Passive remote sensing by infrared spectrometry allows detection and identification of hazardous clouds from long distances. Typical applications of the method are automatic surveillance of industrial facilities and identification of hazardous clouds after chemical accidents. A conventional remote sensing Fourier transform infrared spectrometer is based on an interferometer with a single detect...

We report on a novel laser-based technique coined surface laser photofragmentation-fragment detection (SPF-FD) spectroscopy for detecting explosives residues, chemical warfare agents, and other hazardous materials on surfaces in real time at ambient conditions. Our technique utilizes one or two lasers to both photolyze the target species and to facilitate the detection of the characteristic pho...

STUDY OBJECTIVES The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 requires that chemical facilities in the US with specified quantities of certain toxic or flammable chemicals file a five year history of accidents. This study considers the relation between the reported accidents and surrounding community characteristics. DESIGN This study is a retrospective analysis of the association between the demogra...

BACKGROUND More than 80 million Americans may be at risk of a chemical exposure because they live near one of the 101 most hazardous chemical facilities or near routes used to transport hazardous chemicals. One approach to hazard reduction is to use less toxic alternatives. Chlorine, one of the chemicals posing the greatest public health danger, has several alternatives depending on the applica...

U.S. chemical plants currently have potentially catastrophic vulnerabilities as terrorist targets. The possible consequences of these vulnerabilities echo from the tragedies of the Bhopal incident in 1984 to the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 and, most recently, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Findings from a 2004 nationwide participatory research study of 125 local union leaders at sites ...

Strategies for controlling occupational exposure to chemical carcinogens are set out in the European Union Carcinogens Directive and in national legislation such as the British Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations. While such legislative requirements must apply to all occupational chemical carcinogens, it is argued that priority should be given to controlling those agents that ...

In EU countries approximately 150,000 tons/year of galvanic sludges are generated by 4000 industrial units from the corresponding wastewater treatment plants. These sludges are generally classified as hazardous (European Waste Catalogue as adopted in Council Decision 2000/532/CE and as amended by Decisions 2001/118/EC, 2001/119/EC and 2001/573/CE), basically due to the presence of heavy metals....