Johns Manville Corporation, Winder, GA - Executive Summary

| Accident History | Chemicals | Emergency Response | Registration | Source | Executive Summary |

Johns Manville International, Inc. 
Winder, Georgia 
 
RMP EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
 
 
1)  Brief Description of the Winder, Georgia Facility:                                                       
 
   The Johns Manville (JM) Plant in Winder, Georgia was constructed in 1969.  The                         
   facility manufactures fiberglass building insulation which is sold in the commercial,                    
   residential, and retail markets.  The facility currently encompasses approximately                       
   610,000 square feet under roof and 170 acres of primarily wooded land.  There are                        
   presently about 300 full time employees who operate the Plant 24 hours a day, 365 days a                 
   year.                                                                                                    
 
 
   Johns Manville places a strong emphasis on safety and environmental leadership.  The                     
   Company fosters a proactive philosophy to ensure that employees work in a safe                           
   environment and that each facility remains in full compliance with all applicable federal,               
   state, county and local regulations.  JM is also committed to environmental leadership                   
   within the community served.  This commitment is exemplified in the Winder Facilitys                    
   strong recycling and waste minimization programs.  The Companys long term goal is to                    
   have zero process wastes taken to disposal facilities, with all residual materials either                
   recycled or used for beneficial purposes.  The Facility demonstrates another example of                  
   its aggressive position on recycling through its use of 10% commerc 
ial plate cullet                      
   (crushed glass) in its forming process.  This cullet would otherwise be deposited in                     
   municipal landfills.                                                                                     
 
   The facility maintains a good working relationship with all federal, state, county and                   
   local agencies.                                                                                          
 
 
2)  Brief Description of the Accidental Release Prevention and Emergency Response                            
    Policies at the Johns Manville Facility in Winder, Georgia:                           
 
 
   The Johns Manville fiberglass manufacturing plant in Winder, Georgia qualifies for the                   
   USEPA 112R (40 CFR 68) requirements due to the use of formaldehyde.  The facility                        
   exceeds the qualifying threshold of 15,000 pounds of this material onsite for a single                   
   process.                                                                                                 
 
   Liquid resin solution containing formaldehyde (above 1% mixture) is delivered to the                     
   facility via truck transport.  Resin solution is stored in cold storage until it is mixed with           
   water and other materials to make a binder solution (less than 1% formaldehyde) which is                 
 
   applied to fiberglass.  This binder solution is applied in the fiberglass manufacturing                  
   process as a low VOC binder which acts to bind glass fibers.  The formaldehyde                           
   containing resin solution is stored as a liquid in several storage tanks (ranging in size                
   from 2,113 to 4,700 gallons maximum capacity) located inside the facility.  The resin                    
   storage process is designed to minimize spills in the event of an accidental release.  The               
   resin storage room is equipped with trenches that minimize the surface area of a spill.  In              
   addition, the resin storage room is maintained at 50 degrees F to reduce the volatility of               
   the material.  Although not a qualifying mitigation measure for the 112R program, low                    
   storage temperatures give plant personnel adequate time to react to the situation by                     
   reducing the v 
olatilization rate of the resin material.  As a result of these factors, Johns             
   Manville has not experienced an accidental release of formaldehyde over the entire life of               
   the facility.  Modeling impacts indicate that a worst-case release of formaldehyde from                  
   the resin storage tanks would not impact the public beyond the Facilitys property line                  
   and therefore is qualified as a Program 1 facility.                                                      
 
   With the exception of minor incidents, it is the Facilitys policy to immediately contact                
   and rely on outside emergency responders in the event of a significant unforeseen or                     
   accidental release of formaldehyde-containing liquid resin.  Outside responders would                    
   include the community fire depart 
ment and other community or contractor services as                      
   required.                                                                                                
 
 
3)  Brief Description of the Worst Case Scenario, Including Administrative Controls and                      
    Mitigation Measures to Limit the Distances for Each Reported Scenario:                                   
 
   According to 40 CFR 68, the worst-case scenario is to be based on the release of the                     
   greatest amount held in a single vessel, taking into account administrative controls that                
   limit the maximum quantity.  Under a worst-case sce 
nario, a single vessel containing                     
   4,700 gallons of liquid resin, which includes about 12.5% formaldehyde, is assumed to                    
   spill with partial containment (low-lying pavement and trenches) in the resin room.                      
   Liquid not contained in the resin room is assumed to spill outside via trenching and is                  
   contained by an outdoor liquid capture pit.  Distance to the toxic endpoint of 12.0 mg/m3                
   is calculated for Winder using AFTOX, a dispersion model that will determine toxic                       
   chemical concentrations at hazard distances.  According to AFTOX, a worst-case resin                     
   spill and subsequent formaldehyde vaporization onsite at Winder will result in a distance                
   of 0.02 miles to the toxic endpoint.  A plant and topographic map analysis indicates that                
   0.02 miles from the location of the resin tank is completely onsite.   
Therefore, the                     
   formaldehyde-containing liquid resin process at Winder does not qualify for Program 2 of                 
   112R.                                                                                                    
 
 
4)  Brief Description of the Five Year Accident History (68.42):                                             
 
   The Winder facility has never had an accident involving formaldehyde-containing liquid                   
   resin that caused deaths, injuries, property or environmental damage, evacuations, or                    
   sheltering in place.                                                                      
 
 
5)  Brief Description of the Emergency Response Program (68.90  68.95):                                     
 
   In the event of an emergency involving the Facilitys formaldehyde-containing liquid                     
   resin system, it is the Facilitys policy to notify the local fire department and other                  
   emergency responders and request that they respond to the emergency.  Plant personnel                    
   have discussed this policy with the fire department; members of the fire department have                 
   inspected the f 
acility.                                                                                  
 
   In addition to the emergency action and notification procedures described earlier in this                
   document, Johns Manville complies with and maintains numerous other operational                          
   programs for the purpose of promoting employee safety and minimizing potential hazards                   
   to the surrounding community. These include, but are not limited to:                                     
       a. Emergency Hotline notifications                                                                       
       b. Spill, Prevention, Control and Countermeasure Plan and equipment.                                 
       c.  RCRA Contingency Plan                                                                            
       d.  Hot Work Permit Progra 
m                                                                          
       e.  Safety Lockout-Tagout Program                                                                    
       f.  Extensive safety programs throughout the location                                                
       g.  Fire Prevention Plan                                                                             
       h.  Bomb Threat Plan                                                                                 
       i.  Agency, insurance and physicians inspections                                                     
       j.  Job Safety Analyses                                                                              
       k.  Confined Space Entry procedures                                                                  
       l.  Injury Investigation Procedure and Root Cause Analysis                                           
       m.  New and Altered Equipment Inspection (Man 
agement of Change)                                      
       n. Outside Contractor Review Policy                                                                  
       o. Community Emergency Response Coordination Policy                                                  
       p.  Various emergency communication systems throughout the facility                                  
                 such as audible alarms, paging systems, hand-held radios, phones,                          
                 visual alarms.                                                                             
       q.  Right-To-Know Notification Programs issued to State and local                                    
                 agencies (Emission Release Reports, SARA Title III, etc)                                   
       r.  Extensive and detailed employee training in all phases of job related                            
                 safety, chemical awareness, handling potential spills, 
HAZCOM,                             
                 RTK, emergency procedures, notification and numerous other programs
Click to return to beginning