Chef Francisco - Executive Summary |
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The Chef Francisco Inc., King of Prussia, Pennsylvania facility (Chef Francisco) produces soups and related food products for a wide range of commercial clients. Chef Francisco is a subsidiary of Heinz U.S.A. Our workforce of approximately 250 employees is comprised of production, maintenance, plant operations, technical, clerical and management personnel. Many of our employees have been with us for years. We are proud of our facility, the quality of our products and the stability of our workforce. The federal Accidental Release Prevention Requirements under Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act, codified in 40 CFR Part 68, were written to help prevent the accidental release of extremely hazardous substances and to minimize the consequences of any such release. All facilities with threshold quantities (TQs) of the listed regulated acutely toxic and flammable substances are subject to these provisions. The listed substances include 77 toxic chemicals with TQs ranging from 500 lbs. to 20,000 lbs., while the 63 flammable substances all have a TQ of 10,000 lbs. Chef Francisco has one chemical that meets the toxic chemical TQ, and thus, this substance must be included in a Risk Management Program. This chemical is anhydrous ammonia ("NH3"). The TQ for NH3 is 10,000 lbs. Chef Francisco stores approximately 35,000 lbs. for use as a refrigerant in the Chef Francisco plant. The major Clean Air Act Section 112(r) ("112(r)") requirements with which Chef Francisco must comply for use of NH3 in the refrigeration process include: * Management System development and documentation; * Hazard Assessment for the affected process; * Prevention Program completion; * Emergency Response Program coordination; and * Risk Management Plan submittal. In addition, Chef Francisco recognizes its responsibility under Section 112(r)(1), the "general duty clause", to handle all extremely hazardous substances safely to prevent their accidental release and to minimize the consequences of a ny such release. Additional chemicals on site not meeting their TQ or not identified in the 112(r) list rule include small quantities of standard industrial maintenance and cleaning chemicals, and number 2 fuel oil (home heating oil). These "general duty" chemicals are managed using the same risk-management principals applied to our chemicals fully covered by 112(r). Chef Francisco follows a prevention program including the use of process safety information, operating procedures, employee training, mechanical integrity, management of change, pre-startup review, incident investigation, compliance audits, "hot work" by permit only, and evaluation of contractors. |