With the advent of industrialization, countries faced appealing consequences regarding the safety of labour and later the environment (Need, 2006). Therefore many studies were conducted and strenuous efforts were taken in order to safe guard the issues generated from industrial processes. As Kytle and Ruggie (2005) argues that the safety management is an important aspect of scientific management. In this regard government of each country has fully prescribed the laws of safety; similarly many non-government organisations are also working in order to assure the safety of workforce and the environment.

According to theGuo et al., (2014) the chemical industries in china are the key drivers of the GDP growth, which accounts US$1.2 trillion assuring a compound annual rate of 21%. However, being such a high generating industry the number of accidents are also much high. As He et al., (2014) mentions in its study that in the year 2013 the number of accidents occurred in chemical industries of china were 74. Such a huge number indicates that the companies are not full filling their due responsibilities of safety management. The explosions in Tianjin and Dongying chemical cooperation’s which took hundreds of lifein 2015 raised the question of safety management in the private chemical corporation of china.

Therefore, the following paper will focus on the storage of private companiestowards chemical products. The causes that result in different accidents should be found in order to improve the storage method and means. The main purpose of this project is to study the management of hazardous chemical products in the private chemical companies (Wuhan YangPu company as an example) by the use of management theory (included the transportation, storage, classification and trade, etc.).And because the management in private chemical companies and state-owned chemical enterprises still exist the difference, an effective, safe, and scientific management method for the chemical industry enterprises should be foundthrough the analysis ofits failure cases (accidents) in chemical management process andthe national standards for the chemical productsmanagement.On this basis, the development strategies for a chemical company are found in the future in terms of security.

1.2Current Research in this Area

Foremost we need to focus at the developmental status of this industry in the Chinese economy. In recent years, the developmental status of this industry indicates that highly proficient technology is now available in order to storage and management these chemicals (Cussler and Moggridge 2011). As with the advent of high and advance technology up gradation in this industry accelerated the chemical growth to many folds and thus helped in promotion of this industry. However, the problems existing in chemical industry cannot be ignored as well. For example:

1. As the scale of most chemical industries (especially private company) is relatively smaller than that of other heavy industries. So, this leads that it is difficult to form a scale in terms of economy. This problem is very largein the chemical industry company. Since its driving force for the industrial economy is relatively weak, its investment would not be particularly highcompared to other heavy industries.The absence of investment and attention isthekey factorto cause the security issues (Newman, 2003)
2. In the chemical industry, the complicatedproduct varieties result in a very unreasonable structure. The low value-added products with rough machining are more and more, whilethe high-tech and high value-added products with finish machining are less (Guo et al., 2014). Under this condition, it is easy to have some flaws in the management because the managerswill notattach moreimportanceto the low-value chemical products. And these low-value chemical products just are most prone to have security issuesin the storage, which leads to the contradictions in management(Abowd, Kramarz and Moreau, 1995)
3. The storage equipment in most private chemical enterprisesisobsolete, and their technologies are backward. This is also one of the main reasons of spillage and further leads to any incident.

There are many types of chemical products, some of which are flammable and explosive. Also, some chemical products are easy to produce reaction, and some of them even contain toxic substances. They must be reviewed and approved by public security before they can be sold. However, in order to increase profits, a lot of private companies often overlooked the investment in storage, thus resulting in the generation of a lot of accidents.

In fact, the chemical industry has occupied an important position in the national economy of each country. The development speed and scale of chemical industry has a direct impact on all sectors of social economy, and the world’s annual output of chemical products has exceeded 1.5 trillion dollars according to the china’s year book statistical survey 2013.  Due to the chemical industry have various categories, complex process, variousproducts, different types of productionpollutants, large quantity and high toxicity, and therefore, the chemical industry is a big polluter (Lai-Jun and Ke, 2009). Meanwhile, the chemical products are more likely to produce a large amount of toxic substances in the aspects of processing, storage, use and wastedisposal,thus affecting the ecological environment and endangering human health.

Therefore, most studies have focused primarily on the survival and development of heavy industryin the current study. As said above, the chemical industrymainly isa large polluter. In the 21st century when the green and environmental protection is paidmuch more attention, the survival of chemical industry is an unavoidable problem. Many scholars surround this topic toproduce different opinions. At the same time, the development of chemical industry is also what they focused on.

