e maintenance engineering management of chemical cleaning opera tions for petroleum refineries is the physical protection of the environment. The twentieth anniversary of Earth Day in April 1990 serves as a reminder of the public significance attached to the physical protection of the environment in con temporary society (Angier, 1990). The Prince William Sound oil spill in 1989, and numerous smaller petroleum related environ mentally related accidents subsequent to the Prince William spill serve to point out the particular vulnerability of, and responsibility for petroleum refiners with respect to the pro tection of the physical environment (Feder, 1989).
Protection of the Physical Environment: Considerationsfor Petroleum Refinery Operations
The policies designed to protect areas such as Prince William Sound in Alaska from damage by oil spills is one illus tration of an attempt at environmental protection. The link between human health and environmental damage is not strong in such cases, unless humans consume animals in the food chain damaged by the resulting pollution. Laws designed to insure the purity of ground water provide another example of environ mental protection. In this instance, however, the link to human health is stronger. Each of these types of environmental protection, however, is a significant concern for the petroleumrefinery operator.
Cancer is also a major public health problem in developed societies. Among the myriad of extensive public health pro grams found in developed societies are those designed to pre vent carcinogens from reaching human and animal life (which forms a part of the human food chain) through toxic wastes. Carcinogens frequently reach human beings through elements of the natural environment. Carcinogens may be trans mitted through air, ground, and water pollution, and petroleumrefineries are capable of producing each of these types of pol lution.
Dirty air and dirty wat...