Hydrite Chemical Co. - Milwaukee - Executive Summary |
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Hydrite Chemical Co. operates as an inorganic chemical manufacturer and distributor for chemicals used in a variety of industries from food processing to waste water treatment. We at Hydrite Chemical are strongly committed to employee and public safety and environmental responsibility. It is our policy to control our processes to prevent the accidental release of harmful or noxious materials that could endanger or irritate our employees, plant visitors, or neighbors. This commitment is integrated into our design standards, equipment installation and maintenance practices, operating procedures and training programs. Hydrite Chemical has developed and trained written emergency response procedures in the event of an accidental release from any of our processes. These written plans have been provided to the local emergency response agencies including local emergency response personnel, hospitals, state and federal agencies. Hydrite uses two chemicals regulated by the Occupational Saf ety and Health Administration (OSHA) Process Safety Management Program and the Environmental Protection Agency Risk Management Program. These chemicals are Chlorine and Sulfur Dioxide. These chemicals are received in non-bulk truckloads ranging from 105 lb. to 2000 lb. containers. We have on-site storage of 62,000 pounds of chlorine and 14,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide. These materials are stored as liquids under pressure. Additionally, Hydrite distributes Hydrofluoric acid 70% which is covered by Risk Management but not OSHA's PSM program. On-site storage of Hydrofluoric acid is 22,000 pounds. All storage containers are designed to comply with National Standards including the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), OSHA, and the Chlorine Institute. Worst case scenario for each regulated substance is based on the total loss of the maximum quantity stored in each vessel. Release is assumed to occur over a 10 minute period with weather cond itions as defined by EPA in the Offsite Consequence Analysis Guidance. Hydrite has elected to use the ALOHA modeling package to keep our scenarios comparable with the local emergency response providers. The worst case scenario for Sulfur Dioxide has the greatest impact zone and does have off-site impacts. Alternate scenarios for both gases were based on a fuseable plug failure on a ton container allowing the material in the container to be released through the 3/8" opening for 15 minutes. Weather conditions used were as specified in the EPA Offsite Consequence Analysis Guidance. Modeling was conducted using ALOHA. Due to ALOHA's inability to model aqueous solutions, Hydrite used RMP*Comp for modeling the aqueous Hydrofluoric acid scenarios. All alternate scenarios have off-site impacts. Hydrite Chemical has multiple release prevention programs integrated into all phases of operation from design through maintenance. Each chemical is reviewed for physical hazards, health hazard s, environmental hazards and process hazards. Both processes are subject to the OSHA PSM program and as such, undergo a Process Hazard Analysis (PHA). Written operating procedures have been developed and are reviewed on a regular basis. Employee training procedures have been developed and are implemented ensuring the employees understand the hazards of the chemicals, know how to operate the equipment, know how to shut down the process and how to respond to a release. Pre-start up safety reviews are performed prior to operation of new equipment or receipt of new chemicals. Equipment maintenance procedures have been developed and implemented, including routine inspections and scheduled maintenance. Hydrite Chemical believes that every incident has the potential for serious impact and completes Incident Investigations to determine root cause and corrective action for all releases whether they resulted in injury or impacted away from our plant or not. A review of the previous five y ear accident history indicated no releases with community impact. Hydrite Chemical has developed and maintained an Emergency Response Plan (contingency plan) for a number of years. This plan includes 7 individual assignments in case of an emergency for on-scene control of the situation, 7 response personnel, 7 appropriate response actions, 7 resources available at the plant for use in responding such as 7 chemical resistant suits, 7 self-contained breathing apparatus, 7 two way radios for communication, 7 gas monitors, and 7 repair kits for leaking cylinders and tanks. Hydrite Chemical is strongly committed to employee and public safety and environmental responsibility and continually works to improve processes or procedures that advance our goal of zero releases. |