Tuesday, 23 December 2014

Need of SPCC plan for facilities handling petroleum products



If you are subject to the SPCC rules, there are two basic requirements:

·         Provide adequate secondary containment for oil or petroleum product storage and transfer areas to contain any releases; and
·         Prepare and implement a written SPCC plan.

Federal SPCC regulations require an SPCC Plan to be implemented for a facility if:

·         the facility could reasonably be expected to discharge oil into navigable waters of the U.S. or adjoining shorelines, and one of the following conditions is met:
·         the facility has more than 1,320 gallons capacity of aboveground storage, or
·         the facility has more than 42,000 gallons capacity of underground storage, and the underground storage tanks (USTs) are not subject to federal UST regulations (40 CFR 280 or 281). All USTs in Maine are covered by the federal UST regulations.

Purpose of SPCC Plans
Federal SPCC regulations were created under the authority of the Clean Water Act. Their stated purpose is "to prevent oil discharges from reaching navigable waters of the United States or adjoining shorelines".
SPCC Plan requirements are intended to promote:
·         Design and construction of facilities with features that will prevent discharges from occurring, and contain those that do occur;
·         Training of operators for safe operations and spill emergency preparedness;
·         Inspection of facility components to assure continued performance of spill prevention and control features; and
·         Organizing information that will assist in spill prevention and spill response.

The SPCC plan requirements needs to describe all measures taken at your facility to prevent and control a release of oil or petroleum products, including:
• Facility operations, staffing, site security, spill history and documentation of annual oil-handling employee training;
• Oil release scenarios that include possible volume of the spill and the direction of flow;
• Notification procedures (including an emergency call down list);
• A facility site plan showing areas of oil storage and transfer;
• A description of containment structures or equipment used to prevent releases;
• A description of the procedures to stop, contain and clean up any released materials, including
procedures for managing collected rain water;
• Oil storage inspection procedures;
• A written commitment of manpower, equipment and materials to expeditiously control and remove any amount of oil that may be spilled; and
• Written procedures for integrity and leak testing of tanks, containers, valves and piping.

Preparation of the SPCC plan requirements is the responsibility of the facility owner or operator, or it can be prepared by an engineer or consultant but it must be certified by a registered Professional Engineer (PE). By certifying the SPCC Plan, the Professional Engineer, having examined the facility, attests that:
1. (s)he is familiar with the requirements of Part 112;
2. the engineer or their agent has visited and examined the facility;
3. the Plan has been prepared in accordance with good engineering practices, including consideration of applicable industry standards, and with the requirements of Part 112;
4. procedures for required inspections and testing have been established; and
5. the Plan is adequate for the facility.

Author Bio :

The SPCC plan must be prepared and implemented before you begin operations, and it must be updated every five years or whenever significant changes in oil storage occur. In addition, your oil handling employees need to be trained on the contents of the SPCC plan requirements. You must document that your management has reviewed your plan every five years, even when there are no changes. Any technical modification to your plan also needs to be certified by a PE. Nontechnical modifications, such as changes to the contact list or phone numbers, do not require a PE certification. Your SPCC plan must be kept on site and be available for review if your facility is attended at least four hours per day. Visit http://www.questinc2.com/  for the additional information related to SPCC, SPCC regulations, SPCC Plan requirements etc.

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