Document 6bOOLLONxpQ6Yknzn7oqZ1r7d

?ire$ton* INTEROFFICE NOVEMBER 12, 1975 MR. C. J. KLFTNEBT fromc. W. ENGBLOM RECEIVEDREFERRING TO LETTER OF SUBJECT VINYL CHLORIDE SAFETY ASSOCIATION MEETING OCTOBER 30-51* 1975 - HOUSTON. TEXAS NOV 13 1975 p. J. FOLEY Mr. W. W. Madden and I attended the meeting. Seventy-five people from thirty-five facilities were there. A list of those in attendance is attached. 1. Pilot Plant Problems; A. A. Peterson, Union Carbide Corp. Mr. Peterson described typical problems encountered by a Pilot Plant located within or in close proximity to a production complex. VC emissions from the manufacturing unit naturally affect their operation and vice versa. He also claimed that not enough attention is given to safety or medical considerations when handling new raw materials (solvents, catalysts, etc.) not used in production. To avoid set-ups. Air Products polymerizes the first Pilot Plant scaleup of a research recommendation to only 30# conversion and vents. Union Carbide has eliminated much of their sampling of Pilot Plant batches. Everyone has area monitoring of their Pilot Plants. No one plans to shutdown their Pilot Plant -but several have suspended operations for varying amounts of time. Air Products plans to move their Pilot Plant outside the production unit. Stauffer wants to install a monomer recovery system for their Pilot Plant, however others appear to be content to vent their steam jet exhausts through extended stacks. 2. Large Coverage Insurance Problems: John Barr, Air Products. Since the merger of FIA and OIA, property damage and business interruption coverage has been limited to approximately $15 million. ^ Air Products is in the planning stage for a large reactor plant and this ruling has the effect of limiting plant capacity. Panasote, Passaic, New Jersey, are having similar problems and are also required to report emergencies to FIA. They feel this is partially due to their location in a densely populated urban area. Five companies are totally self-insured, and several others had some form of partial self-insurance. Mr. Barr discussed the possible formation of a mutual protection agency. The petroleum industry pools funds as a form of self-insurance - Oil Insurance Limited. Many felt that this problem is not peculiar to the vinyl chloride industry. Others in the chemical industry are experiencing similar problems. FIA surveys show that 80# of chemical industry claims are caused by explosions. OCC 0859