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Anhydrous Ammonia handling program conducted in Osage
by David Namanny, Press-News Editor
The AgVantage FS Company in Osage recently hosted a unique Anhydrous Handling and Safety program for local emergency personnel and law enforcement officials.
During the event, 13 different agency's presented and around 60 to 70 local personnel werew in attendance. Some of the agency's involved were the Mitchell County Sheriff's office, Osage Police Department, Iowa State Patrol, Osage Fire Department, St. Ansgar Rescue, Riceville Ambulance, Kensett Fire Department, St. Ansgar Fire Department, Region 2 DHS/EMA, Stacyville Fire Department, Osage Ambulance, Riceville EMS and Northern County Coop.
Cory Stafford, Pressure Vessel Compliance Director for AgVantage FS in Waverly. facilitated the local program, which complete with a "display nurse tank," so those in attendance could see the inner-workings of the familiar ag equipment that is commonly seen around these parts.
"Ray Huftalin contacted me about AgVantage FS, Inc. sponsoring a safety training event and wanted to know if I could assist him in doing this," said Stafford. "He had an incident that happened this spring in Mitchell County and things didn't go as smoothly as they should have."
Stafford noted that the incident didn't involve AgVantage FS, Inc. or its patrons.
"Ray just knew that AgVantage FS, Inc. spends a lot of time and money on safety training and properly handling incidents along with working closely with local emergency personnel," Stafford explained. "Ray wanted to bring all local emergency personnel together and AgVantage FS, Inc. wanted to have a big part in helping with this."
AgVantage FS, Inc. has been working on its special display nurse tank available for safety training.
"The display nurse tank that was used at the Osage presentation wasn't 100 percent finished, but we wanted to bring it in so that people could see the inside workings of a nurse tank and how the valves worked," said Stafford. "Most incidents involve nurse tanks out on the roads and understanding how they work is very important in being able to handle a situation if it arises. This is going to be a very good and popular training tool for us."
Stafford told those at the program that the main emphasis when handling anhydrous ammonia is to respect the product and not fear it. "It can be a very dangerous product if not handled properly or if the proper training is not conducted," he said.
Anhydrous ammonia is one of the most water soluble of all gases. An abundant supply of water is the best means of providing protection against the effects of escaping ammonia. Ammonia burns the skin causing a freeze-dry effect like frostbite when it comes into contact with the skin. Anhydrous ammonia burns keep spreading until the chemical is diluted. It was stressed that no salves or ointments should be applied in the first 24 hours after an anhydrous ammonia burn.
"Conducting this training is very important to the community," said Stafford. "Most people either don't understand anhydrous ammonia, or they totally fear the product."
Stafford concluded that with the proper training and understanding of anhydrous ammonia everyone can feel safe and comfortable working with and being around anhydrous ammonia. "We at AgVantage FS, Inc. take training very seriously and we want to make sure that we keep everyone safe," said Stafford. "We take the time to do it right and we take the time to instruct the customer to do it right. We not only want to keep our employees and our patrons safe, we want to keep our communities safe."
Story created Sep 16, 2008 - 10:54:54 CDT.
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