Last week at the IFCA Convention, Brian Bothast from the OSHA Peoria Office gave an overview of the Process Safety Management Regulations for retail ammonia storage facilities which become effective on October 1, 2016.  In addition to the PSM requirements, the Illinois Anhydrous Ammonia Rules are in the final stages and we expect they will become effective in March or April 2016.  John Rebholz, who recently joined the Asmark Institute working here in Illinois, can assist you with understanding the new requirements for the Illinois rules and the IFCA staff, along with John, can provide assistance on how to also prepare for PSM.  Call our office at 309.827.2774 to reach John or the IFCA staff for assistance.  The Asmark Institute has a PSM compliance tool available on their website at www.asmark.org.  If you are an Asmark client or enrolled in the Responsible Ag program, this compliance tool will remember your facility information as you complete the compliance sections, enabling you to work through the various sections between now and September 2016.  If you are not in either of those programs, you can still use the Public Access site to access the compliance tools, thanks to the generosity of the Asmark Institute.  We expect the final Illinois ammonia rules to be available very soon and will post them on our website once they are completed.  But in the meantime, start your plans to upgrade your ammonia systems and be assured IFCA is here to help so don't hesitate to call with questions.