OSHA issued the Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals Standard (PSM) (29 CFR
1910.119) which contains requirements for the safe management of chemicals for companies that exceed
OSHA’s threshold quantities for highly hazardous substances. This standard requires the establishment of a
management program that includes conducting process hazard analyses, establishing detailed operating
procedures, and includes other important requirements to mitigate the possibility of a serious, chemical related
incident occurring at the facility.
For this assignment, suppose you are a safety manager at a chemical manufacturing facility that manufactures
concentrated nitric acid. You have heard that employees who load nitric acid into rail tank cars have been
checking the pre-inspection checklist from the rail shipping office instead of actually inspecting the vehicles
with the checklist in hand as required by the operating procedure. This has not been the first time the shipping
crew has been lax about process safety related work rules. Based on this scenario, please compose a
research paper which includes the following information:
Identify the chemical properties, uses, and primary hazards associated with common oxidizers including
concentrated nitric acid.
Identify important occupational exposure limits (OELs) associated with at least 3 common oxidizers.
Identify PSM requirements that would be useful for preventing or minimizing the consequences of a significant
oxidizer related incident.
Using the OSHA Standard and your own experience, justify and validate the importance of the PSM standard
to your facility (if it stores and processes highly hazardous materials) or a facility that may impact your
community or a near-by community. Examples might include a water treatment facility that utilizes liquefied
chlorine gas, a coal fired power plant that utilizes liquefied chlorine gas for water treatment, a food processing
plant with a large ammonia refrigeration system, a fertilizer manufacturing or storage facility, a chemical
manufacturing facility, etc..
Your research paper must be at least two pages in length. You are required to cite the OSHA Standard 29 CFR
1910.119 in your response as well as at least two other sources, one of which must come from the CSU Online
Library. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced. Paraphrased and/or quoted materials
must have accompanying citations in APA format.