1.3Research Gap

Aspreviously mentioned that there were studies on chemical companythat mainly focused on the production aspect while analyzing their technology applications and also other researches in preference to the economic benefit gain due to this industry.However, the safety perspective in this industry was highly ignored.The recent incidents generated a greater concern of storage and safety management of this industry. However, if safety management is properly implemented in these industries will help in saving lives of many people and also reduce the environmental concerns. Therefore, the security management of chemicals in private companies will be the focus in this dissertation.

1.4Research Question

To achieve the objectives stated earlier, following two leading research questions are modeled for this research.

• To what extent the private companies are following the safety management procedures prescribed by Chinese Law?

1.5Research Objectives

This research will be an effort to study Chinese private chemical companies and their safety management in storing hazardous chemicals.

• To identify that companies are following the prescribed procedures regarding the storage of chemicals. As we are likely to identify that are their due negligence is one of the major cause of accidents in this industry.
• Assessing and highlighting the technologies used in this industry will help in minimizing the damage caused by these toxic chemicals.

1.6The research scope

1.6.1Location

Chemical industry is a high-profile heavy industry, however relatively high uncertainty is involved in it as well. The so-called uncertainty refers to that its security issue has always been an unknown area to be studied. Furthermore, the development of chemical industry is unevenglobally. Therefore, it requires to be comprehensively analyzed. In the present study Wuhan Yangpu Chemical Companyis taken as an example. There are certain reasons to choose this locationwhich are as follows:

1.The China’s heavy industry fall behind half a century late respect to the period of industrial revolution. As being a naïve amongst the Chinese industries it requires well established laws in order to be productive.

2. With the issues related to storage of chemicals in these industries are raising concerns. Due to the recent incidents it raised many questions regarding the handling of these hazardous wastes in the companies. Many lives are associated with this industry and any such incidence can cause incalculable loss.

3. Wuhan is a city where the chemical industries are relatively concentrated in China.In the Wuhan industrial park a similar incident took place and found that it was because of improper storage. In order to reduce such incidences in future we need to analyse that what constructive steps were taken in this regard by the company.

1.2.1Organization

In fact, the range that heavy industry has been involved inorganization is very broad. However, if only studiedthe chemical safety, it would eliminate many other elements which aren’tassociated. For example, as saidabove, it is very important to study the enterprises in the research of this dissertation. First, the enterprise is an important pillar for the development of chemical products. Organizationally, it is the fastest tostart from the business. It can not only understand the degreeto which the managers attached on the safety, but also can narrow the research scope.

1.7Research Perspective

Our perspective towards conducting this research relies on the safety management and methods in the private chemical industries of China. We will focus on that what technologies that are being used in these companies for storage of hazardous chemicals and how these practices are advanced. While we will also analyse that all precautionary measures according to the Decree 591 (the State Council of China for regulations of safe management of hazardous chemicals in china) and occupational health and safety management are being followed.

1.8Research Method

1.8.1Research Design:

The following study is conduct to analyse the storage issue of toxic chemicals by the chemical companies of China. Present study will collect data both through quantitative and qualitative method.

Quantitative Analysis

In order to quantitatively analyse the results questionnaires will be developed and the distributed to the employees of the private chemical companies located in () city of China. We will be using convenient sampling in order to collect responses for the following study. The number of response was targeted as 300 plus, as according to kline (2005) that 300 is considered as good sample size for analyzing any data set. The questionnaire will be developed on Google doc. and also few hard copies. Our mode of distribution will be sending the developed questionnaire on prescribed email addresses of the employees working on these chemical companies and hard copies were distributed to them as well through personal contacts and resources will be used.

Data Analysis

The quantitative data will be analyzed in the SPSS- version 19. The descriptive and inferential statistical analysis will be used in order to quantify the numbers and draw inferences from them. In order to analyse data descriptively means will be used, however for drawing inferences Kruskal-Wallis test will be conducted

Qualitative Analysis

The qualitative analysis will be conducted through interviews with the management of these companies. Interviews are considered as flexible mode to drive information for any such issue. The content analysis of interviews will be done in order to qualitatively analyse the results. Before conducting interviews a letter of research will be submitted in order to take time for conducting interviews to the management of these companies. The number of interviews will depend upon the responses received from the management authorities of the chemical companies.

1.9.2Data Validity and Reliability:

This is an important aspect in any research that the data which is analyzed must have been drawn from valid and reliable method. The following aspects need to be ascertained before analysis.

