Manufacture, Storage and Import Of Hazardous Chemical (Amendment) Rules, 1989

Manufacture, Storage and Import Of Hazardous Chemical (Amendment) Rules, 1989

As per the powers conferred by Section 6, 8 and 25 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1966), this regulation was enacted by Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) and later amended in 1994 and 2000.  It regulates the manufacture, storage and import of hazardous chemicals in India.  These rules are framed under 20 sections, these 20 sections refer to 12 schedules for regulatory requirements to be followed while handling hazardous chemicals

Hazardous chemicals are the chemicals owing to their physical and chemical properties are capable of producing major accident hazards, they are broadly classified as

·         Toxic chemicals

·         Flammable gases

·         Flammable liquids

·         Explosives 

Accidents mean - an incident involving loss of life inside or outside the installation, or ten or more injuries inside and/or one or more injuries outside or release of toxic chemicals or explosion or fire or spillage of hazardous chemicals resulting in on-site or off-site emergencies or damage to equipment leading to a stoppage of process or adverse effects on the environment.

There are different criteria /formats /guidelines which are to be followed by all industries dealing with hazardous chemicals for submitting any report during ongoing/new industrial activity. These requirements are provided in 12 schedules 

                                                                           SCHEDULES

Schedule 1: This schedule consists of two parts, in part 1 there are certain criteria listed to know under which classification does the hazardous material belong to and in  part 2 there are “ 684” hazardous chemicals listed down . Coming to part 1 the following criteria are used to classify hazardous materials

CRITERIA FOR TOXIC CHEMCIALS: This helps us to understand the toxicity of hazardous materials

Sr No	Toxicity	Oral Toxicity  (LD 50 mg/kg)	Dermal Toxicity (LD 50 mg/kg)	Inhalation Toxicity (LC 50 mg/l)
1	Extremely toxic	>5	<40	<0.5
2	Highly toxic	>5-50	>40-200	<0.5-2.0
3	Toxic	>50-200	>200-1000	>2-10

CRITERIA FOR FLAMMABLE GASES:  Gases which at 20oC and at standard pressure of 101.3KPa are :-

 (a)  Ignitable when in a mixture of 13 percent or less by volume with air.

OR

 (b) Have a flammable range with air of at least 12 percentage points regardless of the lower flammable limits.

 CRITERIA FOR FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS:         

·         Extremely flammable liquids: chemicals which have flash point lower than or equal to 23o°C and boiling point less than 35o°C.

 ·         Very highly flammable liquids: chemicals which have a flash point lower than or equal to 23o°C and initial boiling point higher than 35o°C.

 ·         Highly flammable liquids: chemicals which have a flashpoint lower than or equal to 60o°C but higher than 23o°C.

 ·         Flammable liquids: chemicals which have a flashpoint higher than 60o°C but lower than 90o°C.

 CRITERIA FOR EXPLOSIVES: Explosives mean a solid or liquid or pyrotechnic substance (or a mixture of substances) or an article.

 ·         Which is in itself capable by chemical the reaction of producing gas at such a temperature and pressure and at such a speed as to cause damage to the surroundings 

 ·         Which is designed to produce an effect by heat, light, sound, gas or smoke or a combination of these as the result of non-detonative self-sustaining exothermic chemical reaction

SCHEDULE 2 and 3

   Schedule 2 and schedule 3 are some hazardous chemicals with assigned threshold quantities. When a site handles hazardous chemicals more than the thresholds, the site will be regarded as major accident hazards (MAH) installations  (isolated storage and industrial activity at a site handling (including transport through carrier or pipeline) of hazardous chemicals equal to or in excess of the threshold quantities and subject to reporting, safety audit and contingency plan requirements.

SCHEDULE 4

  This schedule lists down the types of industrial processes that are planned to be installed for the production, processing or treatment of organic or inorganic chemicals which requires use of hazardous chemicals, some industrial processes listed are    

·         Alkylation

·         Condensation

·         Esterification 

·         Halogenations and manufacture of halogens

·         Hydrogenation

·         Hydrolysis

·         Oxidation

·         Polymerization

·         Sulphonation  etc

                                                             SCHEDULE 5

 This schedule lists down the different types of authorities with legal backing and their corresponding duties towards these rules

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Article by PJ Mohan

Sr.Faculty, NIFS