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Preventing the Proliferation of Chemical Weapons – A New Mutual Responsibility |
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AcuSafe Special Feature Preventing the Proliferation of Chemical Weapons – A New Mutual Responsibility By David Moore PE, CSP Facilities handling hazardous chemicals now have to consider a possible threat of attack with the purpose of causing an intentional release to the environment and great harm to exposed populations. But this is not the only issue to be evaluated in Security Vulnerability Analyses. One of the unfortunate realities of terrorism is that there is the potential that certain chemicals can be misused to make chemical weapons of mass destruction. Any business that manufactures, stores, processes, or handles chemical substances that could be used for that purpose has a heightened responsibility to prevent the sale or theft of these materials to potential terrorists. The issue is whether a business could be an unknowing source of chemicals that could be stolen or surreptitiously purchased and then be used for anything from simple release to bathtub chemistry for weapons of mass destruction to state sponsored terrorism. All businesses have to take this issue seriously and prevent these actions. The new expectation is that each business evaluates their facilities against these lists, and if they are present, that effective countermeasures be developed to prevent small or large scale theft, diversion, or sale to unlawful parties. Our job is to evaluate this risk, and to establish appropriate countermeasures against insider and outsider threats to that end. For guidance on this issue, see “Guidelines for Managing and Analyzing the Security Vulnerabilities of Fixed Chemical Sites”, published by CCPS in August, 2002 (http://www.aiche.org/ccpssecurity). There are three references given in the CCPS guidelines for companies to use to evaluate this issue, namely:
To facilitate this analysis, the AcuTech Consulting Group has prepared a consolidated list of chemical weapon substances and substances that are precursors to chemical weapons. We wish to thank Mr. Steven Watts and Mr. Greg Keeports of Rohm & Haas for providing the basis of this list. The lists are taken from the three references given above. AcuTech offers this list as a service, but cautions that this is a complex issue requiring careful analysis. At issue during the evaluation of chemical weapons is the fact that many of the listed substances are commonly used chemicals in industry, and that they have the potential for ‘dual use’. This makes the protection of these substances in the common domain more problematic, and complicates intelligence and law enforcement efforts with rogue nations. We can do our part by establishing the controls necessary at the source, and seeing to it that the industry is not abused in this way. For further guidance, please contact the author at dmoore@acutech-consulting.com.
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