Faculty of Chemical Engineering,

Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam

CBE686
TEST 1 28 OCTOBER 2011

CBE 686 Safety and Health in Chemical and Bioprocess Industries

Semester: Sept 2011-Jan 2012
Groups: EH2225A & EH2225B
This test addresses Program Outcome PO1 and PO2 and Course Outcomes CO1 and CO2
Answer all questions. Any students caught cheating or copying from other students will be
penalized.
QUESTION 1
(PO8, CO1, C2)
a) Accident, incident and near miss are important terminology in process safety. Define the
terminology and give an example for each.
(6 marks)
b) A gas pipeline exploded with earthquake force in a rural southeastern Texas town killing one
person, injuring 21 and igniting a blaze that burned out of control for several hours. Accident
investigators said they could not immediately determine the cause for the explosion but
suspected that leaking liquefied petroleum gas had collected in a low lying ravine and may
have been ignited by sparks from a vehicle or a home stove pilot light.
i)

Describe the root causes of the accident.

(2 marks)

ii) If you were the design engineer of this pipeline, explain how would you reduce or
eliminate the risk of such an explosion from occurring.
(4 marks)
QUESTION 2
(PO8, CO1, C1, C2, C4)
The purpose of containment in bioprocess facilities is to prevent the escape of potentially
hazardous agents outside the workspace to persons such as workers, visitors and family
members of the workers. Its requirements are based on assessment of potential biohazard of an
agent as reflected in its risk classification.
a) List down four different biosafety level assignment for large scale bioprocessing industries.
(2 marks)
b) Compare the protection provided by four different types of laboratory scale biocontainment
for individual and community.
(2 marks)
c) Discuss the containment needed in handling Marburg Virus in term of the lab practice and
technique, safety equipment needed and basic facility design.
(6 marks)

Faculty of Chemical Engineering,

Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam

CBE686
TEST 1 28 OCTOBER 2011

QUESTION 3
(PO8, CO2, C2)
Using the following data, determine the value of LC50
Dose of rotenone (mg/l) Number of insects Number affected (deaths)
10.5
50
44
7.9
49
42
5.3
46
24
3.8
48
16
2.8
50
6
(8 marks)

QUESTION 4
(PO8, CO2, C2, C5)
A substance has a TLV-TWA of 145 ppm, a TLV-STEL of 180 ppm, and a TLV-C of 230 ppm.
The data in the following table were taken in a work area:
Time
8:05 am
9:15 am
10:07 am
11:20 am
12:12 pm
1:17 pm
2:03 pm
3:13 pm
4:01 pm
5:00 pm

Concentration (ppm)
110
130
143
162
142
157
159
165
153
130

a) A worker on an 8-hour shift is exposed to this toxic vapor. Determine whether the exposure
is within compliance. Assume that the worker is at lunch between the hours of 12 pm to
1 pm and is not exposed to chemical during that time
(6 marks)
b) Propose short term and long term measures to deal with overexposure to the above
substance.
(4 marks)

END OF QUESTION PAPER