Download Chemistry of Some Hazardous Organic Compounds and

UNIT VI STUDY GUIDE
Chemistry of Some Hazardous Organic
Compounds and Case Study #2
Learning Objectives
Reading
Assignment
Chapter 12:
Chemistry of Some
Hazardous Organic
Compounds: Part I
Chapter 13:
Chemistry of Some
Hazardous Organic
Compounds: Part II
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
1. Describe how DOT and OSHA identify a hazardous organic compound
when it is encountered during transit and in the workplace.
2. Describe the chemical nature of a hazardous organic compound.
3. Identify and compare the key components of some hazardous organic
compounds that are relevant to the safety and health of an EH&S or FS
professional responding to an incident involving these materials.
4. Explain the flow chart of recommended procedures when responding to
an incident or disaster involving a hazardous organic compound fire.
5. Explain the relative strength and NFPA classifications for hazardous
organic compounds.
Supplemental Reading:
Unit Summary
Click here to learn more
about how these organic
compounds get their
names.
Key Terms
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Acetylene
Alcohols
Aldehydes
Aliphatic
Alkanes
Alkenes
Alkylation
Aromatic
Aromatic HC's
Benzene
Carbon disulfide
Chemical warfare
Chlorofluorocarbons
Cracking
Cycloalkanes
Dienes
Esters
Ethylene
Firedamp
Formaldehyde
Fractional distillation
Organic compounds are the building blocks and end products of a wide variety
of many commercial products: heating and motor fuels, solvents, plastics, resins,
paints, varnishes, refrigerants, propellants, aerosols, textiles, and explosives.
The principal concern about organic compounds to firefighters is that organic
compounds are usually flammable substances, and when they are involved in
hazardous materials incidents, these compounds are already burning.
This unit will focus on the simple organic compounds that are in the commercial
marketplace. Chapters 14 and 15 address the more complex organic
compounds of polymers and explosives. To describe how pervasive these
substances are in our world, we need to know nothing more than the fact that
more than one million organic compounds have already been identified.
Systematic classification of these compounds into a number of classes is done
by using functional groups. These groups describe how the properties of the
members of each class are largely identified or dictated by certain atoms or
groups of atoms.
All hydrocarbons are broadly divided into two groups: aliphatic (fat like) and
aromatic (fragrant odors) hydrocarbons. Some of the functional groups
discussed in this unit include: halogenated hydrocarbons, alcohols, ethers,
aldehydes, ketones, organic acids, esters, amines, peroxo-organo compounds,
carbon disulfide, chemical warfare agents, lacrimators, and incendiary agents.
CASE STUDY #2
INSTRUCTIONS:
Students should read the scenario below and respond in the form of an essay,
which should consist of several paragraphs and appropriate priority or task lists.
Responses should be supported fully and completely. A well-thought-out
response can be accomplished in 300-500 words (one or two pages, double
BOS 3640, Interactions of Hazardous Materials
1
22. Gaseous
hydrocarbons
23. Halogenated
hydrocarbons
24. Hydrocarbons
25. Incendiary agents
26. IUPAC
27. Ketones
28. Lacrimators
29. Liquefied natural gas
30. Marsh gas
31. Methane
32. Octane number
33. Olefins
34. Organic acids
35. PAH's
36. PCB's
37. Peroxy-organic
compounds
38. Petroleum gas
39. Propylene
40. Saturated
hydrocarbons
41. Structural isomers
42. Toluene
43. Trienes
44. Unsaturated
hydrocarbons
45. Xylene
spaced). Any published material used to support a response should be cited per
the APA style guidelines listed in the myCSU Student Portal.
THE SCENARIO:
You are back at your plant the Monday after the Dangerous When Wet leaking
tanker incident happened, and you are telling your fellow HazMat Team
Coordinator how you handled the situation. Before he has a chance to offer his
opinion, a call comes in over your radio that a forklift has punctured a 55 gallon
drum at the door between the oxidizer storage area and the production
department. There is a spill, and no one is injured; however, the production
employee does not know what was spilled. You make an immediate page to all
emergency response team members in the area, and then you head out the door
to the scene with your fellow HazMat Team Coordinator (the production
department chief engineer). While en route to the scene, you call the plant
manager and apprise her of what you know and that you will report back as soon
as you have more information.
The incident command center can either be the production office or the
conference room near the plant manager's office. In this case, your first choice is
the production office.
The storage area building has multiple storage bays for oxidizers, flammables,
acids, and bases. When you arrive near the scene, you find the punctured drum
on its side against a pallet of three other drums and a very small fuming cloud of
vapor developing from the area, but you cannot tell its exact point of origin. It
turns out that the drums are just inside the storage area building. You can see
that the drums on the pallet have flammable labels. The fourth flammable drum
has been knocked off the pallet and is also lying on its side next to the punctured
drum. The punctured drum has not been identified at this point – it is a strong
oxidizer, strong acid, or strong base raw material.
How do you proceed? What information are you after, how do you gather it, and
what instructions do you provide for your team? What hazardous situations are
you and your team facing? If you need to, you can differentiate these situations
depending on the punctured drum being a strong oxidizer, strong acid, or strong
base. Develop a brief priority list and a brief action list for what you should do.
What, if any, restraints should you exercise? What advice would you give to any
other individuals coming upon the scene? Do you call for an evacuation of any,
or all, of the plant itself? There are approximately 180 employees currently on
site during this first shift – located in different areas around the plant
(i.e., administrative offices, shipping and receiving, raw material bulk chemical
storage, finished product bulk chemical storage, production operations,
packaging operations, labs, and production/engineering offices).
BOS 3640, Interactions of Hazardous Materials
2