Like any complex equipment, incinerators can break down. However, modern hazardous waste incinerators have numerous monitoring features and safeguards that, in the event of a malfunction, automatically stop the waste from being fed into the incinerator until the problem is corrected. Instruments continuously monitor the incinerator stack for the agent at extremely low levels, well below levels considered safe for the community. If any agent is detected in the incinerator stack, the incinerator automatically shuts down until problems are corrected . Quality control specialists check agent-monitoring instruments in the stacks and elsewhere in the workplace each day.
Regulatory agencies can also require that PICs be examined during compliance tests.
Such examinations have been required for all DOD demilitarization incinerators tested to date. These agencies also continuously monitor and maintain permanent records of key operating temperatures, pressures, and gas flow rates of the DOD incinerators in order to control the entire combustion and gas-cleaning process. Although health professionals do not completely agree about the actual hazards associated with chlorinated dioxins, which are commonly referred to simply as dioxins, their production has generally been tightly regulated to protect the public health. In fact, the exhaust from one diesel truck, or even the smoke from a single cigarette contains far higher concentrations of chlorinated dioxins than do the emissions from any of the Johnson Atoll incinerators. Depending on design and operating conditions, metals emissions could be harmful to public health.