Warsaw Chemical Co., Inc. - Executive Summary |
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*The Accidental Release Prevention and Emergency Response Policies at Your Facility The Management Team of Warsaw Chemical Co., Inc. understands the necessity and complexity of handling hazardous chemicals in manner that is safe for their employees, the community and the environment. Therefore, based on this, the Management Team is committed to complying with applicable regulations. As part of the Risk Management Plan and the National Association of Chemical Distributors' (NACD) Responsible Distribution Process, a full and detailed Emergency Response plan is being redesigned and will be implemented within a reasonable amount of time. *Your Facility and the Regulated Substances Handled Warsaw Chemical Co., Inc. is a chemical manufacturing facility with over 100,000 square feet under roof. We blend raw materials (chemicals) into finished goods. Our product line is broken into three major sections - maintenance, carwash and industrial products. In effort to handle and store our flammable liquids in a safe manner, we built a specially design Bulk Plant with many safety features. All tanks are above ground and diked. The tanker off-loading pad is also diked and lined. The entire building is sprinkled. Inside sprinkler systems uses foam, while to tanker off-loading area is equipped with a water curtain system. This building does not contain any substances regulated under this rule at or above the threshold quantities. The main building houses our production, warehouse and shipping and receiving facilities. Our product lines are further divided into powders and liquids. Whether it liquid or powder, raw materials a blend together using different techniques and the packaged into appropriate containers. Containers sizes range from 1 pint bottle to 375 gallon totes. Warsaw Chemical Co., Inc. uses several regulated substances under this, but only one at or above threshold quantities, Chlorine. The processes involving chlorine are simple. We handle chlori ne in two different forms, one is a gas in cylinders and the other as a component in sodium hypochlorite. Both are used for water treatment, whether it is for pools or drinking water purification. Sodium hypochlorite contains 12.5% chlorine in solution. Throughout the summer time, Warsaw Chemical Co., Inc. packages over a 1/2 million pounds of sodium hypochlorite. Keep in mind that only 12.5% is chlorine. The chlorine gas is stored in cylinders in a separate building from the rest of the plant. Maximum inventory for these does not exceed 90 cylinders at any given time. Inventory reduction is a method used to minimized potential exposures. Chlorine gas is not used in production. *The Worst-Case Release Scenario(s) and the Alternative Release Scenario(s) The sodium hypochlorite is stored outside in a diked 5000 gallon tank. The diked area is sufficient to hold the entire contents of the tank. However, as a precaution, the tank is not filled to capacity. If the tank should ru pture or be overfilled, the contents will be contained in the dike for recovery and disposal. All piping is also diked to prevent product loss in the event of leakage or rupture. Since the chlorine is in solution and tank is diked, off-site impact should be minimal. If the dike should leak, the solution is likely to reach storm sewer on-site and disinfect it in the process. Any free chlorine will dissipate quickly. The cylinders of chlorine gas are stored upright in safety cages in an separate building. Cylinders are protected from the elements and stored out of direct sunlight. The cylinders are equipped with fusible plugs that are designed to melt at given temperatures to slowly release excessive vapor pressure. Each full cylinder contains 150# of chlorine gas. A cylinder leaking liquid poses a larger problem than a cylinder leaking gas. Liquid will release 460 times the volume of gas. Though the cylinders are stored indoors, if gas should escape in sufficient quantities , neighboring residences and business may experiencing some respiratory or skin irritation. Death or serious injury is not likely. Some safety precautions include: - proper storage (protected from sun and weather); - minimize inventory - store inside - frequent equipment and vessel maintenance - secured in safety cages *The General Accidental Release Prevention Program and Chemical-Specific Prevent Steps Warsaw Chemical Co., Inc. is a proud member of the National Association of Chemical Distributors. We are involved in NACDs Responsible Distribution Process. This process is designed to help chemical distributors to fully comply with all applicable health and safety standards and pass it through on to end users. Major compliance issues for Warsaw Chemical Co., Inc. includes this Rule, OSHA Process Safety Management, Hazard Communication, Personal Protective Equipment, Clean Air Act and so forth. The first step in the prevention of accidental release of haza rdous chemical is the elimination of hazardous chemical where possible. If the hazardous chemical is essential then inventory is kept to a minimum to prevent excess build up of hazardous materials. Since the presence of hazardous chemical is inevitable, proper storage, handling and training is mandatory. Employees must go through training prior to handling any hazardous chemicals, with period retraining throughout their employment. Storage vessels are selected to properly store the hazardous materials and are maintained in safe conditions. Warsaw Chemical Co., Inc. is always trying to improve our training efforts in order to minimize or prevent the release of any chemical. *The Five Year Accident History Warsaw Chemical Co., Inc. has experienced only one incident involving the regulated substance chlorine within the past 5 years. A tiny pin hole developed in the sidewall of the cylinder, thus, allowing chlorine in a liquid form to be released. The incident happened overnight when no one was present at the facility. The release gas was contained inside the main facility resulting in some equipment damage. The building was vented to the outside, however, no one off-site was impacted. The appropriate agencies were contacted and clean-up procedures were initiated. Business went on as usual the following day. *The Emergency Response Program Warsaw Chemical Co., Inc. employs members of local volunteer fire departments, Kosciusko County HazMat and Kosciusko County LEPC. Employees are trained to recognize a hazardous incident and to notify their supervisor and ultimately the Emergency Coordinator. Some employees have been selected to be trained to properly contain and handle an incident involving chemicals. Those not part of the response team are trained to evacuate the area or building if necessary. All employees receive periodic training based on their function. We rely on two methods of alarms/signals. The first is to utilize the PA system to notify employees of the situation. If that should fail, boat horns are used with different methods to signify different situations. If the nearby businesses and residences are impacted, we will rely on local emergency personnel to help evacuate them to safety. *Planned Changes to Improve Safety Our current Emergency Response plan is under review and will be modified and updated to better handle hazardous situations. Training session will be developed to better trained our employees. The need for additional safety equipment is being reviewed. As always, inventory of hazardous materials is kept to a minimum in effort to reduce the amount of released materials. Safety at Warsaw Chemical Co. Inc. is a priority and is continually being improved. |