin, with 7 8 plants of its far-flung empire gaining t h e certificates. Allied Chemical came u p in second position with 42 awards , followed by Air Re­duction with 40 and Stauffer Chemical with 32 .

In addition to these, six other com­panies had be tween 10 and 25 plants receiving the awards. American Cy-anamid and Koppers had 23 plants each, Olin Mathieson Chemical h a d 17, Canadian Industries had 16, W . R. Grace had 12, and Monsanto Chemical had 1 1 .

Of the remaining winning firms, 22 had more than one, but less than 10 plants in the perfect-safety class. And 14 companies entered the select circle with a single p lan t each.

MCA spokesmen, in announcing the awards, pointed out that the chemical industry is one of the safest in the coun­try. National Safety Council figures show tha t the chemical industry aver­ages 3.77 injuries per million man-hours, compared with an all-industry rate of 6.96. T h e rate of days lost is 36f)c lower in the chemical industry than the national industrial average.

Other winners a re :

Procter & Gamble Co. Hercules Powder C o . Atlas Powder Co. Union Carbide Corp. Dow Chemical Co. Pennsalt Chemicals Corp. Food Machinery & Chemical Corp. Merck & Co., Inc . U. S. Steel Corp. Ceianese Corp . of America Phillips Petroleum Co. National Distillers & Chemical Corp. Pi t tsburgh Coke & Chemical Co. Harshaw Chemical Co. J. T. Baker Chemical Co. California Spray-Chemical Corp. Commercial Solvents Corp. Continental Oil C o . Diamond Alkali C o . B. F . Goodrich Chemical Co . National Starch Products , Inc . T h e Quaker Oats Co . Houdry Process Corp . Internat ional Minerals & Chemical

Corp. T h e Lubrizol Corp. Oronite Chemical Co. Rohm & Haas Co. Shell Chemical Corp. Toms River—Cincinnati Chemical

Corp. Tennessee Corp. Victor Chemical Works Wyando t t e Chemicals Corp. Pa ten t Chemicals, Inc. Royce Chemical Co . Cowles Chemical Co. Detroit Chemical Works

Experiment Explodes Preparation of oxaziranes, a new

class of organic compounds, involves potential explosion hazards. Such is the experience of workers a t Hercules Powder's Research Center in Wilming­ton, Del.

An a t tempt t o prepare bis- ( 2-tert-butyloxazirane ) a t the center caused an explosion resulting in severe hand in­juries to one worker, according to S. T. Putnam and R. H. Earle, Jr., researchers

a t Hercules. The compound , after be­ing made according to t he method of W . D . Emmons [J. Am. Chem. Soc, 7 9 , 5739-54 ( 1 9 5 7 ) ] , was transferred to a 2-ounce wide-mouth bot t le wi th a metal spatula. This was then covered with a polyethylene film a n d a screw cap , and stored overnight at 35° F. On the following day the material was being transferred to a round-bot tom flask, again using a metal spatula, when the explosion took place.

The cause of the explosion has not yet been determined. But Pu tnam and Earle feel that it was p robab ly caused b y the presence of a smal l amount of some highly unstable contaminant . In making the compound they obtained a 29 .4% yield, compared wi th 5 1 % re­por ted by Emmons.

NFPA Revises Safety Codes

Standards for handling ex­plosives, flammable liquids and gases revised at Chi­cago meeting

C O N V E N I N G I N CHICAGO, the National Fire Protection Association took major steps to expand and u p d a t e its stand­ards and recommendations for han­dling, shipping ,and storing chemicals, explosives, and flammable materials. Actually, these changes h a d been in the w ind for some mon ths (C&EN, Feb . 10, page 5 5 ) . They ' r e important because N F P A codes serve as models for the safety codes of the Federa l Government, state governments , and the great majority of U . S. cities.

One of the codes most extensively revised is the one deal ing wi th the transportation, storage, a n d use of ex­plosives. This code is enlarged from about 6000 words to about 9000. NFPA tentatively adop ted the new code, as recommended by its 38-mem-ber Committee on Chemicals and Ex­plosives. The revision will be u p for permanent adoption a year from now.

The latest changes are t h e first major revisions of the code since 1941 . I n part, they take into account t h e fact that now about 70 to 8 0 % of all ex­plosives are shipped by truck rather than by the railroads. This completely reverses the situation existing prior t o World W a r II. The n e w code, for example, contains a revised section on approved ways of rout ing trucks that carry explosives, particularly th rough cities.

4 6 C & E N J U N E 9, 1958

The basic definition of an explosive is changed. For one thing, it differ­entiates more clearly between commer­cial explosives and those that are strictly experimental.

The code contains a ne^v section on industrial laboratories. And the section dealing with powder magazines now gives more detailed information on structural requirements. A section is added on ways to dispose of unwanted or spoiled explosives. An.other section is inserted to cover the handling of explosives not accepted for transporta­tion by the Interstate Commerce Com­mission.

• Gas Regulat ions. In addition, NFPA adopted all the changes pro­posed by the Committee on Gases. Standard 51 on cutting and welding is revised to include low-pressure, in­sulated I C C containers for storing liquid oxygen. Standard o 9 is changed to approve the use of single containers of u p to 200,000 gallons capacity for storing liquefied petroleum gases in utility gas plants. Previously, the limit was 30,000 gallons. NFPA also ap­proved a revised tentative standard on the installation and use of combustion engines and gas turbines .

The Committee on Flammable Liquids adopted a revised tentative standard for solvent extraction plants. This extensive new code runs to almost 50 pages. When permanently adopted, it will be NFPA's first to cover solvent extraction plants.

Various amendments to the flam­mable liquids code were approved. Changes were made regarding piping to storage tanks, as well as the use of vents and other equipment. All of these changes are designed to ensure greater safety throughout industry and particularly in the chemical industry.

• Globe Industries conies out with an air-oxygen quick-entry mask for inspec­tion, rescue work, or other duties. The company says the mask, weighing 15 pounds, gives respiratory protection in any toxic or oxygen-deficient atmos­phere for 10 to 15 minutes. S 1

Further useful information on keyed Safety items men­tioned is readily available . . .

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AT YOUR SERVICE

THE RESULTS OF SO YEARS OF RESEARCH ON ORGANIC PEEOXIDES

For over three decades we have specialized in the manufacture of organic peroxides. Today our peroxides are

outstanding in quality and closely controlled uniformity. Dur ing all these years we have maintained a progressive program of

research and development work for the purpose of making organic peroxides and their compounds available to

industry in the form best suited to each particular application. W e are confident that in the groups of organic peroxides

listed below you will find the key t o some of your processing problems.

D i a c y l P e r o x i d e s D ibas i c A c i d P e r o x i d e s K e t o n e P e r o x i d e s A l d e h y d e P e r o x i d e s

A l k y l P e r o x i d e s & H y d r o p e r o x i d e s A l k y l P e r o x y e s t e r s

Our Research, and Technical Staffs invite your consultation.

1 . "The Evaluation of Organic Peroxides in Terms of Half-Life Data." Λ paper resulting from Research by LUCIDOL.

W R I T E F O R A C O P Y O F 2 . "The Use of Organic Peroxides in the

Reinforced Plastics Industry." A paper on proper methods of storage and handling of organic peroxides.

LUCIDOL DIVISION W A L L A C E & T I E R N A N INCORPORATED

Dept. 2 , 1 7 4 0 MIL ITARY ROAD B U F F A L O 5 . N E W YORK

J U N E 9, 1 9 5 8 C & E N 4 7