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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNCS000304_Email RE Recordable Spill at Gerdau Charlotte Steel Mill_20180103Georgoulias, Bethany From: Bob Churchill <Bob.Churchill@gerdau.com> Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2018 7:47 AM To: Georgoulias, Bethany Cc: Jill Gee Subject: [External] FW: Recordable Spill at Gerdau Charlotte Steel Mill Attachments: EcoSafe FR-46.pdf CAUTION: External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless verified. Send all suspicious email as an attachment to report.spam@nc.gov. Bethany, I would like to provide addition information as a follow-up to the phone message I left last week regarding a hydraulic oil spill at our facility— Gerdau Charlotte Steel Mill, 6601 Lakeview Rd, Charlotte, NC 28269. Last week during maintenance repairs, a mistake was made in our procedures for shutting down a hydraulic system located in the Finishing End of the Rolling Mill. As repairs were being made to a section of pipe in the return line from the Cooling Bed section of the hydraulic system, another portion of the hydraulic system at the Stacker area was started up. The employees involved were not aware that the return lines for both systems were connected prior to the filtering system at the common tank. With the Cooling Bed return line open, the fluid flowed into the open piping and into a reservoir which could not properly handle the quantity as it is not designed for that purpose and subsequently overflowed. The fluid flowed onto a gravel area next to our administration building and onto the parking area which is paved. The "leak", approximately 125 gallons onto the gravel area, was discovered and the Stacker hydraulic pumps were immediately shutdown. All the fluid onto the pavement was contained and cleaned up appropriately with no fluid reaching our storm drains and therefore no contamination to our Stormwater ponds. The hydraulic oil is EcoSafe FR -46, a non -hazardous material (see attached SDS). Sand was applied to the gravel area to provide an absorbent. This material along with the contaminated gravel will be removed and disposed of appropriately. We expect to have the area restored with a slag covering by early next week. The procedures for conducting this type of work have already been modified to include lockout of all hydraulic supply pumps which will prevent the common return lines to backflow as was experienced with this repair work. These procedures will be communicated with all Rolling Mill employees to ensure future instances will not occur. Please let me know if there are additional details or information that you or the department may need from Gerdau. Bob Churchill Gerdau — GLN Safety, Health, and Environmental Manager Charlotte Mill 6601 Lakeview Road Charlotte, NC 28269 (704) 596-0361, ext 3128 office (865) 388-4373 cell bq .:_ch_u_rch.i.l_I(c erda_u_:cgrn This message may include restricted, legally privileged, and/or confidential information. If you received this message by mistake please delete it immediately and inform us about it. This message will be considered as originated from Gerdau or its subsidiaries only when formally confirmed by its officers authorized for that. Este mensaje puede contener informaciones de use restringido y/o legalmente protegido. Si usted ha recibido este mensaje por error, por favor eliminelo a informe de tal situacion al remitente. Este mensaje solamente sera considerado como proveniente de Gerdau o de sus subsidiarias cuando sea confirmado formalmente a traves de los representantes legales debidamente autorizados para tal fin.