New DHS Anti-Terrorism Standard

One example of a chemical in widespread use in facilities is chlorine. If you store 500 pounds or more of transportable gas chlorine (at a minimum concentration of 9.77 percent) or a minimum of 2,500 pounds of non-portable gas chlorine at your facility you would need to register with DHS.

A new federal regulation regarding chemicals and chemical storage has recently gone into effect that World Waterpark Association members need to be aware of. Here are the basic facts:

DHS Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) — this regulation states that facilities that possess, or plan to possess, listed chemicals on the Appendix A list of chemicals at or above threshold quantities, must file a Top-Screen assessment and submittal. Any facility that may reasonably have any Appendix A chemical in non-trivial quantities should register with DHS. Failure to register, or failure to submit the Top-Screen if required, may result in a facility’s being categorized as presumptively high-risk, leading to additional compliance burdens. Facilities may also be fined $25,000 per day for non-compliance or be shutdown. The deadline to submit the Top-Screen assessment was January 19, 2008. This alert is in conjunction with an article appearing in the May issue of “World Waterpark Magazine.”

For a complete explanation of the regulations, see a report by environmental consulting agency cl.exct.net/?.