On its website the US Government Printing Office makes a wealth of Federal publications available for review and download; one of these is the Federal Register.

Published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents.

The Federal Register is a great way to look down the road and see potential changes to the regulations long before they are put into effect (sometimes The Rulemaking Process takes years before a final rule is issued, if ever).  Knowledge of these potential changes provides you with several advantages:

• Additional time to modify your business operations to comply.
• Awareness of on what topics the regulatory agencies intend to focus their efforts.
• The ability to register your concerns, complaints, suggestions, etc. in order to modify the proposed rule before a final rule is issued.  It can be done, really!
• Make changes to your training program to account for changes that become effective before the next training cycle.
• Alert you to the need to re-train your employees prior to their next scheduled training cycle, if necessary.
• Keep you abreast of changes to the regulations that affect your business and/or your industry group.

A very good example of important news being announced in the Federal Register is the very recent announcement of the US DOT’s extension of the authorization for use of the ORM-D classification.

See below for a brief summary of announcements in the Federal Register by the US EPA on the subject of Hazardous Waste and the Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) of the US DOT on the subject of Transportation of Hazardous Materials.  Please note that this is my best effort to identify the relevant announcements in the Federal Register that may be of interest to generators of hazardous waste and shippers of hazardous materials.  I encourage you to review the list of Federal Register publications yourself to ensure regulatory compliance.

February 2013

Transportation of Hazardous Materials:

Management of Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste (RCRA):

None

Information can be helpful but it’s useless if you are not able to make sense of it, determine how any changes to the rules and regulations (final or proposed) will affect your operations, and communicate the necessary information to your personnel.  I can help you do that.  Please contact me for a free consultation to determine your regulatory requirements and how training can help you to attain and maintain compliance.

A common misconception is that the RCRA closure standards (measures a company must take upon closure to remove existing hazardous waste contamination and eliminate the potential for future contamination caused by past activities) apply solely to Treatment Storage and Disposal Facilities (TSDF’s) such as Subtitle C landfills or hazardous waste incinerators.  While it is true that a hazardous waste TSDF has a responsibility for long-term post-closure care that do not apply to a generator of hazardous waste; it is also true that some hazardous waste generators must comply with certain disposal and decontamination requirements if they cease operation of a hazardous waste accumulation unit.  This article will review the applicable closure standards for the three hazardous waste generator statuses and the four hazardous waste accumulation units.

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The title of this article contains three questions, but really they are all the same.  If you have a product that has been abandoned, then it has been discarded; and if a product has been discarded, then it is a solid waste.  Once you have determined your product is a solid waste, you must conduct a hazardous waste determination and identify its final status as a hazardous waste, non-hazardous waste, or perhaps a waste with an applicable exclusion from regulation.

A question I frequently receive at my Public Training Seminars and my Onsite Training goes something like this,

Company A has a 55-gallon drum of an unused product in storage.  The container is unopened and it is believed that the contents are still usable, however Company A has no immediate plans for use and does not know what it is going to do with the drum.  Based on the MSDS and generator knowledge the product will be a hazardous waste when disposed of.  When, if ever, must Company A begin to manage the unused product as a hazardous waste?

This is tough question because the regulations can only take you so far.  After that it is up to you as the generator of the waste to determine if the product in question is a solid waste and if so, is it a hazardous waste.  This article will review the applicable Federal regulations of the US EPA to help identify when a product becomes a waste.  It will also provide some criteria to follow when making your decision of Product v. Waste. (more…)

On February 26, 2013 the Office of Chief Counsel of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) alleged that Hagemeyer North America of Charleston, SC violated two provisions of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR).

On August 23, 2012 a PHMSA investigator conducted a compliance inspection at the company’s facility in Pelham, AL which is a DOT-approved cylinder requalifying test facility.  It performs requalification of DOT high pressure 3A, 3AA, and 3AL cylinders through hydrostatic testing.  It also ships class 2 Compressed Gases and 3 Flammable and Combustible Liquids hazardous materials via highway on its own trucks and by commercial carriers.

The violations noted on August 23, 2012 were:

1. Failure to condemn DOT-SP 9634 cylinders that showed permanent expansion in excess of the 5% limit prescribed by Section 7(b) of DOT-SP 9634, in violation of 49 CFR 171.2(a), (c), (g), and (j), §180.205(b), and §180.205(i)(1)(vii, and DOT-SP 9634.
2. Failure to comply with the testing requirements of DOT-SP 11194 and maintain test records in accordance with 49 CFR 180.215(b)(2), in violation of §171.2(a), (c), (g), & (j), §180.3(a), §180.205(b) & (c), §180.215(b)(2), and DOT-SP 11194, §7(b)(2).

Read the full Notice of Probable Violation here.

On their own, these violations are rather obscure and wouldn’t be of interest to most shippers of hazardous materials.  What caught my eye was the inclusion of the facility’s special permits (DOT-SP 9634 & DOT-SP 11194) listed with the violations of the HMR.  What is a special permit and why must a company that certifies compressed gas cylinders for reuse comply with one?  A special permit (formerly known as an exemption) allows a person to operate in a manner not allowed by the HMR.  It functions as an alternative to the HMR and has requirements of its own that must be complied with at the risk of violations and fines – that appears to be the case here.

You can learn more about Special Permits and other US DOT exceptions to the HMR here:  Special Permits, Exemptions, Approvals, and Exceptions to the Hazardous Material Regulations of the US DOT.

