EtO plant managers

The plant manager supervises chemical manufacturing operations, sterilization operations, and EO derivative production at EtO facilities. Since their work encompasses both operational and safety aspects, they must provide comprehensive leadership in both areas. Their responsibilities include managing daily production operations, meeting targets, adhering to regulatory requirements, and reducing EtO risks. 

Management coordinates investigations, emergency response, and corrections in response to chemical releases. They oversee plant personnel, conduct facility inspections, walk process areas to monitor equipment, develop manufacturing strategies, manage budgets, and oversee capital improvement projects. While implementing process safety management systems, plant managers represent the facility to regulatory agencies and community groups.

Leadership duties require regular physical presence throughout EtO facilities. In addition to site inspections, managers respond to operational emergencies, conduct safety audits, oversee maintenance turnarounds, and walk process areas to assess equipment condition. They will inevitably be exposed to EtO reactors, storage systems, transfer lines, and sterilization chambers when they conduct these activities.

According to regulatory documents, plant managers are accountable for EtO operations at their facilities. EPA regulations require facilities to implement rigorous controls for EtO emissions, but managers must verify these controls on-site. The risk of exposure to EtO persists even after engineering controls have been implemented, when managers conduct incident investigations, make equipment repairs, oversee maintenance, and walk through process areas with residual EtO contamination.

Plant managers, despite their leadership position, accumulate exposure over years of facility oversight. Inhalation of EtO vapors during site walks, incident responses, and process audits creates cumulative health risks. Since managers must maintain visible leadership and oversee operations on a daily basis, they cannot avoid exposure zones.

A plant manager may be exposed to ethylene oxide in the following ways:

• Conducting facility inspections and walking through process areas
• Responding to emergencies, equipment failures, or chemical release incidents
• Overseeing maintenance activities, turnarounds, or equipment repairs
• Participating in safety audits and regulatory inspections on-site
• Monitoring production operations near reactors, storage tanks, or sterilization chambers
• Investigating near-misses, incidents, or exposure events in contaminated areas

Relevant job titles

• Facility Manager (Ethylene Oxide/EO Production Plant)
• Operations Manager (Ethylene Oxide Plant)
• Site Manager (Ethylene Oxide Manufacturing)
• General Manager (EO Derivatives Plant)
• Senior Manufacturing Manager (Ethylene Oxide Plant)
• Director of Operations (EO/EO Derivatives Facility)