In June 1996, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a new regulation called the Risk Management Program (RMP) rule. This regulation covers some 70,000 facilities in the United States—including over 50 of our plants—that use, make, or store certain amounts of regulated chemicals. Each facility is required to make risk management information available to the EPA by 21 June 1999 for use by local emergency responders, federal and state officials, and the public.

What's the Point of RMP?

To reduce potential risks to the public by promoting the emergency preparedness of plants and their surrounding communities. The rule meets this purpose through three steps.

First, the RMP rule requires the identification of potential risks, and encourages actions that reduce them. Second, the rule requires that plants have emergency response plans in place in case of an emergency. Finally, RMP requires that information about a plant's risks and emergency planning be submitted to the EPA. This data can then be used by the public and local emergency responders to better understand what emergencies could possibly happen, and how they need to be prepared.

How Are We Responding to RMP?

The three steps in the RMP rule—evaluating hazards, planning for emergencies, and sharing information—are actually steps that Air Products has been taking for years. We're continuing those efforts now in our RMP preparations. In fact, while we're preparing our risk management plans, we're taking a closer look at our operations and finding ways to make them even safer. We're also increasing our efforts to help local emergency responders be prepared.

Our goal in all of these risk management efforts has been, and will continue to be, preventing chemical emergencies.

How Are RMP Risks Identified?

When we talk about "risk," we're talking specifically about:

• The hazards of chemicals we manufacture or store in our facilities
• The possibility of these chemicals being released in an accident
• The consequences of an accidental release

These risks are evaluated through accident scenarios which identify the potential impacts of chemical releases.

The EPA has specified two types of accident scenarios that companies must evaluate. The "worst case" scenario is the hypothetical chemical release which could have the biggest impact on the community.

EPA hopes these "worst case" scenarios will raise the public's awareness of potential accidents so that emergency response capabilities are improved. In reality, it is unlikely that a "worst case" accident would ever occur because of accident prevention programs at the plants.

EPA also requires companies to identify "alternative" or "more likely" accident scenarios. These scenarios are more realistic than the "worst case" scenarios and take into account safety systems and emergency response capabilities. These scenarios are more useful for emergency planning than the "worst case" scenarios.

How Do We Manage This Risk?

At Air Products, risk management is an integral part of our operations, from design and construction, through start-up and production, to maintenance and training. While our risk management activities will differ depending on the site and hazards involved, all are grounded in the following fundamentals:

• We have processes in place to make sure we comply with federal, state, and local regulations—as well as our own strict environmental, health, and safety standards;
• We have emergency response plans in place at all of our plants;
• We promote emergency response in our communities and with our local emergency responders;
• We provide the necessary resources—people, equipment and money—to eliminate or reduce hazards, thus preventing incidents from occurring in the first place;
• We put these resources to work to minimize or contain the potential impact of any incidents that occur;
• We help employees and emergency responders prepare to react quickly and appropriately to an incident; and
• We routinely evaluate our performance in these areas.

If You Have Questions or Concerns . . .
We want to hear from you. If you're concerned about the operations or risk management planning at an Air Products plant near you, contact the plant or leave us a message.

At Air Products, we work hard to be not just in the community, but part of it.