Changes by EPA for prevention of chemical disasters

Chemical mishaps that happened in January are recorded, and EPA is advised to mandate safety precautions in order to prevent other chemical tragedies. In a report published by the Environmental Justice Health Alliance, three chemical mishaps that happened in January are profiled, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is advised to mandate particular safety precautions in order to prevent other chemical tragedies.

The EPA issued proposed changes to the Risk Management Program in August 2022, which governs a number of high-risk establishments in the US that utilize or store extremely dangerous chemicals. Congress specifically instructed EPA to use this program to avert tragedies, but on average, more than 140 hazardous chemical events take place year.

Actionable suggestions are provided in Preventing disasters that the EPA should incorporate into its final rule to help avoid future occurrences of tragedies like these: Lowering the standards that would initiate coverage for compounds already covered while extending the Risk Management Program to encompass additional hazardous chemicals; Requiring all the risk management program facilities to think about, record, and use safer chemical and technological options.

Overall, the EPA’s draft rule continues to rely on high-risk facilities’ voluntary actions rather than adopting reasonable prevention requirements. Over the past 25 years, numerous chemical mishaps have not been avoided using this strategy. If the draft rules are not strong enough, then the workers and community members all around the world would face disasters like that of environmental, financials as well as humanly disasters.