IPI North East, Inc. - Executive Summary |
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IPI North East, Inc., located at 505 Blue Ball Road (Triumph Industrial Park), Elkton, Maryland has maintained a high standard of training and informing it's employees of the hazards associated with chemicals such as toluene diisocyanate (mixed isomers). As a producer of liquid polyurethane component systems, many liquid chemicals are blended or reacted. Toluene diisocyanate (mixed isomers) is the only substance handled at this facility that is regulated by the EPA risk management program (RMP) rule. IPI has had an excellent safety record at it's Elkton facility with no reportable incidents of a spill with toluene diisocyanate (TDI) since IPI moved to this location fifteen years ago. This demonstrates the concern for safety by IPI personnel. All production and laboratory employees undergo extensive training so they will be prepared for the potential hazards of each chemical. The process first begins with unloading a tanker truck of TDI in a covered concrete dike. In case a spil l would occur during unloading, the dike would contain an entire tank truck of TDI. Approximately, six to seven times a year, a tanker truck will unload 4,200 gallons of TDI. The TDI is unloaded to a 6,000 gallon bulk storage tank (T-604) that is inside the production facility and is in a separate bulk tank room which is diked. The metal and concrete block bulk storage tank dike would contain over 6,000 gallons of TDI. The bulk storage tank feeds two reactors, R-4 (2000 gallon) and R-6 (200 gallon). If the bulk storage tank and or the two TDI reactors would be overfilled, an alarm would sound and the material would go to a overflow tank. Other non-RMP regulated liquid chemicals are stored in the bulk tank room and feed to these two reactors and others. The worse case release scenario would be losing 4,200 gallons from the unloading tanker truck due to a major vessel rupture. Since the unloading area is diked, the TDI would be contained and the Endpoint would be 0.4 miles. Th e release to the outside air would only be 0.06 pounds per minute at 120 degrees F. The alternative release scenario would be losing 6,000 gallons (60,000 pounds) of TDI at 120 degrees F from the bulk storage tank into the diked tank room. The release rate to the outside air would only be 0.1 pounds per minute and the Endpoint would be 0.1 miles. If the bulk storage tank would ever overflow, an alarm would go off and the excess material would go directly to a tank used specifically for a possible overflow. The worse case or alternate release scenario would have to be caused by a major failure of a tank and human error. Checklists for safety procedures are used for every unloading. Most of the safeguards to prevent a major spill of TDI were implemented in the past fifteen years without incident. IPI conducts training for all regulated safety programs such as the hazard communication, bloodborne pathogen, lockout/tagout, forklift and personal protective equipment. Perimeter moni toring during the unloading of TDI was performed around the facility and no recordable traces of TDI were found. The production facility has a monitor to detect the first signs of a leak. If a leak were detected, the emergency response program would handle such a situation. IPI has had a written and thorough emergency response plan since moving into its facility. Drills in case of fire or toxic release are conducted and evaluated. All local (fire department, Cecil County Local Emergency Planning Committee) state (Maryland Department of the Environment) and federal agencies are listed in the emergency response plan and would be notified in case a spill and/or release would occur. Over the years, our emergency response program has been expanded to include hazard response training sponsored from outside sources such as the Maryland Fire and Resue Institute. IPI North East, Inc. looks at the Risk Management Program as a valuable tool to ensure the safety of its employee's and neigh bors through further training and better safety procedures. We hope our already excellent safety record will improve even more with continued process hazard analysis of our TDI production equipment. |