Cimpl Meats - Executive Summary |
|
A.-Accidental Release Prevention and Emergency Response Policies Annually, the nation records a number of serious catastrophes involving injuries or death to large numbers of people. Most such disasters are caused by tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, fires, or expolosions. In many cases, personal injury and loss of life have been greatly increased because of panic and confusion. This company has implemented an emergency action plan that can reduce injuries and save lives if a catastrophe should occur. Althourgh, such plans seem remote in there use and implementation, it behooves Cimpl Meats to be ready to respond in an organized manner, if such an occurrence should arise. We believe in safety, protection of our employees, and the people that work and play in our community. B-Regulated Substances That We Use We are in the meatpacking and processing business. We slaughter beef animals for deboning and distribution for further processing. Being in the perishable food m anufacturing business, we use and store quantities of anhydrous ammonia (10,000 to 15,000 lbs.) in our refrigeration system. Industry has used anhydrous ammonia for many years as a coolant because it is widely available, relatively cheap, and has exceptional ability to remove large quantities of heat. Albeit, it does have it's dangers if stored and handled improperly. That is why the Environmental Protection Agency has listed this chemical as an Extremely Hazardous Substance (EHS). C-Worst Case Release Scenario We have documented a worst case scenario if such a release should occur. Our calculations are based on the "Offsite Consequence Analysis Guidance" specifically designed for anhydrous ammonia. A worst case scenario is highly unlikely to occur ;nevertheless, good safety programs always prepare for the worst to happen. D-Alternative Case Scenario This scenario is a less severe release of anhydrous ammonia with lesser consequences. Our calculations for this scenario are ,a lso, based on the "Offsite Consequence Analysis Guidance" specifically designed for anhydrous ammonia. E-Accidental Release Preventive Program We have adopted a program to meet the requirements of the Occupational Safety & Health Act's Process Safety Management standard. This includes (1) training our employees. We believe this is one of the most important steps that we can take to enhance employee safety. An effective training program will help employees understand the nature and causes of problems arising from process operations, and will increase employee awareness with respect to the hazards particular to ammonia refrigeration. We believe in (2) employee involvement in developing our process safety management program. Employees are a good source of information in improving and assessing health hazards in process safety management. We have developed complete and accurate (3) process safety information on ammonia. This information is a valuable resource to a variety of users including the team that performs process hazard analysis, trainers, employees, and contractors. We have developed isometric drawings of our ammonia system showing piping, instrumentation, diagrams, and all valve locations that are individually numbered and identified. We have an ongoing program to review the safety records of our (4) contracors that perform work in and around processes that involve highly hazardous chemicals and others that are incidentally involved. There safety record directly impacts their work performance when on our premises. We assure (5) mechanical integrity so equipment used to process, store, or handle ammonia is designed, constructed, installed, and maintained to minimize the risk of release of ammonia. We practice (6) management of change to technology, equipment, and procedures to assure that procedures have a technical basis for the proposed change, impact of change on safety and health, any modifications to operating procedures, necessary time perio d for the change, and authorization requirements for the proposed change. We (7) investigate each incident that could result in or could reasonably have resulted in a catastrophic release of ammonia. We try to understand the mechanism that resulted in the release and make corrections immediately. We insist on (8) non-routine work authorizations that are required where work is performed using lockout/tagout, confined spaces, and hotworks. We have our refrigeration maintenance personnel trained and knowledgeable of our (9) standard operating procedures. Specific procedures have been written for inital start-up, normal operations, temporary operations, and emergency shutdown including the conditions under which emergency shutdown is required and the assignment of shutdown responsibility to qualified operators to ensure that emergency shutdown is executed in a safe and timely manner. We have conducted a (10) process hazard analysis to identify, evaluate, and control the hazards invol ved in our refrigeration system. This analysis is based on such rationale as priority, extent of the process hazards, number of potentially affected employees, age of the process, and operating history of the process. Every three years we have a (11) compliance audit to certify that the provisions of the process management standard are adequate and are being followed. F-Five Year Accident History We have had no major ammonia releases or reportable ammonai accidents since we started operating this facility in 1988. G-Emergency Response Plan We have developed an emergency response plan in which we are co-ordinated with the local fire department and the local emergency planning committee. Our maintenance personnel have had 24 hour emergency response, confined space, hazardous communication, and lockout/tagout training. Our maintenance personnel have been trained in the use of self containing breathing appartus and such units are available in case of an emergency. We conduct an an nual emergency evacuation drill to familiarize employees with an orderly exit and the review of employee's responsibilities. |