Complaint ID 85858 — Public Copy

15 October, 2018 a Failure to Report of Hazardous Material Release was mailed. Recommend report be closed with no further EPD/ERT actions at this time.

1205 Laura Hartman (Manager EH&S; Sterigenics, Spring Rd., Suite 650 Oak Brook, IL ; 630-928-1724; lhartman @sterigenics.com) provided me a release report stating following the initial release of Ethylene Oxide (EO) on 2 April, 2018 the facility alarms, systems process and equipment were inspected. GEMA sent notification on 4 April, 2018 of a possible release of 10 or more pounds of EO. She adds, after additional investigation into the release the release was calculated to be 2.6 lbs. and personnel notified the appropriate agencies. Mrs. Hartman states that defects in the anti-cavitation pipe (cracks in the threading), was the source of release, not the aforementioned fully severed pipe. She stated the pipe separation occurred after the sterilization cycle stopped and EO was not actively flowing through the system. The releases’ duration was approximately 12 minutes and 2.6 lbs. of EO was released inside the facility from sterilization Chamber 10 vacuum piping area which have fans venting to a AAT Scrubber that released approximately 10% (2.4 lbs.) EO into the environment. Immediately following the release the area was inspected and the damaged piping replaced. The release report was provided to Christina Joganase, Darryl Mobley and myself.

1132 I contacted Mr. Mosby for an update and he stated, the corporation is having a meeting this evening to discuss the incident and will email an update of the discussion and incident reviews. 1806 Mr. Mosby responded with an email stating the update is that it's ongoing.

1758 I received page from the SWP and confirmed complaint receipt at 1759. 1801 I contacted Daryl Mosby (General Manager at Sterigenics; Sterilzation of Medical Equipment; 336-302-2996; dmosby@sterigenics.com) and stated more than 10lbs had been released (2 April, 2018 0900) due to a crack in vacuum pipe product containment system. Mr. Mosby stated via email the SRI port #6 detected rogue levels in the area reading 240ppm. Maintenance / Operations donned the proper PPE and handhelds PID’s and began surveying the area and found the exhaust pipe for the booster pump for chamber 10 had become slightly detached. The chamber was then stopped and maintenance completed the repair before the chamber was allowed to complete the after vacuum phase. We estimate that over 10 lbs. was released (reportable threshold) and engineering is trying to determine the exact amount.