Reducing the Risks of Petrochemical Companies Essay

Reducing the Risks of Petrochemical Companies - Essay Example II. Description of the Problem In describing the problem, three risks of petrochemical companies have been recognized, namely, (1) ergonomic harms, (2) fires, and (3) environment contamination. First, ergonomics denotes the interface between human beings and the device and machine in the workplace. Workers in petrochemical companies are highly exposed to ergonomic harms, such as musculoskeletal disorders (common for workers of drilling companies), or diseases caused by toxic fumes or substances. The petrochemical accident in Bhopal, India will be the example that will be used for ergonomic harms. Second, petrochemical companies are also prone to accidental fires or explosions due to their handling of fuels, such as hydrocarbons. Good examples for this category are the fires and explosion in Texas and Louisiana. Third, petrochemical companies carry with it several environmental hazards, just like in China and Argentina wherein massive environmental catastrophes have brought about a cy cle of damages to the health of the local population. Some of the examples that will be used in this category are the oil spills in Alaska and Gulf of Mexico. ... Generating and using such chemicals requires handling harmful substances and massive volumes of energy. Due to these circumstances, when there is an accident at a petrochemical plant, it can create disastrous effects III. Importance/Significance of Inquiry Petrochemical companies are currently an interesting issue for accident research. The petrochemical industry is somewhat rigidly connected, and has numerous intricately interactive elements. This research is interested in petrochemical companies because they demonstrate the existence of accidents in an established, efficient, modernized industry that has a significant financial interest to mitigate accidents. According to some studies, in petrochemical companies, with efficient management, advanced technologies, and powerful motivations to avoid disasters, the existence of accidents must indicate a phenomenon inherent to the mechanisms themselves (Galambos et al. 2007). In other words, petrochemical accidents are most probably inte rnally caused. Therefore, finding out these internal causes to ergonomic harm, fires/explosions, and environmental contamination will almost certainly help in developing the best solutions to reduce the potential hazards in petrochemical companies. Therefore, the problem is important to solve because the Increasing growth of the petrochemical companies incidents in our world in the past two decades. IV. Relevance Statement The research involved with this proposal is socially and culturally important because petrochemical companies, which before were viewed as signs of success and affluence became associated with environmental degradation, injuries, casualties, and