• The Questionnaire needs to be developed with the academicians that are known to the research method. That is they need to confirm the validity of the questions that are being asked to the respondents.
• Qualification of the respondents are also needs to ensured that they are actually well aware from the prescribed field.
• The researchers need not to be biased to the respondents on order to reduce any kind of Biases.
• The questions that are being asked needs to be understandable as there should be no confusion.
• Pilot testing will be done in order to ensure that the questions are clear and precise as it increases the instrument reliability and validity.
• The participants will be choosing randomly and also they should be from different work groups in order to ensure no representativeness bias in the study.

2Literature Review

The present study elaborates the view that is ‘what is the storage management of chemical products in the chemical industries of China’. As, Asfahl (1984) mentionedthe chemical storage, he once said: the storage of chemical products usually hasthe risk of fire disaster, explosion and intoxication. In fact, the chemical products which are stored together will be more in chemical storage area, so the situation is more complicated (Jackson, 1969). As because of the chemical incompatibility it has a higher risk when they are mixed together (Pohanish and Greene, 2009), Therefore, the diversification of chemical products also gives the managers a more difficult task.

Since the inception of the chemical industry, it has been under discussion of its safe handling and then distribution (Zheng and Zheng, 2012). Chen et al., (2010) contended that the chemical industry is considered as one of the most controversial industry, as it impose high risk to people and the environment. Numerous accidents have been reported worldwide in this decade due to the toxic chemicals and other harmful substances which affected people’s health and also the environment (Fang et al., 2010; Chen et al., 2010; He et al., 2014). Many International agreements have been made for the handling, storage and transportation of chemical substances including, UNEP Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management in 2006, Rotterdam and Stockholm Convention in 2008 and 2001 respectively, European Union Directive the REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals). According to these directives in order to carefully handle the hazardous chemicals every company needs to follow the prescribed policies and procedures in order to ensure safe handling of these chemicals (He et al., 2011).

The chemical Industry of China is considered as one of the basic pillars of the national economy, as according to the Chinas statistical yearbook 2013 the chemical industry is growing at an annual growth rate of 26%. This economic pillar however, led to many disruptions in recent years and absconded many important lives. The laws and regulations regarding handling of these chemicals in China are promulgated the Regulations on the Control over Safety of Dangerous Chemicals and the National Catalogue of Dangerous Substances (GB12268) (He et al., 2011). Similarly the Work Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China also comprehensively put all agendas of safety management (Chen et al., 2010). China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association (CPCIA), also is one of the major association that is fully engage in the management and industrial growth of petro chemical and chemical industry of china. The eruptions in Tianjin and Dongying chemical cooperation’s have put the issue at a greater priority to the public and policy makers. These accidents have raised questions on the policy implementations and the role of safety management by the companies and their practices.

There are numerous steps that should betaken for safe handling and then storageof these chemicals. According to Lai-JunandKe (2009) these chemicals needs to be carefully handled with proper storage places, trained employees, all requirementsof container andpackaging should be according to the law. Similarly,Brown and O'rourke (2007) argues that proper education and training must be given to the employees in handling of such hazardous chemicals. Furthermore, Fang et al., (2010) contended that, the company should pay attention to the following aspects: confirm, announce and adjust thecontent of chemical products. At the same time, the hazards of different chemical products should be registered. In addition, some other scholars believed that it should strengthen the management of hazardous chemical products storage toensure the safety in the process of chemical storage and transportation, which is a very important part for the chemical safety management (He et al., 2014) Government and country should undertake a review of the storage of chemical products.

In my opinion, the storage safety of chemical products generally included the following important parts.

1. The classification of chemical products

Chemical products are unlike the general goods because they have different physical and chemical properties. Some chemical products are prone to generate the chemical reactions. Therefore, it must be strict with the limitation to supervision and classificationin sorting and storage.

2. The requirements of security techniques

The different measures for storage should be taken according to different product categoriesItmust take the constant temperature measures for whatshould be applied. Besides, it must isolatethe fire sources and eliminate all potential sources that may generate the fire sparks. According to their physical and chemical nature they need to be taken and handled as per their prescribed nature.

3. Handling, carrying and storage safety technical requirements

In terms of bulk flammable, explosive and poisonous liquid products, it should be devoted to build the storage containers, and the corresponding storage and securityfacilities should be constructed in accordance with the norms and rulesissued by nation and relevant departments. For the chemical products which are sub packaged and wholly packed, it must comply with the regulation requirements of hazardous chemical products, and also have thepackage measures of seal, anti-earthquake, anti-pressure, drop resistance that are adaptable to the product features. The handling and stacking must also be implemented according to the specific requirements of different products in order to avoid incurring serious consequences.

 

 

 

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