The Second Batch List of Hazardous Chemicals under Priority Management to Be Published Soon

ChemLinked learned from the China SAWS that, a second batch of 13 hazardous chemicals under priority management (hereinafter as “priority hazardous chemicals”) is soon to be published around China’s Spring Festival Holiday season. "The formal second batch will remove Peroxyacetic acid (CAS: 79-21-0) from a previously released opinion-soliciting draft issued in October 2012 as the substance has already been added in the first batch of priority hazardous chemicals list", disclosed Mr. Fan Jinchun, researcher in the SAWS.

Information of the to-be-issued Second Batch

Published together with the second batch list will also be a recommendation document that illustrates the safety treatment and emergency disposal measures for the second batch of hazardous chemicals. These safety recommendations are grouped in five elementary items associated with the safety management of hazardous chemicals, namely, risk precautions, physico-chemical properties, hazard information (composed of combustion and explosion hazards, active reaction and health hazards), safety precautions (inclusive of general precautions and special precautions concerning operation safety, storage safety and transport safety) and emergency disposal measures (inclusive of first-aid, extinguishing and leaking disposal measures).

According to the China SAWS, the compilation of the second batch list has referred to the lesson learned from the 2012 February explosion accident taking place in a chemical company of the Northern Hebei province. This batch list is aimed to reinforce the safety control on domestic production and management of explosives so as to improve the corporate safety management on the hazardous chemicals.

The first batch of priority hazardous chemicals had been published in June 2011. It contains 60 chemicals that had been screened out of the 2002 Catalogue of Hazardous Chemicals and which shall meet certain conditions of flammable gases Cat. 1 or flammable liquids Cat. 1, and other criteria, at 20 °C and normal atmosphere pressure of 101.3 kPa). Corresponding safety and emergency recommendations for the first batch substances were made public in July of 2011.

What could the List of Priority Hazardous Chemicals mean to HC companies? 

Companies obliged of the SAWS-responsible HC Registration have to provide information of any listed priority HC that may be involved in their maufacturing or import during their application procedures. Specifically, they need to fill out in an online application form the total category and each respective chemical name of their involved priority HCs.

In addition, manufacturers and users of the listed priority HCs are subject to a string of particular management requirements set in the State Council Decree 591. This may include:

• 1) These companies must in principle appoint a top level qualified chemical industry design unit to conceive the production and storage facilities for their products;

• 2) These companies must accept the annual examinations from the local authorities of work safety for their production, storage, use and operation of the listed priority hazardous chemicals;

• 3) The producers of the priority hazardous chemicals should prepare a sound and workable emergency plan for hazardous chemical accidents and be equipped with necessary emergency rescue devices and instruments.

Finally, the List is usually updated in match with a catagloue of hazardous chemical processes under priority management (in short as "priority HC processes") and a document specifying the safety control requirements, key mointoring parameters and recommended control chemes for priority HC processes. Those specifications are necessary reference to registrants when reporting the basic features of their priority HC processes in the online application form.