Washington – A new video from the Chemical Safety Board examines the concept of inherently safer design.

The 11-minute video is based on the 2008 explosion at the Bayer CropScience chemical plant in Institute, WV. The facility stored methyl isocyanate, and even though the MIC storage container was not damaged, CSB’s investigation found debris from the explosion could have hit a pipe and triggered a release of the toxic chemical.

Inherently safer design is an approach focused on reducing risk in the process. The video discusses the four main components, which are substituting with a less hazardous material, minimizing the amount of material in the process, using less hazardous process conditions such as lower pressures, and simplifying the process.

The components come from a National Academy of Sciences report (.pdf file) on the Bayer CropScience incident.