What you are going to learn
This online training course provides an overview of benzene-related risks and regulatory requirements for individuals who work with benzene in the state of California. It includes safe work practices, requirements for monitoring employee exposure, hazard communication, and how to maintain benzene-related records.
Benzene is a product found in gasoline and other fuels. It is used in the manufacturing of plastics, pesticides, detergents, and other chemicals. Before workers use benzene, they must receive OSHA safety training about how to use the chemical safely. This is because even short-term exposure to high levels of benzene can be fatal, and the chemical is known to cause cancer in humans.
Who This Course is For
Employees involved in the manufacturing of plastics, detergents, pesticides, and other chemicals that expose workers to benzene need benzene safety and awareness training in order to safely operate in their workplace. Individuals with occupational exposure to benzene include steelworkers, refinery workers, tire manufacturing workers, printers, shoemakers, lab technicians, gas station employees, and firefighters.
🔉Consequences For Not Training?
Case Study: Following the addition of benzene to a large tank, two workers opened the gauge hatch on top of the tank to measure and sample the contents. The workers performed the sampling when the temperature in their work area was conducive to the risk of an explosion. The workers did not use any electrostatic charge prevention measures, such as mounting a nitrogen blanket system at the benzene tank. Static electricity ignited the benzene, which caused an explosive fire that took firefighters 15 hours to extinguish. Both workers were badly injured in the explosion.
Key Takeaways: It is critical to be aware of all of the factors that might combine with benzene's natural flammability and lead to disaster. Even static electricity, generated by a wide variety of things such as chemical transfers or sampling undertaken from a tank roof, can ignite benzene and result in an explosion.
