Gerber Products Company (Ft. Smith) - Executive Summary |
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Gerber Products Company in Fort Smith, Arkansas (Gerber) has maintained a management/safety committee at the site as a result of the facility being subject to the Process Safety Management Program. A Chemical Emergency Incident Response Plan has been in place since 1996 and the Risk Managemetn Plan (RMP) requirements for Emergency Response incorporated the procedures contained in that report. The worst-case release as required by the Risk Management Program Rule is the total loss of anhydrous ammonia from the single largest vessel of the process (there has never been a release of this type at the facility) To comply with the requirements of the Rule, the outside receiver containing 5,000 pounds of liquified anhydrous ammonia (the largest single vessel in the process was used to illustrate the impact of worst-case release). The distance to the toxic endpoint resulting from this release of 5,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia under the worst-case release scenario is 2.4 miles. There ha s been one release at the facility during the past five years. Do to this incident, it was decided to evaluate other potentials as an example of an alternative release scenario. Therefore, a review with maintenance and safety personell at the facility concluded that a break in a 1/2" pipe on the roof at 35-40 psi would go undetected for 60 minutes (on the weekends, guard rounds are made every hour). This would result in the release of 1,033 pounds of anhydrous ammonia liquid. The impact area for this alternative release scenario is 0.19 miles from the point of release on the roof. In Gerber's continuing effort to minimize the impacts of any releases of ammonia from its refrigeration process, a sprinkler system (an active mitigation system) is being installed on the roof around the vessels containing ammonia. This sprinkler syste m will be activated at the time of an accidental release. Gerber has been an active participant with the local emergency planning committee (LEPC) of Sebastian County. Gerber will continue to monitor its chemical systems to ensure a safe operation within the plant to protect the public from any release that may occur. |