ACTION 6: Development and Validation of the Protocol

The Protocol under development that will constitute the main product of the project will be a well-structured technical handbook/ guide for the safe handling of hazardous chemicals in all lifecycle transportation stages and the control of accidental releases and environmental damage. It will be divided in four sections, each of which will correspond to different modes of dangerous substances transportation (road, rail, sea, pipelines). Each section will be further divided in the selected substance classes and/ or representative hazardous chemicals containing information (technical, organizational, administrative and protective means and measures) for all involved parties/ users in the transportation and handling of hazardous chemicals as well as environmental risk assessment results.

For the purpose of this sub action, all relevant information and results of ACTIONS 2, 3, 4, and 5 will be taken into account such as:

• Legislation obligations of the project target-groups
• Good industrial practices and standards for the safe transport of petrochemicals
• Good industrial practices concerning quantification of environmental pollution in case of spills and emergency planning techniques
• Procedures and guidelines of the project industrial partners
• Substance classes MSDS created in Action 3 and environmental and human health parameters identified for selected substances (Reach framework)
• Measurements of HSE parameters of the selected hazardous chemicals in key locations and areas of the project case studies (e.g. petrol stations, loading/ unloading installations of ships, trucks, etc)
• Quantified environmental impacts of project case studies for selected substance classes and suggestions for improvement optimization of the handling and distribution cycle in each case study (LCA and Reach assessment results)
• Suggestions and comments for the improvement of the handling and distribution cycle of chemicals as well as on possible supplementary measures for supporting implementation of national legislation and emergency planning techniques.

For the development of a complete and effective good-practice Protocol, the project team will take into consideration the following elements:

The requirements and issues included in Safety Management Systems (SMS) of SEVESO II Directive for the control of major accidents involving dangerous substances such as:

• Organization and personnel issues
• Identification and evaluation of major accidents
• Operational control issues (including maintenance)
• Management of change issues
• Planning for emergencies
• Monitoring performance
• Audit and review (of the SMS)

Each SMS is developed based on Risk Assessment (RA) results including critical procedures such as: identification of safety critical equipment and elements, initiating events and scenarios that can lead to an accident, risk analysis of the safety critical elements, risk assessment of accident scenarios, preventive and mitigation measures such as leak detection systems (for toxic and flammable substances), leak control systems for the minimization of the consequences of loss of containment of hazardous chemicals to ground or water, inspection and maintenance provisions for safety-related systems, etc.

–          The elements covered in Environmental Management Systems (e.g. EMAS, ISO 14001), particularly the issues included in “Environmental Design” and “Control Issues and Corrective Actions”: identification of environmental aspects and consequences (e.g. emissions to air, leaks in groundwater and soil), determination of environmental scopes and objectives, development of environmental management programs, monitoring and measurement of environmental aspects, preventive and corrective actions, etc.

The issues and elements contained in Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSAS 18001, ΕΛΟΤ 1801) such as: occupational risk assessment, health and safety procedures, codes of practice, employee guides, etc.

Under this sub action results from past projects of TUC on Safety Management Systems (SMS) and risk management in HazChem ports, railways stations and airports will be considered.

In the framework of these past projects of TUC in collaboration with Hellenic Ministry for the Environment of Physical Planning and Public Works (2003-2005) Risk Management Systems (RMS) for the carriage of dangerous substances in national ports, airports, and railway stations were drawn up according to principles and specifications of SEVESO II Directive for Safety Management Systems. The dangerous substances transported in the examined ports, railway stations and airports were classified in hazard classes according to the legislative regulations (UNRTDG Code) and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) were developed for each hazard class taking into consideration the substances properties, risks, control and mitigation measures in case of fire, etc. The conclusions of the studies constitute documented results of a preliminary hazard analysis and consequences assessment of worst case scenarios of likely accidents involving dangerous substances. It emerged that potentially, as for the dangerous substances that are transported, or will be transported in the future, it is likely a major accident to occur which could have significant until catastrophic consequences to man and the environment.

The data and results of the studies that will be taken into consideration and examined in the present activity for the development of the good-practice Protocol are:

• The classification of dangerous substances in hazard classes
• The registered dangerous substances inventories for each hazard class and their quantities transported
• The form of emergency mobilization in different levels according to the severity of the accidents taking into consideration “good industrial practices”.
• The information and communication flow diagram between the involved parties and authorities for each level of emergency mobilization and category incident.

Comments on possible supplementary measures to support national implementation of EU Regulations as well as Emergency Planning Techniques will be considered.

The expected results of this sub action will be a complete management system including the requirements of the abovementioned management systems and containing guidelines and procedures related to carriage and handling cycle of hazardous chemicals operations, as well as appropriate actions to address possible emergencies for all selected hazard classes and main parties involved in transportation lifecycle (project target groups).

Beneficiary responsible for implementation of this activity is TUC with the help of MOH and AVIN OIL.

Following the development of the good-practice Protocol, a pilot implementation of the Protocol will be realized in selected users-companies. The Protocol implementation will aim at examining the functionality and effectiveness of the Protocol’s guidelines and procedures to fit the needs and requirements of the users and improving the technical, organizational and administrative lacks or omissions. There is a chance the on-site measurements for emissions to air, soil and water to be implemented again (reported under sub action 3.2 in the Timetable) during the pilot implementation of the Protocol, in order to inspect the Protocol’s leverage.

The activities that integrated in the framework of this phase of the project are the following:

• Pilot implementation of the Protocol at one project industrial partner through pilot training of the involved personnel on Protocol procedures.
• Pilot implementation of the Protocol at other selected target-groups (e.g. carriers/ transporters, distributors) tailored to their needs. The selection of users will be organized according to their interested, hazard degree and identified omissions.
• Protocol validation based on pilot implementation results for the identified key users (industrial and market partners)

To this end, experts from TUC, MOH and AVINOIL will have at least 2 meetings in order to co-ordinate the outcome of this sub action and proceed to the Protocol pilot implementation and validation.

The expected results of this sub action will include:

• Control functionality and effectiveness of the Protocol
• Improvement of Protocol’ s contents and omissions
• Validation results for selected target-groups
• Development and production of a Manual / handbook of Protocol

Beneficiary responsible for implementation of this activity is TUC with the help of MOH and AVIN OIL and an external assistance (external consultant in the field of certification, auditing and validation will assist in the editing and production of the manual) which will be utilized for the implementation of this sub-action and specifically the development of the Protocol.

The successful implementation of ACTION 6 apparently depends on the successful carrying out of ACTIONS 2, 3, 4, and 5 and the sufficiency of the results obtained during these actions. No other constraints are anticipated especially given the great experience of the working group in the development and implementation of Management Systems (e.g. Safety Management Systems of SEVESO II, ISO 14001), the assessment of the environmental impacts of the LCI results, the deep knowledge of the transportation cycle of dangerous petrochemicals and the expertise in development specifications, guidelines and technical manuals.