Loss prevention in the petrochemical and chemical-process high-tech industries in Taiwan

Industrial safety has noticeably improved in recent years in Taiwan. Despite these improvements, however, serious accidents including explosions, chemical releases, and fires have still occurred in companies such as the Fu Guo Chemical Company (2001), Sin Hun Chemical Company (2005), Motech Industries, Inc. (2005) and Nanpao Resin Co. (2010). These accidents resulted in great loss of life and property, and further caused demands for improvement. Chemical disasters usually result from the combination of several mistakes or gross carelessness and are seldom caused by a single episode. To ensure the safety of operating, handling and storing chemicals, as well as to prevent chemical disasters, one must take many critical points into account, such as techniques, manufacturing processes, operators, chemicals, and emergency response. In Taiwan, the hazards and risks of high-tech companies are higher than in other industrial sectors. Therefore, a variety of safety management methods and regulations appropriate for high-tech companies have been generated. We studied the current status of the indigenous loss prevention protocols based on the safety management of petrochemical and chemical-process high-tech industries in Taiwan.