The Clean Air Act (CAA) requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promulgate regulations to prevent accidental releases of regulated substances and reduce the severity of those releases that do occur. Pursuant to this, under section 112(r)(7) of the CAA ("Accident Prevention") stationary sources with processes that contain more than a threshold quantity of a regulated substance are required to prepare and implement a Risk Management Plan (RMP). Examples of regulated entities include chemical manufacturers, e.g. of industrial organics & inorganics, paints, pharmaceuticals, adhesives, sealants, and fibers; and petrochemical facilities (refineries, industrial gases, plastics & resins, and synthetic rubber). The EPA issued its list of regulated toxic and flammable substances and threshold quantities on January 31, 1994. This list is reproduced in this article, and includes 77 toxic substances and 63 flammable substances. Originally, explosive substances with a mass explosion hazard as listed by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) were also to be regulated. But according to its January 6, 1998 Federal Register notice the EPA will not regulate high explosives. The regulation for risk management programs and the RMP was issued on June 20, 1996, which requires an RMP to be registered with the EPA by June 21, 1999. The RMP must also be submitted to the five member federal Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, and be available to state and local authorities, and the general public. The exact locations for the RMPs to be sent will be indicated by the EPA in a December 1998 FEDERAL REGISTER notice.
Processes are divided into three program categories based on: the potential for offsite consequences associated with a worst-case accident release; no offsite accident history; or compliance with the prevention requirements under Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) Process Safety Management (PSM) Standard. Chemical manufacturers usually will fall into the last category. Processes that have no potential impact on the public in the case of an accident release have minimal requirements. For other processes, sources must implement a risk management program that includes more detailed requirements for hazard assessment, prevention, and emergency response. Processes in industry categories with a history of accidental releases and processes already complying with OSHA’s PSM Standard are subject to a prevention program identical to parallel elements of the OSHA Standard. All other processes are subject to a streamlined prevention requirement. All sources, however, must prepare offsite consequence analyses for a worst-case release scenario. To accommodate concerns of small businesses, EPA has provided guidance with reference tables that sources can use to estimate offsite consequences of a chemical release, e.g. model RMP guidance for the ammonia refrigeration industry.
All affected sources must prepare a RMP based on the risk management programs established at the facility. The EPA’s 1996 risk management program regulation requires the following information from all affected sources:
- A 5-year history of accidental releases of substances subject to the RMP regulation that have resulted in injury or death to humans, off-site evacuations, or property or environmental damage;
- hazard assessment of worst-case releases of toxic or flammable substances and, for some sources, alternative release scenarios;
- a summary of the facility’s emergency response program, including procedures for notifying the public of a release, and schedules for drills completed and planned;
- the contact person for emergencies;
- date of the last safety inspection and the agency that performed it; and
- a general description of the company’s prevention plan.
Some sources also will need to include pertinent details of any incident investigation, management of change procedures, operating procedures, pre-startup reviews, maintenance activities, compliance audits, process safety training information, and process hazard analyses.
For More Information
For more information, contact the EPA’s Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Hotline at 1-800-424-9346; or, either R. Craig Matthiessen (Matthiessen.craig@epamail.epa.gov), Chemical Engineer, (202) 260-9781, or Vanessa Rodriguez (Rodriguez.vanessa@epamail.epa.gov), Chemical Engineer, (202) 260-7913, Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office, Mailcode 5104, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460.
Useful Documents
You may also find the following documents useful:
List of Regulated Toxic Substances and Threshold Quantities for Accidental Release Prevention
List of Regulated Flammable Gases and Volatile Flammable Liquids
- Vorderbrueggen, J.B. "A recommended implementation plan for the EPA risk management program", EM (Environmental Manager), August 1998, pp. 25-28.
- Egan, B.A. and Heinold, D.W. "A guide to EPA's risk management program under section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act: strategies for effective compliance". Pittsburgh, Air & Waste Management Association, 1997. Available for $19.95 + S & H.
- Davis, B.C. and Garrett, J.A. "Communicate better with your neighbors", Chemical Engineering Progress, March 1998, pp. 61-65.
- Environmental Protection Agency, Accidental Release Prevention Requirements: Risk Management Programs Under the Clean Air Act, Section 112(r)(7); List of Regulated Substances and Thresholds for Accidental Release Prevention, Stay of Effectiveness
- Accidental Release Prevention Requirements: Risk Management Programs Under Section 112(r)(7) of the Clean Air Act as Amended, Guidelines; Final Rules & Notice. 40 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 9 & 68.
