Bessemer City Waste Water Treatment Facility - Executive Summary

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It is the intent of the City of Bessemer City to provide for chemical safety for all its employees, as well as the general public.  Our overall approach to chemical safety is to keep employees well informed and trained concerning the chemicals through a comprehensive safety policy which contains Hazardous Communication and Emergency Response.  Bessemer City is committed to providing for a safe workplace from Management to the Supervisors for the safety of all its employees.  Procedures, checklists, and logs are kept to ensure that these policies are followed. 
 
Our facility is a 1.5 MGD conventional activated sludge wastewater treatment facility consisting of preliminary treatment which includes grit removal and flow measuring.  Primary treatment which consists of primary clarifiers for the settling of heavy particles and sludge removal.  Secondary treatment which includes roughing filter activated sludge process and final clarifiers for the removal of fine particles.  Final treatment c 
onsists of aerated lagoon and final settling pond followed by the addition of chlorine gas injected into the final discharge for disinfection before discharge into Abernathy Creek. 
 
We use chlorine gas in the process listed above which is the regulated substance contained in this report for disinfection of our final dishcarge only.  This substance is used daily, feeding from 1 - 1 ton cylinder, additional 2 - 1 ton cylinders are stored for reserve use. 
 
The worst case scenario listed in this plan is for the release of chlorine gas by a tank rupture, fusible plug blow out, or through a faulty cylinder valve.  Our chlorine cylinders are stored on a concrete platform in an open area and should we have a release it would be to the outside environment.  We have shown that the chlorine gas would travel approximately 1.0 miles before dissipation.  Although we have listed a population of 4 that may be affected we do not perceive this happening due to the residence being higher than the path of 
the chlorine seeking low places due to its weight being heavier than air except in an instance where wind would carry the gas uphill and then we expect that the impact would be very minimal.  Due primarily to the above conditions we chose to use the OCA Guidance for the scenario. 
 
The rules and regulations that we follow concerning the use, accidental release, and prevention is the OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act) CFR (Code of Federal Register) 29 1910.119 Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals.  In our Process Safety Management Plan are written instructions on how to handle chlorine pertaining to off loading cylinders and changing cylinders.  We require specific trained individuals to off load or change cylinders and require fire personnel in full turnout gear to be present in all instances of off loading or changing of cylinders.  We keep a log of who enters the chlorine storage area, reason entering storage area, the duration that these persons are in the  
storage area, and if there were any accidents and/or incidents.  These individuals are required to sign and date thses logs.  Our PSM requires us to have alarms that are visual and audible in the event of a chlorine leak and instructs the facility employees on what to do and who to call by a Chain of Command Chart and an Emergency Response Plan.  
 
We are proud to say that within the last five years we have had no addicdental realease of chlorine. 
 
Our Emergency Response Plan is coordinated with our local Fire Department which is on County Communications with the Gaston County Emergency Management.  Again, we have a Chain of Command for the supervisor and employees to follow.  Our individuals who handle the chlorine cylinders are trained annually in safe handling of chlorine and a drill is conducted at the facility annually for employee escape and as mentioned, we have a visual and audible alarm system. 
 
The only upcoming planned events that we have is the continued annual training of o 
ur employees in Hazard Communications, Safe Handling of Chlorine, and Emergency Response and Escape.
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