enforcement

Hazardous Waste Violations Could Result in HazMat Transportation Violations

Hazardous Waste Label(Boston, Mass. – Feb. 17, 2012) – A Rhode Island company that conducts printing, coating and finishing of specialty fabrics has been ordered by EPA to come into compliance with federal hazardous waste management regulations.

Its violations include a failure to:

  • Complete a hazardous waste determination for the waste it generates.
  • Separate incompatible hazardous wastes.
  • Provide adequate RCRA Training for its employees.
  • Maintain a hazardous waste contingency plan.
  • Properly manage and label its universal waste.

Usually I would harp on the failure to provide adequate RCRA Training since this sort of training is just what I do, actually it’s only part of what I do, but read on.  However, I’m going to conjecture that violations of the EPA regulations will inevitably result in violations of the Department of Transportation (DOT) hazardous material transportation regulations and possibly cause a hazardous materials incident; here’s how.

I’ll assume that as a printer, the Rhode Island company uses flammable liquids as solvents, thinners, cleaners, in its inks, etc.  It is quite possible that the hazardous waste determination failure was for materials such as these.  If so, what should be an ignitable hazardous waste with the characteristic waste code of D001, might be identified as a non-hazardous material.  This kind of mistake will then lead to the other hazardous waste violations noted in the press release.  But what about when the hazardous waste is shipped off-site for disposal or treatment, what then?

I’ll assume that this company is a Large Quantity Generator (LQG) of hazardous waste and therefore must use a Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest for its off-site shipments of hazardous waste.  The use and proper completion of the manifest is a requirement of both the EPA and the DOT.  Therefore, an incomplete or missing hazardous waste determination may result in the improper completion of the manifest.  It may also result in the incorrect use of the remaining three hazard communication methods required by DOT for shipments of hazardous waste.  Along with the manifest as a shipping paper, they are:

  1. Placards
  2. Labels
  3. Markings

Clearly, a violation of the EPA regulations to conduct a hazardous waste determination (40 CFR 262.11) can result in a violation of the DOT regulations when shipping hazardous waste.  And not just a violation of the regulations.  According to the DOT ~80% of hazardous material incidents in transportation are due to human error; another ~15% are due to package failure.  Errors may result not only in violations and fines, but serious personal injury or damage to property.

The solution?  One word:  Training.

I provide the training that addresses all of these issues and more; conducted either as open enrollment training held nationwide and year-round or as on-site training tailored to your site specific needs.  At my training you will learn the regulations of the EPA for facility personnel found at 40 CFR 265.16 and those of the DOT for HazMat Employees found at 49 CFR 172, Subpart H.

Contact me to arrange for training to bring you back into compliance and avoid these costly and dangerous violations.

US EPA Compliance and Enforcement Annual Report for 2011

You are no doubt aware that the US Environmental Protection Agency is serious about enforcing its regulations in order to live up to its mandate to protect the environment.  The Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) within the US EPA is tasked with carrying out this enforcement through a variety of measures.  From its website, the OECA…  “aggressively goes after pollution problems that make a difference in communities through vigorous civil and criminal enforcement that targets the most serious water, air and chemical hazards. OECA also advances environmental justice by protecting vulnerable communities.”

How do they do this?  Again, from its website:  “Through improved transparency and community participation, we are enlisting the public’s assistance to ensure compliance nationwide, and that no entity enjoys an unfair economic advantage from noncompliance with the nation’s environmental laws.” It’s the reference to “…improved transparency and community participation…” that should be of concern to the regulated community.  I am in favor of transparency.  I think our businesses, government, and communities function better when we have equal access to public information.  As a business, however, you should be aware that to a greater degree than ever before, information about your company – especially the results of inspections, investigations, and enforcement actions – are made available to the public.

One example of this is the US EPA Compliance and Enforcement Annual Results for 2011 Fiscal Year.  This website contains a wealth of information about US EPA’s enforcement and compliance activities for the year just past.  It includes a lot of bare statistics of interest that you may wish to peruse, but of more interest to the regulated community is the Enforcement Cases Map.  Once opened, you may select or unselect the type of enforcement activities you are interested in, in my case “Waste”.  The map will then reveal the location of all US EPA investigations that resulted in enforcement for violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).  Click on a location and you may read information about the site.  Select “More Information” and you are taken to the US EPA’s website:  Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO).  Here you find a “Detailed Facility Report” which contains a snapshot of the facility’s compliance history with the US EPA, not just waste, but air, water, emergency reporting, and more.

It has been – and will continue to be – a priority of the Obama administration to make public information easily available to the public.  As a business, you need to be aware of this reality and be prepared to take the following steps:

  1. Review any information about your company that is made public to ensure it is accurate.  Make corrections if it is not.
  2. Communicate proactively with your neighbors, community, state, region, etc. to inform them of what you are doing to maintain your business within the limits of the regulations.  Also inform them of any efforts beyond the regulations to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
  3. Avoid violations in the first place by ensuring compliance with the regulations.

For this last point, I suggest you attend one of my EPA & PHMSA/DOT open enrollment training events.  There, in one day, you will get a good understanding of the US EPA regulations for the management of hazardous waste and the PHMSA/DOT regulations for the transportation of hazardous materials.

If you have many employees to train, contact me for on-site training where for one flat fee of $1,749 for one day I can train as many as you need.