Environmental Emergency (E2) Information From Celanese

Ethylene

What is Ethylene?

Ethylene is a colorless, flammable gas with a sweet odor and taste. Ethylene is produced naturally, through the metabolic processes of plants and microbes or via other events such as volcanic activity, forest fires, combustion of fossil fuels, and processing of natural gas. Ethylene has also been known to impact vegetation.

How can ethylene affect my health?

Health assessments of the effects of ethylene indicate that no long-term effects can be attributed to exposures of high concentrations.

Propylene

What Is Propylene?

Propylene is a colorless, flammable gas with a faint petroleum odor. Propylene is a naturally occurring gas that is emitted from many plants and is a component in natural gas, volcanoes, and from incomplete biomass combustion. Propylene does not appear to have any harmful effects to terrestrial plants or small mammals even when they are exposed to very high concentrations in air

How can propylene affect my health?

Short term exposure to moderate levels of propylene can cause headaches, dizziness and nausea.

Vinyl Acetate

What is Vinyl Acetate?

Vinyl Acetate is a flammable, colorless liquid that has been described as having a sweet, fruity odor or sharp, sour odor. It is very soluble in water although adverse effects to plants from VA in ambient air have not been identified. Vinyl Acetate poses a health hazard in high concentrations and is not naturally found in the environment. Vinyl Acetate is typically manufactured and is widely used as a building block for other types of materials such as ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers.

How can VA affect my health?

Permitted levels of VA should not cause short- or long-term health effects. VA, however can be an irritant to the eyes, nose, and throat at sufficiently high concentrations, and exposure to significantly elevated inhaled doses for a sufficient duration can also lead to more serious respiratory and eye irritation as well as damage to the lining of the nasal and respiratory tract. Based on available data, throat irritation is the most sensitive effect of short term exposure to sufficiently high concentrations of VA.

What is an E2 Scenario?

An E2 scenario at the Celanese facility is an uncontrolled, unplanned, or accidental release of any of the aforementioned substances that could reasonably result in a fire, explosion or toxic impact to the environment or surrounding community.

Celanese Integrity Management Systems

Celanese is committed to the health and safety of our employees, contractors, communities and the environment. Our rigorous integrity management systems were created and dedicated to managing risks to people, the environment and the community. These management systems strive for excellence by ensuring we are following all applicable regulations and best practices, tracking metrics to demonstrate system effectiveness and identifying opportunities for improvement through self-audits and third-party audits.

Emergency Preparedness Plans

Celanese is dedicated to being prepared in the event an emergency should occur. Our Emergency Preparedness Management System aims to rapidly respond to an incident while keeping the safety of personnel, the environment and the community paramount. Keys elements include but are not limited to:

  • Well defined response plans
  • Trained personnel
  • Emergency response equipment available in pre-defined locations
  • Regularly conducting simulated drills, ranging from simple head-counts to full-scale “catastrophic” events

In the event of an emergency with potential offsite impacts, such as a gas release, fire or explosion, communication with personnel, local authorities and the surrounding community will be provided as soon as possible with regular updates until the emergency is resolved. Communications may come from the Alberta Emergency Alert System, directly from local authorities, and/or telephone via the Celanese Communications/Public Information Officer (if applicable). The SIA UpdateLine (1-866-653-9959) will also provide up to date information regarding the emergency. Unless otherwise instructed, the following guidelines should be followed during any emergency:

Should you require additional information, please contact Celanese at 780-468-0800.

If you want to learn more about E2 Regulations, click here.