If you are involved in any stage of the design, manufacture, testing, marking, reconditioning, etc. of a packaging used for hazardous materials, then you are a HazMat Employer and you must provide initial and triennial training for your HazMat Employees.  If your operations require the use of Special Permits, then the training must include the requirements of the Special Permit for applicable personnel.  I provide this training and can do so for you for one low, flat fee.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me for a free consultation of your training needs.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) within the US DOT is allowed by Federal law assess fines for what it determines are violations of the Federal Hazardous Materials Transportation Law or the Hazardous Materials Regulations (49 CFR 171-180) committed on or after December 31, 2009.  That same Federal law sets a maximum and minimum limit to the civil penalties PHMSA ca assess.  The maximum civil penalty PHMSA can assess for a violation is $55,000 and a minimum of $250 per day for each violation.

The maximum limit goes up to $110,000 if the violation results in death, serious illness or severe injury, or substantial destruction of property.  Interestingly, the minimum civil penalty increases from $250 to $495 if the violation concerns training.

Fines from the PHMSA for violations of the HMR are real and expensive.  Better for you to spend your money providing high-quality training for your HazMat Employees instead of paying many times more the cost of training in fines.  That is not to mention the stigma of the violation, and costs related to contesting the violation or fixing the problem.  Contact me to schedule training that will save you from fines like these.

Except for a limited time in the past (June 24, 1989 to June 21, 1991) and within a limited range (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico) the generation, handling, transportation, and disposal of medical waste is not regulated by the US EPA under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).  For more information about medical waste and RCRA read:  US EPA Regulations for the Management of Medical Waste.  With the expiration of the provisions of the Medical Waste Tracking Act of 1988, US EPA shifted responsibility for regulation of Medical Waste disposal to the individual states.

If your state is like most I am familiar with, the regulation of medical waste (sometimes also known as:  Regulated Medical Waste, Biomedical Waste, Infectious Waste, or Potentially Infectious Medical Waste) is limited to a solid or liquid waste which presents a threat of infection to humans or has come in contact with human or animal blood, tissue, fluids, excretion, etc. or devices that have come in contact with any of them.  Also – again, based on my experience – most states limited the sources of Regulated Medical Waste mostly to hospitals, dialysis clinics, dental offices, health maintenance organizations, surgical clinics, medical buildings, physicians’ offices, laboratories, veterinary clinics, funeral homes, tattoo parlors, and the like.

Not so in Florida.  This article will focus on the State of Florida’s inclusion of discarded sharps from industry, manufacturing, or other non-medical commercial entities as Biomedical Waste and what you must do as a Biomedical Waste Generator in Florida to comply with the regulations. (more…)

On February 5, 2013 the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) of the US DOT signed a Compromise Order finding DOT, Inc of Denver, CO had committed three violations of the Hazardous Material Regulations (HMR).  As part of the compromise agreement, DOT, Inc agreed to pay a civil penalty of $3,876 for the violations.  This amount is quite reasonable given the maximum possible civil penalty for these violations is $165,000.

This outcome had its beginning on September 27, 2011 when a PHMSA investigator conducted a compliance investigation at the facility.  The investigator reported three alleged violations of the HMR and discussed them with company representatives during an exit briefing.  The investigator’s report, when filed, resulted in a recommendation to initiate the civil penalty action.  A Notice of Probable Violation was issued for three violations of the HMR proposing a $5,390 civil penalty.  DOT, Inc.’s reply and corrective action resulted in a reduction of the proposed civil penalty to that finally agreed upon.

Violations of the HMR noted were:

1. Respondent represented, certified, and marked DOT specification cylinders as having been successfully retested, when Respondent failed to perform a complete visual inspection, in violation of 49 CFR 171.2(a), (c), (g), & (j) and §180.205(f).  $0 civil penalty for this violation.
2. Respondent represented, certified, and marked DOT specification cylinders as having been successfully retested, when Respondent failed to confirm the accuracy of the pressure indicating device to within 500 psi of the test pressure, in violation of 49 CFR 171.2(a), (c), (g), & (j) and §170.205(g)(3).  $2,568 for this violation.
3. Respondent allowed employees to perform functions subject to the HMR when the hazardous material employees had not received current training and testing, and Respondent did not maintain complete records of hazardous materials training, in violation of 49 CFR 171.2(a), (b), (e), and (f), and §172.702(a), (b), & (d) and §172.704(a), (b), and (d).  $1,308 for this violation.

Take note of the third violation as it indicates not only the absence of the required HazMat Employee Training but also that the Respondent did not maintain a complete set of records to document the training.  This is no surprise since the failure to train HazMat Employees and then to keep complete training records are the top two of the  US DOT’s six most frequently cited violations.

You may read here for the full Compromise Order from the PHMSA.

Compliance begins with training.  49 CFR 172, Subpart H requires you to train all of your HazMat Employees within 90 days of new employment or job responsibility and at least every three years after that.  My training will not only fulfill this regulatory requirement, but it will inform you and your employees of what they must do to perform their job duties in compliance with the regulations.  My Onsite Training goes further then this where for one low, flat fee I will come to your site and train all of your employees on just what they need to know to comply with the regulations.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me for a free training consultation.

The shipper of a hazardous material (HazMat) must ensure the correct hazard communication methods are used to identify the potential hazards posed by the material offered for transportation.  The four hazard communication methods required by the US DOT when offering a hazardous material for shipment are:

• Shipping Papers
• Placards
• HazMat Labels
• Markings

Of these four, HazMat Labels and Markings are the methods a HazMat Employee is most likely to encounter during routine job duties since these are applied to the HazMat packaging itself.  This article will address the general marking requirements for a non-bulk packaging of a hazardous material offered for transportation in commerce (49 CFR 172.301). (more…)