An immediate onsite chlorine leakage disaster management plan

摘要

Chlorine is a highly hazardous substance endangering the environment and human. In the past few years, several accidental incidents of chlorine gas leakage were reported around the world. Away from terror attacks and war crimes, these incidences were mainly due to human negligence, ignorance, and illiteracy. A case of chlorine gas leakage is described in this study along with the onsite emergency handling plan. A simple neutralization method was applied and proven to be effective in handling corroded chlorine containers and control the subsequent problem associated with their leakage into the environment. The applicability of the procedure might be limited in some geographic locations depending on the local regulations associated with hazardous materials handling. Despite there are no reports on chlorine gas usage for any terrorist activity in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, the local authorities are applying stricter security measures to assure the proper usage, distribution, storage and disposition of toxic gas cylinders.