Buffalo Color Corporation - Executive Summary |
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At the same site for 120 years, the facility now owned and operated by Buffalo Color Corporation has been manufacturing dyestuffs to color our world. For the last 75 and 60 years, the plant has staffed safety and environmental departments devoted to the tasks of reducing the risk of harm to employees and neighbors, which could arise from the operations of the facility. Since 1981, Buffalo Color Corporation has been coordinating its emergency response programs through the use of its Emergency Preparedness Manual, copies of which have been distributed among nearby police, fire, and medical units. The latest version of this manual, revised to comply with recent federal guidelines, is now a part of the company?s Risk Management Program. Many elements of the plant?s accident prevention program were documented in the Process Safety Management system which was mandated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1994. These have been re-evaluated from the environmental perspe ctive and are now carried over into the company?s Risk Management Program. Total failure over 10 minutes of the largest vessel containing Formaldehyde (37 % Solution) was calculated to give an off-site toxic consequence radius of 1003 feet, inside of which, an estimated total of 60 neighbors are found to reside. The alternative case, a one-hour hose failure from a tank truck unloading to the same vessel gave a radius of 335 feet, inside of which there are no residences. A vapor cloud explosion of the largest vessel containing 1,3-Butadiene was calculated to give an off-site fire/explosion consequnce radius of 1635 feet, inside of which, an estimated total of 240 neighbors are found to reside. The alternative case, the ignition of a vapor cloud fire from a one-hour leak through a 1 inch hole in the same vessel gave a radius of 317 feet, inside of which 20 neighbors are found to reside. |