City of Kennewick Waste Water Treatment Plant - Executive Summary |
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR RMP WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT STORAGE FACILITY FOR CHLORINE ACCIDENTAL RELEASE PREVENTION AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE POLICIES AT THE FACILITY: Release Prevention and emergency response polices for chlorine gas reflects a very pro active employee based program. Senior Management of the City of Kennewick and the Public Works Department coordinate efforts to minimize the possibility of a release and respond in a unified way to any such releases. All City of Kennewick field employee's use a safety standard incorporated through a Field Risk Management Committee and general safety policies. Public Works applies Process Safety Management (PSM), which is implemented through an employee, initiated safety standard. Incident Command System (ICS) is mandated for all releases. ICS is planned around a unified command system between the City of Kennewick's Fire, Police, and Public Works Departments. Efforts are coordinated through Benton County Emergency Management during a release scenario. THE FACILITY AND THE REGULATED SUBSTANCE: This facility is located at 416 North Kingwood between the streets of East Bruneau and East Columbia Drive in the city of Kennewick, Washington. It is the fenced compound at the City of Kennewick's Waste Water Treatment Plant. As you enter the treatment plant by the Bruneau Street gate, it is the first structure on your right (South). The building is constructed of metal. Chlorine gas is stored in one ton cylinders. The capacity of this facility is twelve full containers. Chlorine gas system used in the disinfection process at the Waste Water Treatment Plant is located at the City of Kennewick's Water Treatment Plant. The chlorine gas is injected into process water and piped to the Waste Water Treatment Plant. All gas injection process equipment is off site of this facility. THE WORST-CASE RELEASE SCENARIO AND ALTERNATIVE RELEASE SCENARIO: WORST CASE Release of a one ton full tank of chlorine (2,000 pounds released in ten minutes) because the tank is dropped and ruptures during unloading. This occurs outside of this building (Waste Water Treatment Plant Storage Facility) and there are no mitigation systems in place. The area affected by the release is 1.3 miles. The affected population is 7,300. ALTERNATIVE CASE Release of a one ton full tank of chlorine inside of the closed storage building through a 3/8 inch hole from the tank valve rupturing or being sheared off. All alarm systems at facility are functional. The area affected by the release is 530 feet. The population is 11 employees working at the Waste Water Treatment Plant. GENERAL RELEASE PREVENTION PROGRAM AND CHEMICAL-SPECIFIC PREVENTION PROGRAM: Process Safety Management (PSM) as defined in OSHA and WISHA was implemented in 1996 with the program becoming the safety standard in 1997. This is a Public Works safety program is for the highly hazardous chemicals chlorine and ozone. This is unique safety standard for the C ity of Kennewick. It revolves around employees working with these hazardous chemicals. PSM is initiated through a committee of seven employees. Only two of these employees represent management. Management did not dictate what, when and where for this safety standard. The key points of this very pro active safety program are: 1. Dissemination of Process Safety Information to all entering the workplace including employees, contractors and the public. 2. Operating Procedures laminated to all process equipment. 3. Training for all public works personnel with mandatory written exams. Special training by factory representatives on all new equipment installed. 4. A pre-start up safety review annually or after any extended outage of more than twenty four hours. 5. Mechanical integrity of process components assured through change out written procedures. 6. Management of change to process procedures which are instituted through levels of responsible persons. 7. Incident investigation manda ted through an independent safety committee of the City of Kennewick. 8. Emergency Planning and Response Training mandated yearly. 9. Compliance Audits to be conducted every two years by an independent City of Kennwick Safety team with assistance from Washington State Department of Labor and Industries FIVE YEAR ACCIDENT HISTORY: There have been no releases of chlorine gas at this facility ever. EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROGRAM: The ERP is coordinated through Benton County Emergency Management. The first responders are the Kennewick Fire Department and the Tri-County Haz Mat Team. ICS is used and it is unified between the Fire, Police and Public Works Departments. PLANNED CHANGES TO IMPROVE SAFETY: This is an ongoing process that is driven by our Process Safety Management Committee. In 1999, Compliance Audits will be completed along with a scheduled safety inspection from Washington State Labor and Industries Inspector. The Waste Water Treatment Plant is in the process of changing disinfection processes from chlorine to ultra violet light. The completed changes will be done in the year 2000. |