Gerber Products Company-Fremont, MI - Executive Summary |
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Gerber Products Company in Fremont, Michigan (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 Management 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 plant). To comply with the requirements of the Rule, the outside receiver containing 15,800 pounds of liquified anhydrous ammonia (the largest single vessel in the process) was used to illustrate the impact of a worst-case release. The distance to the toxic endpoint resulting from this release is 4.0 miles. There have been no releases at the site during the past five years to use as an examp le of an alternative release scenario. Therefore a review with the maintenance and safety staff at the facility concluded that a mechanical seal failure in a 1/2" pipe at 35-40 psi would go undetected for a two-hour period resulting in the release of 2,066 pounds of ammonia vapor. This was selected as the most likely release scenario. The impact area for this release is 0.19 miles from the point of release on the roof of building 76. Gerber has been an active participant with the local emergency planning committee (LEPC) of Newaygo 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 occurr with in the plant. |