Foremost Farms - De Pere Facility - Executive Summary |
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Foremost Farms USA (Foremost Farms) stores up to 21,402 pounds of anhydrous ammonia at the dairy plant located at 3399 South Ridge Road, De Pere, Wisconsin (the Property). Ammonia is used as a refrigerant at the fluid milk dairy facility. The quantity stored exceeds the 10,000 pound TQ for ammonia, and is therefore regulated under 40 CFR Part 68. Foremost Farms contracted Northern Environmental to prepare a Risk Management Program for ammonia at the De Pere facility. The Risk Management Program consists of five elements: the management system, hazard assessment, prevention program, emergency response, and the risk management plan (RMP) submittal. The Foremost Farms De Pere management system lists Mr. Walter Heil, Jr., Operations Manager, as having overall responsibility for the risk management program implementation. Mr. Arnold Hoecherl, Safety Manager and Mr. Lee Cornette, Maintenance Supervisor assist the operations manager as delegated. The hazard assessment included an off-si te consequence analysis (OCA) and a summary of the 5-year accident history. The OCA's worst-case release scenario was the loss of 9400 pounds of ammonia from the refrigeration system, resulting in a distance to toxic endpoint of 1.2 miles. According to 1990 census data, there is a total population of 1671 persons residing within the worst case release vulnerable zone. The OCA's selected alternative release scenario was a release of 3900 pounds of ammonia in eight minutes and a distance to toxic endpoint of 0.2 miles. A total of 10 persons reside within the alternative release vulnerable zone. Commercial/office/industrial areas are located within both the worst-case and alternative release vulnerable zones. There have not been any reportable accidents within the last five years involving ammonia. Because ammonia is also regulated under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Process Safety Management (PSM) Standard (29 CFR 1910.119), the prevention program ele ments under Program 3 of 40 CFR Part 68 apply. These elements are safety information, process hazard analysis, operating procedures, training, mechanical integrity, management of change, pre-startup review, compliance audits, incident investigation, employee participation, hot work permit, and contractors. These elements are being implemented at the facility under the existing PSM program. The De Pere facility also has an existing Emergency Response Program (ERP). Based upon a review of the existing PSM and ERP, and discussion with facility management, the programs meet the requirements of 40 CFR Part 68. The final major component of the risk management program is the submittal of the risk management plan (RMP), a summary document which must be submitted to the EPA by June 21, 1999. The RMP and certification statement was submitted on diskette to the reporting center. |