Excel Corporation - Executive Summary |
This facility is committed to the safety of its employees and the community, and to the quality of the environment. Our mission includes a commitment to act as responsible neighbors in our communities. We will accomplish our mission by adhering with all applicable federal, state, and local laws. The facility has developed an emergency response plan and has coordinated response activities with the Friona Fire Department. This facility produces beef products for market distribution and ultimately for public consumption. Ammonia refrigeration is used throughout the plant for all areas that require cooling. The system includes receiving tanks, compressors, chillers, freezers, condensers, and associated piping, valves, and other equipment. Our worst-case scenario for the ammonia refrigeration system is a failure of a receiving tank, resulting in a release of ammonia. Written operating procedures limit the maximum quantity of ammonia in the tank to 80% of its capacity (29,000 pounds). The distance to endpoint for this scenario is 3.1 miles according to look-up tables in EPA's guidance document for Ammonia Refrigeration Systems. Residences and commercial/industrial areas were identified within this distance to endpoint. Environmental receptors were not found within the distance to endpoint. An alternative release scenario was also analyzed. The alternative release scenario examined a release of 18,000 pounds of ammonia resulting from a failure of the receiving tank when under normal operating load. The distance to endpoint for the alternative release scenario is 0.8 miles. No public or environmental receptors were identified within 0.8 miles of the facility. This facility complies with EPA's accident prevention rule and all applicable state and local codes and regulations. In addition, the facility complies with OSHA's Process Safety Management regulation. Our prevention program includes written operating and mechanical integrity procedures, safe work practices, a cont ractor safety program, management of change, and pre-startup safety reviews. In addition, we have implemented a training program to ensure that our employees are knowledgeable in the hazards of the process and in their specific job functions. If an incident does occur, it is thoroughly investigated and the findings of the investigation are communicated to all affected employees. We believe our prevention program is key to minimizing the risk to our employees, the public, and the environment. In the past five years, we have not had an accident involving ammonia that resulted in any on-site deaths, injuries, or significant property damage; or resulted in any offsite deaths, injuries, property damage, environmental damage, evacuations, or shelterings in place. In the event of an emergency involving ammonia, we will implement our emergency response plan. If necessary, we will also notify the Friona Fire Department and request that they respond to the emergency. Our emergency response pla n has been coordinated with the fire department and they have inspected our facility. Although we do not have any active projects to improve the safety of our systems, it is our policy to continuously work towards better and safer systems. |