Hazardous material cost affects companies

Hazardous material cost affects companies

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Introduction

These are liquids, solids or gases that are harmful to human beings, our surroundings and property. These harmful goods could be that they are highly flammable; they corrode, explode, are radioactive, toxic or cause allergies. They may also be those goods that contain chemicals or other substances that cause them to be hazardous in specific circumstance. To mitigate the risks related to harmful materials requires appliance of safety precautions when they are being used, stored, and transported or being disposed (Education Resources, 2006).

People handling these harmful goods will often wear protective equipment. Fire departments usually have a response team who are trained to deal with accidents and spillage. People who are exposed to these harmful goods are subject to often monitoring and health observation so that they do not exceed occupational exposure limits.

Laws and regulations have been put up on how these materials should be handled depending on their status and activity. Due to these laws and regulations, companies have been forced to put extra measures on the way they handle these goods (Education Resources 2006).

These extra measures occur in Transportation

Transportation, this is when these goods have to be transported from one place to another. Extra care is taken on them. During transportation, the hazardous material must be protectively packaged on the basis of the nature and the hazardous state of the material. All the hazardous material must be packaged in such a way that during transportation, the contents will not be released or the packaging effectiveness will not be reduced as a result of changes in temperature or pressure. Some of the hazardous substances require a double packaging in order to control their movement or to prevent their leakage or breakage (Hazmat, 1996).

This results to an extra cost to a company that would have incurred with other less hazardous substances. Special training is also required for the personnel handling the materials to be transported. These personnel are required to have the knowledge of identifying these materials and also on their packaging and special handling for successive transportation. This is also an extra cost to the company in terms of money and time spent in training of the transportation personnel (Hazmat, 1996).

Handling of the goods

The company will incur costs when they subdivide, label, and distribute materials. They also incur the cost of controls which is placed on these harmful materials and their distribution. To limit airborne contamination, general ventilation and local exhaust are used. These are very expensive to the company (HWM).

When these protective measures are not available, a company will have to look for other personal protective equipment like respirators, safety glasses, gloves and hearing protection. Since all these protective measures are used for different harmful material, a company uses a lot of resources to acquire them and even to maintain them. Companies also encounter handling costs from spillage of harmful materials. These costs emanate from analysis done to determine the chemical properties and quantities. Further a company will have to incur more costs to neutralize these spilled harmful chemicals. Some have to be scooped up so scooping materials has to be bought, some are absorbable so absorbent pillows, dikes or paper towels have to be bought (HWM).

Environmental responsibility

This is a cost incurred by a company which covers the potential liability for violations of liability laws. These costs cover a third party and air borne contamination (MHMIs).

Emergency response

This is incurred in cost of emergency and the equipment.

Disposal

Any hazardous material is not supposed to be disposed on the ground, in the sewer or in the trash. A company will have to incur costs of operating an industrial waste water treatment plant, contractor disposal, waste collection and handling and classification of hazardous waste and their analysis in order to dispose these harmful materials. Waste products must be well labeled with the correct names and contents. Before disposing them, they must be stored in safe containers which are none leaking. As a result of disposals, a company will incur a facility disposal fee which is charged by the disposal company in order for them to accept the waste. It will also incur a tax charge in terms of the tones of waste disposed (MHMIs).

Support equipment

These are special equipments that are used to handle harmful materials and hazardous waste. These equipments may include laboratory equipment and sensing devices. They are very sensitive equipments hence have to be monitored all the time to ensure they are effectively functioning. This takes a company's time and extra care on them (HWM).

Facilities.

This involves cost of construction and maintaining facilities for hazardous materials and waste. The facilities have to be strategically placed where they are easily accessed and regularly checked by trained personnel of a company in order to ensure that the materials are not tampered with hence pose no danger to no one. Perimeter controls, liners, covers and containment structures, have to be constructed. These facilities add to the costs of a company since the hazardous materials cannot be put together with the less harmful (HWM).

Medical

Medical costs to a company emanate from occupational physical exams which also includes the lost time while the examination is being administered. Another cost is medical observation. This involves cost due to loss of time while undergoing the regular check up and also costs as a result of injuries caused by the hazardous materials. Another medical cost incurred is that of surveys of industrial hygiene. It takes a lot of resources for a company including time and money for the regular inspection of the industries (MHMIs).

Procurement

This is the actual purchase price of materials and the cost incurred to transport to the site of use. The costs are usually very high because they have an extra and special packaging and also the materials have to be taken extra care of (ED; DG).

Storage

The storage of hazardous material is based on their compatibility rather than the alphabetical order. Materials of the same hazard are stored together i.e. those highly flammable stored together, the oxidizers together with oxidizers as dangerous conditions may result when incompatible materials are put together (ED; DG).

The house where the materials are stored should be well kept. They should be labeled properly. Date of receipt, date of expiry and the exact content should be included. Storage of these harmful materials increase costs to the company since the company will require responsible store man whom the company will have to pay, the company will also require extra storage places in order to separate the incompatibles from the compatibles. A lot of time and money is also consumed when determining the right content of the materials (ED; DG).

Companies dealing with hazardous materials incur extra costs to ensure their continuity. They have to educate their employees on how to store and dispose of the waste materials. They are also educated on the dangers that the substances expose to human life and the environment. Special training is also done on safety procedures in constructing the facilities for storage and disposal of the materials. Warning signs are also installed to warn people of the dangerous substances and are also an expense to a company (HWMC).

Before a company starts to operate on these materials, it has to be inspected and verified suitable to handle such operations. It also has to a pay a generation fee per year payable according to the tons of hazardous material generated (HWMC).