Waterbury Facility - Executive Summary

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

Ben & Jerry's produces a wide variety of super premium ice cream, ice cream novelties, low fat icream, low fat yogurt and sorbet, using Vermont dairy products and high quality, all natural ingredients.  The company is committed to using milk and cream that have not been treated with the synthetic hormone, rBGH.  Ben & Jerry's products are distributed nationwide and in selected foreign countries in supermarkets, grocery stores, covenience stores, franchise Ben & Jerry's scoop shops, restaurants and other venues. 
 
Ben & Jerrys has the following Mission Statement that embodies the companys principles and philosophy: 
Ben & Jerry's is dedicated to the creation & demonstration of a new corporate concept of linked prosperity. Our mission consists of three interrelated parts:  Product - To make, distribute and sell the finest quality all natural ice cream and related products in a wide variety of innovative flavors made from Vermont dairy products.  Economic - To operate the Company on a so 
und financial basis of profitable growth, increasing value for our shareholders, and creating career opportunities and financial rewards for our employees.  Social - To operate the Company in a way that actively recognizes the central role that business plays in the structure of society by initiating innovative ways to improve the quality of life of a broad community - local, national, and international.  Underlying the mission of Ben & Jerry's is the determination to seek new & creative ways of addressing all three parts, while holding a deep respect for individuals inside and outside the Company and for the communities of which they are a part. 
 
Because of the nature of ice cream-based products, the manufacturing process at the Ben & Jerrys 3 manufacturing plants includes refrigeration systems to ensure that the ice cream products remain in their intended frozen state.  Ben & Jerrys utilizes two (2) types of refrigeration systems:  anhydrous ammonia  and ethylene glycol.  The anhy 
drous ammonia triggers the requirements of 40 CFR Part 68 - Chemical Accident Prevention Provisions because the three Ben & Jerrys manufacturing facilities refrigeration systems each have greater than 10,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia within the systems.  The Waterbury facility has 16,500 lbs (approximately) maximum inventory of anhydrous ammonia. 
 
The goal of part 68, the risk management program, is to prevent accidental releases of substances that can cause serious harm to the public and the environment from short-term exposures and to mitigate the severity of releases that do occur. The 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act (CAA) require EPA to issue a rule specifying the type of actions to be taken by facilities (referred to in the statute as stationary sources) to prevent accidental releases of such hazardous chemicals into the atmosphere and reduce their potential impact on the public and the environment.  Part 68 is that rule.  40 CFR 68 requires the development of a risk manag 
ement program for the ammonia refrigeration system, and any process and employees associated with or potentially affected by the ammonia refrigeration system.  This submission is the risk management plan (RMP) which provides a summary of the risk management program. 
 
The rule defines three Program levels based on processes relative potential for public impacts and the level of effort needed to prevent accidents.  The Ben & Jerrys facilities fall under the Program 3 requirements.  Program 3 facilities have processes not eligible for Program 1 and either subject to OSHA's PSM standard under federal or state OSHA programs or classified in one of nine specified Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes are placed in Program 3, which imposes OSHAs PSM standard as the prevention program as well as additional hazard assessment, management, and emergency response requirements.  The OSHA Process Safety Management standard (codified at 29 CFR 1910.119) is a set of procedures in thirteen  
management areas designed to protect worker health and safety in case of accidental releases.  Similar to EPA's rule, OSHA PSM applies to a range of facilities that have more than a threshold quantity of a listed substance in a process. 
 
Regardless of the program levels of a facility, all facilities subject to 40 CFR 68 must complete a five-year accident history for each process and submit a RMP that covers all processes.  All Program 3 processes must conduct and document at least one worst-case release analysis and one alternative release scenario to cover ammonia.  A Program 3 facility must coordinate emergency response activities with local responders and, if the facility uses its own employees to respond to releases (as Ben & Jerrys does), the facility must develop and implement an emergency response program.  For each Program 3 process, the facility must implement all of the elements of the Program 3 prevention program: process safety information, process hazard analysis, standa 
rd operating procedures, training, mechanical integrity, compliance audits, incident investigations, management of change, pre-startup reviews, contractors, employee participation, and hot work permits. 
 
Ben & Jerrys has developed a thorough risk management program that as involved auditing the existing PSM program, developing and implementing detailed corrective action plans (when needed), developing RMP-specific information (i.e. off-site consequence analysis), and interacting with employees and local emergency personnel (LEPC, fire, police) to ensure proper planning and coordination in case of an accident.  The risk management program has incorporated all of the required elements (i.e. accident history, prevention program, off-site consequence analysis, emergency response) and provides Ben & Jerrys and the surrounding community with a comprehensive and workable accident prevention program.
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