Document re8mmD281bGLdO8RQ6rB1evKq

O : Mr. C-. Gorbell St. Louis '.ve appreciate your survey cf our plant and have prepared tne following comments reTative to those items referred to in your report; of December 15. We felt that 1969 was; infspite of the two major injuries,, a very good safety year. In addition to winning- the "Outstanding" rating in.the Annual Plant Inspection and the President's Safety Award in the Monsanto Award Program, we had the lowest total aha serious injury frequencies in our experience, and sustained no single loss over $100,000 for the first time in our recorded history. Your confirmation of the knowledgeability of our depart ment superintendents as to~ status of -their safety objectives and programs confirms our~feelings that our supervisors are seriously and effectively"handling the safety portion of. their job. to your specific recommendations: Car Unloadinglbf Hexane This recommendation has been offered before. This is the only highly flammable material that is bottom unleaded. We have looked at remote and fusible link control devices for use in conjunction with bottom unloading and have found that these are unacceptable because of the problems of connecting them to the car and working around this equipment. Since there are no facilities for unloading from the top of the car at this location, weyhave initiated an engineering study to determine the advantages and costs of top unloading of hexane tank cars. Flammable Liauid Loading 6113 18426 You are - proposing that on atmospheric flammable liquid tank cars, we should-load through a Protectoseal cover. We find this untenable for several reasons. 1 Due to the inability to obtain proper size covers ^^ this 'would result- in .multiple procedures for hand-,v'<v1"' ling the same product. A' recent survey made 'by'~ the Occupational Safety Committee of the Texas 00000246 B003177 \T-r' n. Gorbeil February II 1970 Chemical Council showed that no member of that Council that answered the query uses Protectoseal (this includes duPont). The inability to observe the liquid level during the topping-out operation increases the problems cf transferring the car and creates flammable spill hazards. You referred us to the Queenjr Plant as one who was using a dependable solid f' state probe. rt is cur understanding that this ; probe was used Tor approximately one year and | its use has been discontinued. 3. Our Loss Prevention Department prefers an open hatch because in the event of a fire, the access and control of the emergency is easier and more direct. 1 - Machine and Eauipment Guarding: he bach-guarding of the equipment in the areas you ted has been corrected. / 6q- - Pilot p\ant e certainly agree that the Pilot Plant has been greatly improved from the housekeeping standpoint, 'he-'-items yoiA mentioned in y^ur report have been orrected. j afe Practices / V specific unsaVe^practices which you mentioned the subject d'f_jcounseling and safety meetings shortly after your visit./ We are very aware of the tremendous job thatX^acesf us in the near future of constructing new plants,/starting up new plants, dismantling old plants ana maintaining the close conformance to safety Yiiles througnout these opera tions. You can be~ SssuYed that our efforts will be greatly increased became we recognize the potential /\ / - Laboratory Safety _(/b j e c t ve s y The managers of Process Technology and Research are in the process of efstablishihg safety objectives for 1970. Monthly injury frequency information is made available to both/Process Technology and Research but is not broken down into the various work groups because cf their small size. \ BC0r?178 6113 18427 Mr. G. n. C-orbell February li, 1370 It was your recommendations that acid should be pumped rather than transferred by pressuring the car with air. In their brochures, acid manufacturers show pressuring of cars for unloading and a check of the local plant syndicated that their experience with liquid pumps had been most unsatisfactory. Chocolate Bayou continues to have trouble with their pump and it is our understanding that they use air on the car to maintain suction to the pump for their operations. A check with Queeny and Krummrich indi cated that certain types of pumps were used, ail of them with some degree of difficulty, but we appreciate their listing for us the available pumps and their experience. Our present procedure provides pressure regulation of the air with remote operation of the air valves. Although we feel that the hazard is | relatively small, especially"when compared to the j problems and hazards of maintaining acid pumps, we intend to study this further. in we appreciate your audit of our plant. Best personal P <! n q .. ID (jq in ( : wa B00S179 6113 18428