Envirosure Solutions helps business and
industry eliminate the daily headache of environmental, health and
safety regulatory compliance. We protect our clients from the
constantly-evolving demands of federal, state and local agencies,
providing them with the tools, knowledge and confidence they need to
save time, cut costs, make money and become environmental “rock stars”
in their communities.
Not Knowing What You Expose Your Workers To Can Be An Expensive Mistake from "OSHA Quick Takes" September 1, 2011
Contractor fined more than $50,000 for hazardous contaminant exposure.
OSHA has fined an
aircraft maintenance contracting firm $51,850 and cited the
company for 12 serious safety and health violations related to exposing
workers at Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah to hazardous
contaminants. OSHA inspected the base back in January under its Federal
Agency Targeting Inspection Program, which focuses on federal work
sites with a high number of work-related injuries and illnesses.
The serious violations included exposing workers to air contaminants
including hexavalent chromium, cadmium and methylene chloride; lack of
engineering controls for air contaminants; lack of engineering controls
for noise exposures; and inadequate medical surveillance for employees
exposed to hexavalent chromium and cadmium. See the news release for
more information.
Remember that Envirosure
can be your partner in providing cost-effective safety compliance. Our
services include a wide range of industrial hygiene sampling
programs, including molds, welding and torching fumes, hexavalent
chromium, solvents and VOCs. Let us erase this potential liability and
put your mind at ease. Call us today for more information: (480)
784-4621.
Shredders: ASR Piles, Environmental Concerns on the
Rise
According to a recent study commissioned
by the EPA, the volume of auto shredder residue (ASR) is expected to
increase, due to the growing number of cars scrapped annually and the
increased use of plastics in automobile production. The majority of
ASR – the roughly 20 percent of leftover materials (plastic, rubber,
foam, paper, fabric, glass, etc.) – after a vehicle has been
“shredded” is currently landfilled. Other opportunities for its use
are currently under exploration.
With ASR quantities rising, look for
increased attention on your facility’s federal, state and local
compliance mandates. Ways to manage your compliance obligations
include:
Read your facility’s plans -- then follow them. This includes
your Stormwater plan, Spill Control and Countermeasures Plan, Material
Acceptance Policy, Emergency Response Plan (have you drilled it
lately?) and more. Don’t underestimate the simplicity of this coaching
-- remember there’s a difference between knowing a plan and acting on
it regularly.
Update your plans and permits. Simple and straight-forward,
yes? Not always. Legislative updates happen ongoingly throughout the
year. Stay in regular contact with your state’s environmental quality
department website, subscribe to a newsletter (such as Recycling
Today’s Auto Shredding Info) or – radical idea – use a compliance
consultant. Not only are compliance consultants up-to-date, they are
usually significantly less expensive than the research time spent by
your company’s EHS manager to accomplish the same task.
Conduct a baseline assessment. Begin with an inventory of the
hazardous (and preferably non-hazardous) materials onsite, then look
through your plans, permits, reports, pending applications, policies
and programs. How old are they and when were they last updated? Do you
have your trainings documented? Are your waste manifests in one place?
Better yet, have a third party conduct the assessment for you. If
there’s bad news, you’d rather hear it from them than, say, your local
inspector.
Don’t know where to start? Give Envirosure
a call – we’re ready to help!
