Assessing safety, health, and environmental impact early during process development

During chemical process development, potential safety, health, and environm ental (SHE) hazards must be identified, analyzed, and managed as early as p ossible to avoid negative consequences (higher risks, higher costs, longer development times). The main problem of early SHE assessment is the lack of substance data and process information, especially when batch processes ar e considered. A new method is presented that closes this gap considerably. SHE aspects are assessed in 11 effect categories. For each substance of a g iven chemical process and each effect category, the most reliable data are selected out of a variety of different substance databases or estimation me thods. After identifying SHE problems as dangerous properties, their magnit ude is analyzed as potential of danger and can be reduced by technological measures. In this paper, first the goal and scope of the method is outlined . Then the detailed definitions of all categories as well as the exact way of combining information is presented and discussed with respect to current practices in risk analysis and environmental assessment. Finally the metho d is applied to a case study from pharmaceutical industry. Major SHE hazard s of the process are identified and discussed.