Document YEz1XxZna39z7BOkV14a22JV

Viewpoint.... toclion ire .c sq NFPA-13 spr'"1-' 9' systems c~ s \FPA-72 alarm arc detections for ail hotels molols ream eg rouses, dormitor ss and hcai:rrare 'aciiitios 2 Urge their ~emcers to avoid non- conforming noieis and motels 3 Encourage orogeny protected note s and moteis to :aentify themselves ,n advertising anc at their registra; c" counters 4 Mount a camoaign to encourage US businesses and the federal government to require their traveling employees to patronize only prop erly protectea notels and take the same campaign to the individual traveler 5 Encourage tne insurance industry to be more aggressive in providing information aoout the premium Dif ferential of a fully sprinklered hotel versus a no.n-protected structure We believe mat implementation of this program could increase the per centage of futlv sprinklered hotels in Ihe U S from tne current 5 percent to 100 percent within 5 to 10 years and save Ihousancs of lives It is possible that the outcome of s.-.s^ :s stemming from Duoont Plaza 'ageov mav serve to sour iong over age action Lawyers involved in the Recent Major U.S. Hotel Fires MGM Grand Hotel Las Vegas, Nevada. 85 dead (Nov 21, 1980) Stouffer's Inn. Harrison, N Y 26 dead (Dec 4. 1980) Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas. Nevada 8dead(Feb 10.1981) Westchase Hilton. Housten, Texas 12 dead (March 6. 1982) Pinter Hotel, Hoboken, N J . 13 dead (April 30. 1982) Dorothy Mae Apartment Hotel, Los Angeles, Calif 24 dead (Sept 4, 1982) Ramada Inn Central Hotel, Fort Worth, Tex.. 5 dead (June 14, 1983) case are saying that they may raise questions about the responsibility of arcmtects, builders, code officials, building owners and fire officials be yond simply meeting the codes Such a legal precedent might bring new allies to the effort to promote life safety Tackling the Solid Waste Issue The Vinyl Institute has issued a new brochure titlec Plastics in the Waste Stream Options for Practical Solid Waste Management " The 12-page booklet addresses tne solid waste dilemma ana me alternatives of re cycling and resource recovery The well-dccumented brochure explains that tne real problem society faces is not pias'uc packaging, but what to do witn the 140 million tons of garbage that Americans generate each year As popular as plastic packaging is, says the brochure, itxnakes up only 3-5 percent of the total municipal solid waste stream This brochure can be dis tributed to community groups, the media and even employ ees when questions come up about plastics and the solid waste stream Contact VI headquarters to obtain copies About Very Important People Edwin Schiffer ot Georgia Gulf Cor poration has caen appointed to serve on Ihe Exccut ;e Board of the Vinyl Institute He succeeds Charles Montgomery, ,vno reined last year Marcelo Hirschler and Merrill Galloway of BFGooonch and Bill Carroll (Occicer.ta!) met with the man agement of the National Bureau of Standards recently to report the results of hydrogen chloride's per formance m the large-scale fire tests conducted recently at the Southwest Research Institute The tests showed that HCI quickly disappears from the air m the fire environment Micnaei O'Mara (Goooricn) was an mvited attendee at the first meeting of a new group known as NFACT - the National Foundation for Applied Com bustion Toxicology He will sit on the group's material advisory board NFACT plans to address the general issue of combustion toxicity CTL016730 A division ol The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. 155 Route 46 West Wayne, NJ 07470 (201) 890-9299 THE VINYL INSTITUTE APRIL 1087 o D Ea-i to a-too -C O T3 c(0 o Q- c e o TO O o 0C3l O--O a ro LL 2 "o "L 03 oc TO (J `*5 0o3 O o P oV o5 TD -C -e0Q) "%OO 0E) cl CD CJ C o5 TO O 5<CQOl : o CD O *5 o cn JOZ) L) y I OTO0 C~o oQ_ CL s EO O-C 5y > >. o c-- >2 c o> D2 JJ > PVC Industry Reports Banner Year, Looks for Continued Strength in '87 Year-end statistics from the Society of the Plastics Industry and a general consensus among other sources con firm what Vinyl Institute members already know 1986 was a record year for the polyvinyl chloride industry, the brightest since the late 1970s With no dark clouds on the economic horizon, the PVC picture continues to look bright fori 987. According to SPI, sales of PVC resin in 1986 were up 10 percent to 7 4 mil lion lb. after a flat year in 1985. Pro duction rose 7.1 percent to 7 3 million lb Though consumption got off to a slow start in a number of sectors, notably pipe, volume moved ahead in mid-year and continued strong through ^he second half. PVC prices also ended the year on a strong note, according to Charles Siebert of Chemical Data Inc , Houston "The year got off to a good start, then prices faltered in the summer, " he said "After September, additional demand for the product developed and PVC prices picked up in the fourth quarter This year, prices have continued to move higher as a result of tightening supply at home as well as abroad On a global basis, VCM and PVC markets are getting close to balance The PVC industry's strong per formance in 1986 was due mainly to three factors a healthy year in building and construction, PVC's continuing market penetration versus competitive materials, and declining imports of both PVC resin and finished products. PVC's 10 percent sales gain outpaced the plastics industry as a whole, which grew at a 5 4 percent rate in 1986. Shipments of PVC resin were gen erally up across the board, according to figures from SPI and Modern Plas tics. Pipe and fittings, which account for 45 percent of U S. demand, rose 10 percent Siding and extruded profiles for window frames and accessories