An official website of the United States government.

This is not the current EPA website. To navigate to the current EPA website, please go to www.epa.gov. This website is historical material reflecting the EPA website as it existed on January 19, 2021. This website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work. More information »

Is there an exemption for the atmospheric storage of flammables?

Under OSHA's Process Safety Management Standard, an exemption is provided for atmospheric storage of flammables. Has EPA included this exemption under the risk management program regulations?

No. There is no exemption from the risk management program requirements for atmospheric storage of flammable substances because the list of regulated flammable substances at 40 CFR §68.130 includes only flammable gases and highly volatile flammable liquids. EPA considers these substances to be intrinsically hazardous, regardless of storage conditions and, therefore, does not believe that it is appropriate to provide an exemption for such tanks (61 FR 31702; June 20, 1996).