Grain Journal - July/August 2008 - (Page 46) SAFETY FACILITY FEATURE Coffee Break Safety MICHIGAN SOY HANDLER, PROCESSOR SOLICITS COMPANYWIDE INPUT ON SAFETY The ZFS complex in Zeeland, MI, with grain elevator at left, feed mill in the center, and soybean processing plant at right. Photos by Ed Zdrojewski. Mary Carper, safety manager at the Zeeland Farm Services (ZFS) complex at the east end of Zeeland, MI (616772-9042), recalls how one of her monthly “coffee break meetings” led to a major safety upgrade in a steel building housing refined soybean oil storage tanks. For that particular meeting, the company had borrowed a free video from the Chemical Safety Board that highlighted a potential safety problem common to soybean processing plants. As the soybean oil tanks are emp- Safety Manager Mary Carper tied, nitrogen is pumped into the tanks to displace the ambient atmo- sphere. This prevents the oil from coming into contact with oxygen, which can cause premature rancidity and other quality problems. The potential hazard is that if one or more of the tanks should ever develop a leak or a pipe should fail, it could create an oxygen-deficient atmosphere inside the building housing the tanks. ZFS employees discussed the matter during the meeting and decided that a solution involved mounting three oxygen sensors inside the storage building, with a digital readout mounted just outside the building entrance. In addition, each entrance was equipped with an audible and visual alarm to warn anyone prior to entering the building of an oxygen-deficient atmosphere. Companywide Approach Details like that add up and contribute to a record of zero lost-time accidents at ZFS since 2003, Carper explains. Most recently related to the company’s safety record, the Zeeland location was honored in February 2008 with a safety award from the Grain Elevator and Processing Society (GEAPS). The organization presents the award to participants in its safety program who go a calendar year One of three sxygen sensors (left) mounted inside the refined soybean oil storage building supplies data to a digital monitor mounted outside the building (right). 46 GJ J/A
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