United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Solid Waste
and Emergency Response
(5104)
EPA550-F-01-002
April 2001
vwwv.epa.gov/ceppo/
Work with your Local Fire Department
to Enhance Community Safety:
The Gary Company
The Chemical Safety Network is designed to share successful practices in
implementation, risk communication, and data use. The projects detailed in the
Chemical Safety Network are easily reproducible, low cost and promote partnership-
building in the community. This factsheet does not provide extensive information about
a project. Rather, it is intended to help stakeholders generate ideas, identify tools and
pinpoint funding sources for accident preparedness and prevention initiatives.
Project Overview
The Gary Company stores and distributes chemicals and other products to
facilities that use or make paint and coatings, printing ink, plastics, and rubber.
Some of the chemicals stored onsite include resins, driers, liquid latex,
pigments and extenders. The company has 45 employees and has not had any
previous chemical incidents.
When the Gary Company decided to add a 140,000 square foot building at
their Addison, Illinois, warehousing facility, company officials immediately
turned to the local fire department for help. The partnership was beneficial to
both groups: the Addison Fire Department learned more about warehouse
operations, which helps them prepare to respond should an accident occur; and
the Gary Company would benefit as fire codes would be strictly adhered to
during the design and building phases of the project. The project was
beneficial to the town of 32,000 individuals through the enhancement of fire
safely.
Challenges
National Fire Protection Association code allows various options when
designing a chemical distribution warehouse. However the designer must make
certain that the design conforms to the applicable standards. JThere were many
issues that factored into the design of the Hazardous Materials room. The
HAZMAT room was designed to safely store hazardous and flammable
materials. This was done correctly through steady coordination between
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designers, the Gary Company and the fire department. In the HAZMAT room
there are two sprinkler systems, a foam suppression system and an early
suppression system which is designed to spray twice the amount of water a
normal fire protection sprinkler yields. In addition to the sprinkler systems the
HAZMAT room was constructed with a dyke to contain any spills within the
room.
The Gary Company had to be sure they met their own needs while following
the NFPA code in the design, to ensure the highest level of safety.
When the Gary Company built their new facility much of the equipment was
designed to exceed fire code requirements to insure protection for personnel
and property. The warehouse is equipped with heat sensors, 11 hose stations,
54 fire extinguishers, and a fire protection room. The fire protection room is
self-contained with a dedicated alarm, phone line and electrical circuits.
The Addison Fire Department keeps a key to the fire protection room so
emergency responders have 24-hour access to: Material Safety Data sheets,
maps showing electrical power switches and emergency contact phone
numbers. Although, the Gary Company has not had any previous accidents the
company still considers that this project has reduced the likelihood of
accidents. The company's main concern is safety. Accidents may happen, but
the design of this HAZMAT room allows any accidental releases or fires to be
dealt with quickly, thereby reducing the potential for any injuries or off-site
releases.
Continuing Partnerships
The partnership between the facility and the local fire department has
continued to enhance community safety and improve fire service training
activities. New fire service recruits visit the warehousing operation routinely
to learn about the chemicals that are stored, see what protection measures are
in place, and familiarize themselves about the hazards of warehouse
operations.
The Gary Company donated $2,000 to the fire department to buy a special
hazardous materials cart. The HAZMAT cart has communications equipment
and is equipped to repair holes in storage containers, decontaminate and
remediate.
Company employees participate in fire department training to learn more about
the safe handling of hazardous materials. The facility is also working with
other local businesses that are planning building additions to educate them
about fire codes and other fire safety issues.
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Cost Savings
The partnership helped to trim the company's bottom line by tackling design
flaws early on. Company officials estimate that $100,000
was saved by forming this partnership.
Tips
Companies should support and cooperate with the local fire department to
ensure compliance with fire codes and fire safety programs. Companies
should share emergency response needs with the fire department to build
consensus, prepare firefighters, and ensure the company's and community's
safety.
For more information contact.
Name: David Meehan
Organization: The Gary Company
Address: 1195 West Fullerton Ave, Addison, IL 60101
E-mail: davemeehan@mindspring.com
Phone: (603) 629-6600
Additional copies of this and other publications in the Chemical Safety Network series are
available from:
National Service Center for Environmental Publications
Phone: (800)490-9198
Fax: (513)489-8695
Email: ncepi.mail@epamail.epa.gov
or you can download an electronic copy from the Chemical Emergency Preparedness
and Prevention Office's web site on the Internet at http://www.epa/gov/ceppo.
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