A
hazardous chemical has spilled from one of the large tanks that a textile facility
maintains on site. Immediately, there is one question that everyone wants answered – is it
dangerous? And on the heels of this question come countless others: Who has cause for concern? What
action should be taken? Do the employees need to evacuate the facility? Do surrounding businesses
and neighborhoods need to be alerted? The facility management is faced with a weighty situation,
and it must respond to the emergency and provide satisfactory answers to this barrage of questions.
The company’s reputation is on the line, liability is enormous, and lives may hang in the balance.
The outcome of all these things rests upon the shoulders of management. This scenario may seem a
bit extreme for one accidental spill, but the reality is that one spill could be devastating to a
textile company and the surrounding community if it is not handled properly.

Protecting Employees And Local Residents


Accidental spills of toxic liquids or releases of gaseous chemicals due to a rupture in a
tank, accidental spills from a transfer line, or releases from compressed gas tankers can have
devastating effects on plant employees and surrounding residents. The list of hazardous chemicals
that can cause serious problems for a textile facility if spilled or released is extensive; and
includes hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde, benzidine, chemical solvents, bleaching agents, dyes,
various acids and countless other chemical products. Whether a facility stores thousands of gallons
of these chemicals in large tanks or merely a few gallons in totes and drums, disaster can result
from a spill. When any toxic chemicals are released into the environment, concentrations of these
chemicals in the air can range from an odor nuisance level to an immediately dangerous to life and
health (IDLH) level. Each of these levels creates a different impact on the facility and its
surroundings, and each requires a different response. The impact area for a specific spill or
release event must be determined using various factors such as the chemical of concern; size of the
release; topography and existing structures in the surrounding area; and a variety of atmospheric
conditions such as wind speed and direction, humidity, and ambient temperature. Depending on the
toxicity of the chemical, response actions ranging from personal protection to evacuation from the
projected impact area may be required. Necessary actions for basic protection may include special
respiratory protection, while more drastic actions may involve evacuation of the facility premises,
or evacuation of residents around the facility if an impact area is determined to proliferate
beyond the facility property.

The textile industry needs to take the danger of chemical spills and releases seriously. One
state regulatory agency states that with so many process chemicals being stored, mixed and
transported at most textile mills, the potential for spills is high. Even seemingly minor spills
can have major environmental impacts. Processes such as scouring, bleaching and dyeing especially
pose environmental problems. Many textile facilities are now using substitutes for hazardous
chemicals, which help protect employees and the surrounding community in case of a spill, but
serious problems may still result in the case of a spill or release, and they need to be addressed
before an incident occurs.

Plume Dispersion Modeling


Clearly, being prepared for a crisis spill or release situation is critical, and the most
important question of all then becomes: How can the textile industry prepare itself to handle such
an incident? This dilemma will continue to be faced by countless members of management in plants
across the nation. Contingency planning is the solution to this problem. Having a system that
allows management to know immediately the proper course of action to take is the first step in
emergency response. Plume dispersion modeling can aid in this contingency planning, allowing the
decision-making process to be as easy, clear and comprehensive as possible.

The dispersion model uses complex calculations to determine the area affected by a toxic
release and the chemical concentrations within the affected area. Through numerous iterations, a
Gaussian plume model takes into account the nature of the chemical released as well as atmospheric
factors to determine the dispersion of the release. The characteristics of the chemical released,
such as its density, affect its transport insofar as determining how high above ground the plume
will rise. This plume height affects the diffusion of the chemical at ground level, the location
where the toxic concentration levels are most crucial. Atmospheric considerations such as air
turbulence and wind velocity also will affect the dispersion of the chemical. Plume dispersion
modeling takes into account all of these variables to give an accurate risk assessment for a toxic
spill or release.

A good modeling program at a textile facility deals individually with the various toxic
chemicals stored that potentially could spill and create a hazardous situation. Using predetermined
atmospheric conditions, the location of the spill/release, and various spill/release sizes for each
chemical, the program will compute the concentrations of the different hazardous chemicals in the
air at ground level. Three different impact levels are considered – nuisance odor (half of the
permissible exposure limit [PEL] value), PEL and IDLH. Each chemical’s area of impact at these
different levels is then determined. Once modeling of these scenarios is complete, the computed
results can be applied practically to the development of contingency plans.

Determining Response Actions


Necessary response actions – such as respiratory protection, evacuation of certain areas
within the facility premises, or evacuation of individuals residing in the surrounding community –
can be determined from the results of a good plume model. A textile facility can fully prepare
itself to implement appropriate action in the case of a hazardous spill or release. Conversion
Technology Inc., Norcross, Ga., has developed a modeling program to aid facilities in handling this
responsibility. Using a user-friendly graphical format, the program presents the sizes of potential
spills and releases and their impact areas. The graphs are superimposed on maps depicting the
facility and its surroundings, showing exactly what areas of the facility and community would be
impacted by a spill
(See Figures 1 and 2). Facility management then can easily determine the situations it
must be ready to address.

When a chemical spill or release occurs, facility managers are confronted with the
overwhelming task of determining an appropriate course of action at a moment’s notice, while facing
the concerns of employees, neighbors, community leaders and government officials. The first thing
emergency responders (fire department and health department) will want to determine when an
incident occurs is the immediate threat to people in the area. Having an adequate contingency
modeling system in place provides that information immediately. It is irresponsible to take any
chances when the consequences of an incident can include large fines from government agencies, a
ruined company reputation, and illness and/or death of employees and local citizens – a public
relations nightmare. When disaster occurs, when emergency strikes, it is essential to be prepared
by having reliable information at hand. Fortunately, the development of contingency planning
through the use of a specific plume modeling program has provided a solution to ease this burden on
facility management. By implementing a working contingency plan, a textile company becomes ready to
protect not only its employees, but also the surrounding community when an accidental spill or
release occurs at its facility.

