Lesson 3 – Arsenic Procedure

Potential health effects:

Inhalation:

• May cause inflammation of the mucous membranes with cough and foamy sputum, restlessness.

Ingestion:

• May cause burning in esophagus, vomiting and bloody diarrhea. Symptoms of cold and clammy skin, low blood pressure, weakness, headache, cramps and coma may follow. May cause damage to the liver and kidney. Death may occur from circulatory failure. Estimated  lethal dose: LD 50 is 120 milligrams/kg.

Skin contact:

• May cause irritation, symptoms including redness, itching and pain.

Eye contact:

• May cause irritation with itching, burning, watering of eyes, may cause conjunctiva damage.

First aid measures:

Inhalation

• Remove the person to fresh air. If not breathing, give artificial respiration. If breathing is difficult get medical attention.

Ingestion

• Induce vomiting immediately.

Skin Contact

• Immediately flush skin with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes while removing contaminated clothing and shoes. Wash clothing before use. Thoroughly clean shoes before reuse. Individuals who have informed of the hazards of exposure to this substance should launder contaminated work clothes.

Eye contact

• Immediately flush eyes with plenty of water. Get medical attention.

Entrance to the storage:

• The storage area must be clearly demarcated with a weatherproof, durable and clearly legible notice board in official languages at every entrance and should not be accessible to unauthorized persons.
• Authorization to enter the arsenic storage area can only be given by the Consort Plant manager or the Chief Environmental Officer.
• Display a MSDS at the entrance to the store.
• A register should be kept at the Plant manager’s office and updated with the names of the persons entering the restricted area.

Personal protective methods:

• Avoid skin contact.
• Do not enter the restricted area without permission and or without the prescribed PPE.
• All personal protective clothing listed in point 15 must be used correctly.
• All protective clothing should be clean, without visible damage and available each day before work commences.
• Use a full-face mask with cartridges to filter ultra fine chemical dust particles.
• Adhere to the safety standards for this particular area.

Storage:

• Storage areas should be dust-free, free from visible arsenic particles, clean and dry.
• The arsenic should be kept away from open fires. No open fires are allowed within the storage area.
• Should be well ventilated.
• The storeroom must be locked at all times. The storage room should be locked after every clean up operation or dispatch. The key to the storage shed must be kept in the Consort Plant Manager office.
• No contaminated water must be released to the PC dam.
• The pump at the sump and the pump taking the water to the process storage dam must be checked and maintained weekly to ensure that it is working to avoid overflowing of the contaminated water to the environment. This includes the pump in the trench running to the PC dam, and the pump at the spillage sump.
• Contaminated water must be collected at the spillage sump and pumped to 1# shaft dam from where the water is pumped to the Consort plant storage dam.
• The pipelines must be inspected with regular intervals to ensure that there are no leakages.
• The sump pump must be equipped with means to indicate failure if it fails to operates. Both the trench pump and arsenic spillage pump must be fitted with a warning system if they fail to start.

Accidental spillage and remedial actions:

• Restrict persons not wearing protective equipment from area of spill until clean up is complete.
• Should any spillage occur within the Barberton Mines area of responsibility Barberton Mines must take all possible steps to: contain and recover the hazardous substance (if the spillage cannot be contained on the site, the Department of Environmental Affairs must be notified)
• Personnel must wear appropriate protective clothing (PPE as per Barberton mines.)
• An incident report must be written and be kept on file.
• Should a bag spill, the spillage must be vacuumed into a new bag.

PPE:

• A set of gumboots
• A chemical resistant overall, (a Hazchem Overall) specifically for hazardous products, should be worn.
• A full-face mask with cartridges for ultra fine chemical dust.
• Full-face mask donning procedure

–The Wearer should be cleanly shaven (no beards)

–The mask should fit properly to the face (no leaks)

–The wearer must wear protective clothing at all times while in the demarcated area.

–The full-face mask will only be removed after decontamination together with the chemical overall.

–The mask and overall outside trim must be sealed with masking tape to prevent any contact with the arsenic.

• A pair of rubber gloves

Responsible personnel:

• All relevant personnel must be present during loading.
• Planned task observations must be carried out until all relevant tasks and actions have been noted.
• Records must be kept i.e. date, quantity etc.

Equipment:

• Install a shower in the vicinity for immediate washing.
• Install a hosepipe in the storeroom vicinity to clean equipment after use.
• Ensure that the spillage sump pump is operating – if not notify the Plant Manager immediately.
• The forklift used in the clean-up and loading process must be decontaminated before leaving the area. A forklift specifically for the clean-up process has to be allocated to the arsenic clean-up project. It will prevent any change of contamination.

Monitoring of employees:

• Biological monitoring of workers who are exposed to Arsenic Trioxide must do urine test at the end of the workweek. These tests must include the drivers of the transport company. A record must be kept at the clinic of these tests. Every Friday.
• Tests results must be available as soon as possible to prevent employees from exposure when their arsenic levels are above the legal limits.
• Gravimetric air sampling will be conducted to monitor the concentrations of aerosol arsenic dust, five (5) samples per three (3) months.
• Results of the monitoring must be kept in the medical files.
• Arsenic workers must be removed from the area if results indicating that exposure are above the Biological Indices. These workers will only be allowed to return to the arsenic area once a Biological test has shown that it is safe for such an employee to return to the area.
• If the readings remain above the limits the workers must be supplied with self-contained breathing apparatus.

Re-bagging operating procedures:

• No work should be done without the proper PPE.
• No work should start before all equipment is checked and tested.
• Arsenic workers must understand that they must be extremely careful not to expose them selves to dust even if they are protected.
• Work must be done in a manner where the minimum dust is generated.
• Employees should always work in the upstream side from where dust is generated.
• When dust levels are visibly high work should stop until the dust has settled.
• Work should be done in turns to allow workers to take breaks to cool down and drink water, as the overalls are watertight and does not allow for evaporation cooling.
• Before the clothes are removed the person must first shower with the suite on. Then he can remove the suite (at the end of shift or before breaks.)
• No eating, drinking or smoking is allowed during working operations without proper decontamination first (Shower and washing of hands).
• The suits must be properly decontaminated at the end of shift and then removed at the plants change house cleaned inside and hanged up for drying. (They must have their own change house facilities to prevent contamination of employees working outside the arsenic storage area.)
• When a bag is full the forklift operator should be notified. The operator must then remove the bag and place it at the cleaned storage area. The forklift driver must also wear the full PPE as all the other employees are protected with a dust mask.