Calgon Carbon Corp. Neville Island Plant - Executive Summary |
|
1. Corporate Policy Concerning Chemical Safety Calgon Carbon Corporation place the highest importance on the safety and well-being of its employees. We believe the prevention of personal injuries is good business. Further, one of our greatest assets is an alert, well-informed, and safety conscious employee. It is our belief that all injuries, no matter how minor, can be prevented. To this end, every reasonable effort will be made to safeguard against all hazards which may result in injury. Training employees to work safely is essential to preventing injuries. Safety is an integral part of every job and is a line responsibility that exists at every level of the company. Each member of management responsible for an operation is in turn responsible for the safety of that operation and the employees involved. Likewise, each individual employee is responsible for his/her own safety and for actions which affect the safety of the fellow employees. The acceptance and satisfactory di scharge of one's safety responsibility is of paramount importance in everyone's job duties and needs to be recognized as such if we are to have a safe working environment. 2. Facility Description The Neville Island Plant produces activated carbon. Anhydrous ammonia is used to produce aqueous solutions of ammonia that required to treat virgin carbon. One 18,000-gallon (76,500-pound) tank is used to store anhydrous ammonia for use at the facility. This tank has been in use continually for nearly 50 years. Calgon Carbon Corporation has no history of accidents invloving this process. 3. Worst-Case Scenario The worst-case scenario, as required by EPA guidance, assumes that the entire contents of the 18,000-gallon anhydrous ammonia tank will be released during a 10-minute event. The consequences of such an event were modeled using the EPA/NOAA Areal Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres (ALOHA) model. Assuming that the release occurred during the worst-case meteorological conditions , such an event could cause the EPA's toxic endpoint (0.14 mg/l) to be exceeded beyond the plant property boundaries. 4. Alternative Release Scenario The most likely alternative release scenario was determined to be a malfunctioning pressure relief valve. The ALOHA model was used to estimate the distance to the toxic endpoint (0.14 mg/l) for this type of event. No mitigation was assumed to be used to control the event, although in reality, water spary would be used to control the release. The ALOHA model indicates that such an event would cause the toxic endpoint to be exceeded beyond the plant boundaries. 5. Calgon Carbon Prevention Program The anhydrous ammonia tank and its associated piping and valves are subject to the OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM) program. Calgon Carbon complies with the requirements of PSM and has reviewed its program during preparation of this plan. Calgon Carbon maintains a current storage tank registration with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for the anhydrous ammonia storage tank. 6. Five-Year Accident History Calgon Carbon has had no accidents involving the anhydrous ammonia tank during the period June 21, 1994 through June 21, 1999. 7. Emergency Response Plan Calgon Carbon employees are not trained to be first responders for emergency situations involving the anhydrous ammonia tank. In the event of an emergency, the Neville Istand Fire Department is prepared to respond. Calgon Carbon employees are trained to respond to minor leaks only. 8. Planned Changes No changes in the process are planned at this time. |