registered a 16 percent gain Opportunities exist for continued dramatic growth, according to ob servers. Windows, bottles and siding are far from mature, and exciting new compounds may come from alloys or from combination with fiberglass Export/Import Turnaround An important factor in PVC's strong performance in 1986 was the export/ import situation The declining value of the dollar in relation to many foreign currencies helped make U S pro ducers more competitive and damp ened demand for imports Exports continued, page 2 Strong demand kept PVC resin and com pounding plants op erating at 90 percent of capacity or better in 1986. Seen here is OxyChem's Bur lington, N.J. com pounding plant. CTL01672 6 Banner Year... . wore ud 27 norcem to 369 million tb .n 1986 while ""cons loll 35 percent to about 230 million ,q In addition, pricing firmed as de mand began to aDproach capacity Dick Roman manager for marketing research at BFGoodrich's Geon Vinyl Division ana a member of SPI's Com mittee on Resin Statistics, estimates that the industry was at better than 90 percent of operating capacity for much of the year The strong U S performance did not come at the expense of European pro ducers, however PVC sales rose 6 percent in Europe, and at year's end. production capacities were thought to be close to 100 percent, according to European Plastics News. Expansions & Consolidations PVC supply was enhanced a bit last year by the reopening of a 125 million lb /yr resin p.ant by a newcomer to the business Another non-member of the Vinyl Institute added 15 million lb /yr of suspension capacity at one of its facili ties So far this year, however, no maior expansion projects have been an nounced, so capacity increases will be limited to debottlenecking and rela tively minor expansion projects for some time to come Increases in compounding capacity announced bv Georgia-Gulf. Vista Chemical, BFGoodrich. Occidental Petroleum Canada and one non member of VI underscore the sig- tica^ce c; ms segment c: the busiess \ sta Chemical, for instance, announcec three seen exoansions in '986 Eariv m the year me company compietec the moaernizaticn of its Aberaeen. Miss , comoounaing plant Vista a.so began comDOurd Droduction at renovated facnit.es in Jeff! sontown, Ky, and compieteo the pur chase of BP Performance Polymers' US PVC business, incluaing a com pounding plant at Mansfield, Mass. Changing Producer Lineup A major shift in the PVC producer lineup also took place in 1985. First, Occidental Chemical Corp acquired Tenneco Polymers' vinyl resins and compounds business, including facili ties in Burlington, N J.. and Pasadena, Texas. The acquisition nearly doubled Occidental's resin capacity, making it the nation's second largest PVC resin producer, just slightly behind Goodrich. BFGoodrich Canada consolidated its position as the largest PVC supplier m the Canadian market The company acquired Novacor's 220 million Ib./yr. mass polymerization plant in Fort Sas katchewan. Alberta, and also started up a 55 million Ib./yr. expansion at Shawmigan, Quebec. The largest addition to worldwide PVC resin capacity last year was in Jubail. Saudi Arabia, where a joint venture of Saudi Basic Industries Cd^J and South Korea's Lucky Goldstar Group started up a 440 million Ib./yr. plant The new facility could reduce U S. exports to the Middle East and Pacific markets, say industry observers. VI's Testimony Helps Head Off PVC Ban Legislators in Vermont have softened considerably a bill that would have banned PVC packaging in the state, following testimony from The Vinyl Insti tute. SPI ana other industry groups In its original form, the legislation would have taxed packaging that was not recyclable or biodegradable; re quired labeling to show recyclability and composition, and banned all PVC packaging and non-recyclable "fastfood'1 packaging By mid-March, how ever, the offending provisions had been removed The bill now only calls for the creation of a committee to study the issue VI executive director Roy Gottesman was among those who testified before the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee in February. He told :he committee that no basis existed for banning PVC "None of the eight reasons the bill gives for the ban stand up to close scrutiny The claims are seriously flawed from a technical and scientific standpoint." He also questioned whether the ac tion would have any meaningful effect. "Even if such a ban were justified, which is not the case, it would do very little to alleviate the solid waste crisis." Gottesman told the committee that the emphasis the legislation placed on recyclability and biodegradability was misguided. "A total waste management program involving waste minimization, re-use, recycling and incineration rather than a ban - is the true solutio^^ to the problem." He urged the legis lators to make this their objective. 