January 2004

T
he year 2003 was not especially positive for the Italian textile machinery industry,
according to preliminary figures provided by the Italian Association of Textile Machinery
Manufacturers (ACIMIT) during its traditional end-of-year press conference. Over the past year, the
industry saw a slight decrease in production numbers, which were strongly affected by a
considerable reduction in sales in the Italian market. Foreign demand, however, increased.

ACIMIT estimates 2003 production, compared with 2002, fell by 1 percent to 3,381 million
euros, while exports increased by 2 percent to reach a value of 2,468 million euros. “These results
are due to the weak economic situation affecting the entire world economy for most of the year,”
said Dr. Alberto M. Sacchi, president, ACIMIT. “To this we can also add the well-known geopolitical
situation, as well as SARS [severe acute respiratory syndrome], which blocked the activities of our
companies for a considerable time in certain important Asian markets. Within the sector, then, the
situation is different for each of the single sectors considered.”

According to ACIMIT, the most worrying aspect is the situation in the domestic market, which
accounts for about 30 percent of the turnover of Italian producers. “The continuation of the
difficult situation in the Italian textile/clothing industry is felt strongly by [the machinery]
sector,” Sacchi said. The drop-off in imports seen in 2003 also shows the turnaround for the
various sectors and customers has again been postponed.

The largest contribution to the growth in Italian exports of textile machinery in 2003 came
from Asia, where China is once again the main market, accounting for 19 percent of Italian sales
abroad. With a few exceptions, Italian exports to the entire Asian region are making encouraging
progress compared to the previous year. Most noteworthy is the sales growth in India and Pakistan.
In the West, the recovery of the US market has yet to take shape, while the only positive notes
from Europe come from Turkey and certain Eastern European countries. Finally, Italian companies are
waiting for a recovery in investments in the main European Union area markets.

“There is considerable uncertainty within the world economy, and so it is also difficult to
make forecasts for our sector,” Sacchi said. A quick survey conducted recently of a sampling of
ACIMIT member companies reveals cautious optimism for the coming year. However, the majority of the
companies interviewed expect  that over the next six months, receipt of orders in both
domestic and foreign markets will remain unchanged.

“The success of ITMA, the world textile machinery trade fair, held in Birmingham last
October, could be the first indicator of a sector recovery,” Sacchi said. “The presence of several
textile operators coming from important markets for our exports, such as Turkey, India and
Pakistan, bears witness to sustained investment in the textile sector by these countries.”

Sacchi added the success of ITMA 2003 is important not only for the European Committee of
Textile Machinery Manufacturers (CEMATEX), the event organizers, but above all for Italy, which had
the largest number of exhibitors – about 320.

As ACIMIT waits for the Italian textile/clothing industry to recover from the crisis that
has affected the entire European textile industry, it must consider the current worldwide textile
situation. There should be a more dynamic foreign sector again in 2004, with a recovery in the
North American market and confirmation of the Asian market.

The Asian markets once again will play a fundamental role in the Italian textile machinery
industry. About 40 percent of Italian textile machinery sales abroad go to Asia. “These percentages
demand that we reflect on the strategies applied by the Italian companies to compete in these
markets,” Sacchi said. “In this situation, the association simply must indicate the possible future
scenarios and continue to represent the requests of the Italian textile machinery industry with the
various appropriate institutes.”

Italian companies are undergoing a profound process of development and becoming more
international in order to compete in the world market. “This is why we need not only efforts by the
companies themselves to acquire a company of adequate size and with sufficient resources for these
purposes, but also the total support of the institutions responsible for developing the
internationalization of the smes [square meter equivalents], that is, financial institutes and the
government,” Sacchi continued.

“We know well that the economic and financial structure is the weakest aspect of Italian
smes,” Sacchi said. “Many of them are constrained by the limited availability of financial
resources and have difficulties with accessing credit. To deal with this, the bank system must
provide these companies with the instruments required for the internationalization process.” ACIMIT
is making two requests.

First, the banks must fully assist in the procedure for the assignment with recourse for
Special Section for Export Credit Insurance (SACE) policies. This instrument allows an export
company to unblock credit with the purchaser, without running the risk of failure to pay by the
debtor. “Much has been said on this topic, but little has been done,” Sacchi said. “While the
leading banks have shown their willingness to implement this instrument, in concrete terms, nothing
has yet been actually done.”

ACIMIT’s second request is for the creation of credit lines for commercial collaboration
agreements with certain countries – credit lines whose minimum amounts for every single operation
should be calculated so that they also are accessible for transactions whose values are not
excessively high.

The Italian textile machinery industry is asking the government to boost investment by
offering incentives and to facilitate extraordinary merger operations between companies in the same
sector. “Investment creates, in the immediate future, an increase in demand and greater
competitiveness of the companies in the medium term,” Sacchi explained. “One way to create this
could be to liberalize the provision to depreciate investment shares over the first three years of
use. This would permit, on one hand, rapid depreciation of the machine stock of the smes and, on
the other hand, the development and expansion of the production machinery manufacturing industry.”

Finally, the causes of the failure of the Italian production industry to adapt to the market
requirements must be removed. According to Sacchi, “There must be incisive action that tries to
facilitate the extraordinary operations, such as mergers and capital contributions, between
companies. ”

January 2004