Golden West Foods, Inc. - Executive Summary

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This document presents Golden West Foods' strategy to comply with the Clean Air Act requirements of Section 112(r)(7), Accidental Releases Prevention Requirements: Risk Management Program.  It is Golden West Foods' intent to enforce the policies and procedures presented in this document to prevent accidental releases of regulated substances or reduce the severity of those releases that do occur. 
 
1.0 POLICIES IN PLACE: 
 
Golden West Foods complies with Clean Air Act and Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) air emissions regulations and has policies in place to ensure continued compliance. 
 
2.0 SOURCE AND SUBSTANCE: 
 
Golden West Foods of Bedford, Virginia is a food processing facility (SIC Code 2032).  Golden West Foods uses compressed anhydrous ammonia (CAS Number 7664-41-7) in its refrigeration system to cool and freeze foods.  Golden West Foods stores approximately 10,000 pounds (lbs.) of anhydrous ammonia on site. 
 
3.0 RELEASE SCENARIOS: 
 
The worst case release scenario 
involves the failure of the compressed storage tank containing approximately 5,500 lbs. of anhydrous ammonia.  In this scenario, the entire amount is released over a ten-minute period at a rate of 550 lbs./minute.  The distance to the toxic endpoint the anhydrous ammonia would travel, before dispersing enough to no longer pose a health hazard, is 1.20 miles. 
 
The alternate release scenario involves the failure of a piping system of the storage tank releasing approximately 1,000 lbs. over a ten minute period at a rate of 100 lbs./minute.  The distance to the toxic endpoint is 0.43 miles. 
 
4.0 ACCIDENTAL RELEASE PREVENTION PROGRAM: 
 
The facility is in compliance with the OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM) rule and, with this document, the Clean Air Act Accidental Release Prevention Program regulations.  Golden West Foods relies on a system of equipment maintenance and periodic testing to prevent accidental releases.  Releases, should they occur, are mitigated by storing only a portion 
of the total amount of anhydrous ammonia on-site in the pressure tanks. 
 
5.0 ACCIDENT HISTORY: 
 
Over the past five (5) years, Golden West Foods has not experienced any accidental release of anhydrous ammonia. 
 
6.0 EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROGRAM: 
Golden West Foods does not have an emergency response plan which has been coordinated with community emergency responders.  The facility relies entirely on local community emergency response teams to address releases. 
 
7.0 PLANNED CHANGES TO IMPROVE SAFETY: 
 
Golden West Foods has an ongoing maintenance training and operational training program to continuously update operator knowledge of systems within their facility.
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