2 CTL016727 dewpoint Another Fire Tragedy: Will the Response Be Any Different? By Harry Shaw, director. Operation Life Safety The Dupont Plaza Hotel and Casino in Puerto Rico is the latest addition to the fist of tragic hotel fires. The mid afternoon fire on December 31,1986, resulted in 96 fatalities and over 140 injuries. It has been said, "History will be re peated unless we learn from it" But, sadly, we are not learning. A glance at the long list of recent fatal hotel fires (see box. p. 5) shows the price we have paid for inaction No other indus trialized nation has a fire death rate as high as the U S rate. The irony of these tragedies is that the remedy is simple and well-known The fire problem in the United States would virtually disappear if all hotels, motels and other such facilities were fully equipped with approved sprinkler systems and alarm and detection systems p The record speaks for itself There has never been a multiple death fire in a fully-sprinklered hotel or motel, nor is there a record of a single fire death from toxicity in a fully-sprinklered hotel or motel lnspiteofthesefacts.it seems that more attention is paid to the side issue of toxicity than to the real issues of detection and suppression No Sprinklers in the Dupont The absence of adeauate detection ana suppression systems at the Du pont Plaza was the critical factor in the Operation Life Salelv is a trust sponsored toy the International Association ot Fire Cluels the U S Fire Administration and the private sector The goal oI Operation Lite Salelv is to significantly reduce lire problems through puphe awareness and education programs promoting the use ol detection alarm and last-response sprinkler technology Mr Shaw has played a leading role in national lire pre vention and control activities and in the estab lishment of the OLS goals The Vinyl Institute supports the goals ol Operation Life Safety because the organization strives to locus at tention on realistic lire salelv solutions rattier jhan on misguided attempts to restrict the use bl certain building materials Operation Lite WSalety is located at 1329 18th St. N W . Washington. D C 20036 high number of fatalities. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) report, neither the 423 hotel rooms nor the area where the fire oc curred had sprinkler systems. Although there was fire-resistive con struction in the casino, lobby area and high-rise tower, there were no fire detec- Harry Shaw tion systems, and the only fire evacu ation alarm was a local-only manual system in the tower The casino, where the majority of the deaths occurred, had only two exitways, one of which was a single, inward-swinging door The hotel fire problem is not only a state and community problem, it is a national one When 16 people are killed in a tram wreck, the federal government takes fast action to determine if auto matic braking systems should be requirea Are the lives of train passen gers more important than the lives of hotel guests7 Yet there are no federal fire protection regulations. A Plan for Action At Operation Life Safety, we have urged the following minimum program to put an end to these fire tragedies. The fire community and its allies should 1 Support federal legislation man dating a minimum level of fire pro- conlinued, page 5 CTL016728 Full Court to Decide Emission Standards The full federal appeals court in Washington has vacated a ruling ov one of its panels that allowed the Envi %The court panel had ruled, 2-1, th whenever the health effects of differ levels of emissions are uncertain, the' ronmental Protection Agency some lee EPA may consider the cost and the way in setting emission standards for technological feasibility of complying in vinyl chloride (see January Advisory) setting standards The challengers The full court will now decide the issue have argued that the Clean Air Act Oral arguments were scheduled for makes health the only factor that can April 29. be considered Vinyl Institute Annual Meeting Set The 1987 annual meeting of the Vinyl Institute will be held at Turnberry Isle Yacht and Country Club in Miami, Fla . on Wednesday and Thursday, May 20 and 21. Committee meetings and pre sentations are scheduled for both days with the annual meeting and executive board meeting to be held Thursday morning The annual safety award and other achievement awards will be pre sented on Wednesday night following the dinner and reception. The meeting will close with a luncheon on Thursday For more information call VI secretary Pat Benkner at (201) 890-9299 in brief /<Occidental Petroleum and Shell Oil have announced a tentative agreement under which Occidental's chemical subsidiary, OxyChem, would acquire Shell's VCM business A final agree ment is expected to be reached during the second quarter of this year The acquisition would include the VCM unit located at Shell's Deer Park, Texas complex as well as certain other re lated assets It would make OxyChem a fully integrated producer of PVC, more than 50 percent self-sufficient in VCM /iLetters from VI executive director oy Gottesman refuting statements bout PVC were printed in the New Drk Times and the Washington Times i February The story in the Times uoted an attorney who said that fumes om burning PVC can cause death nmediately and were probably a fac>r in the fatal fire at the Dupont Plaza lotel in Puerto Rico The Washington tmes had published a commentary rticle about PVC packaging that con- /i rRepresentatives of The Vinyl Institute met with officials of the Food and Druj Administration on February 27, 19871 determine what additional information FDA needed in order to promulgate its final proposal confirming the safety of PVC for food contact applications A flurry of late comments to the FDA's February 1986 proposal has threat ened to delay final action on the regulations i4Reuters reports that Hoechst A G , the West German chemical company, has said it will sue lo keep the European Community from searching the company's files in an investigation of reported PVC price-fixing The EC suspects eight European-based pro ducers of PVC and polyethylene of op erating a cartel Other concerns under investigation include BASF and Bel gium's Solvay. l/\Vista Chemical has announced plans to build a new R&D center in Georgetown, Texas, 25 miles north of Austin The 121,0Q0sq ft develop ment is scheduled for completion by spring 1989 More than 60 Vista em ployees will relocate to the new facility when it opens CTL016729