Paul Chemical and Fertilizer - Executive Summary |
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Paul Chemical and Fertilizer is an agriculural retail outlet, selling fertilizer and chemical to farmer for crop production. We realize that the safe use of these products is a great benefit to our customers, enviroment, and the local residents. We also realize the the misuse and mishandling of some of these prodcuts can be dangerous. For this reason, we encourage and promote the safe use of these products in the handling, storing, and usage. Paul Chemical has envested a considerabel amount of time an money in keeping our facility the safest it can be. From training our employees on how to use and transport chemicals and fertilizers, to building containment structures to stop any leaks and accidental releases of products to the enviornment. Any risk to the enviroment is with our storage of anhydrous ammonia. This is stored in two 11,000 gal anhdrous ammonia tanks that are made to withstand very high pressures and high impacts. The worst case scenario release of ammonia would most likely occur if one of the two inch ammonia lines that service the storage tanks would break. This would allow one of the storage tanks to spill ammonia into the environment. This would not be an immediate loss of the full contents of the storage tank, but would take twenty to thirty minutes for the tank to empty. This would allow the ammonia to dissipate into the atmosphere at a rate that would keep the impact area relativley small. The prevailing winds usually blow from the west, which would blow the ammonia from any nearby residences. An alternate release of ammonia would be if one of the transfer hoses broke or ruptured. This would take close to an hour to empty into the environment, which means a smaller area of impact. An area of impact that would be within .3 mile of the faclity. In the case of a release of ammonia into the environment, we would immediately contact the West End Fire Department.They would, depending on the situation, spray a water mist over the ruptur e to capture the ammonia with water to prevent it from escaping into the environment. The residences and business in the impact area would be notified immediatly as to a safe place to evacuate to. Ammonia is not a gas that readily seeps through structures and buildings, or a gas that stays in a cloud for a long period of time or distance. But it readily dissipates into the atmosphere with any wind disturbance. Paul Chemical has an active safety program with training for the employees both on the job and classroom study. We have SCBA's which our crew has been trained in the use and care of. All of our crew that handles ammonia has passed a training program that was developed by our insurance carrier. And in the last 5 years we have not had a reportable accident at our plant. We try to work very closely with our local fire department. They have taken tours of our facility, so they know what hazards we have and where they are. They have also shown us things that we need to improve to make our facility safer for them and for us. We take an active part in our community in regards to safety of hazardous materials. We have one employee that is a volunteer fireman and another that is on the local emergency planning commission. Also the president of the company is a local resident, concerned about our communtiy and how Paul Chemical might impact the local environment. In the future, Paul Chemical plans on improving and updating its equipment to keep up with the new developments in the industry and to keep its facility safe for the employees and surrounding community. In this endeavor we have purchased a larger ammonia tank that would eliminate some of the piping that we currently have. We consider the piping to be the weakest part of our storage system. We will continue to train our employees in the proper handling of ammonia and the safeguards that need to be used. We will also continue to work with our local emergency responders to have a good working relationshi p for the benefit of both organizations. |