EPA Reminds Operators to Prepare for Hurricane Season

The onset of a hurricane is predictable and, as a result, lends itself to early preparations for minimizing its effect on a facility. Before hurricane force winds and associated storm surge flooding can damage industrial processes and cause uncontrolled releases of hazardous chemicals, owners/operators typically take prudent preventive action by safely shutting down processes (i.e., de-energize or isolate process equipment) or otherwise operate under emergency operations procedures, as was widely performed in preparations for Hurricane Katrina.For complex industrial processes, shutdown operations require special care beyond normal operations. Process shutdown often involves numerous simultaneous activities and rapidly changing process conditions. Normally automated