Injury management is an important part of any facility’s safety management program. Facilities should have a plan to prevent injuries from happening, as well as a plan to handle the effects of an injury on the facility and employee. Injury Management can be broken down into three portions: (1) Ways to prevent injuries from occurring, (2) mitigating the effects of an injury on the business, and (3) returning the employee to work as soon as possible. When a facility implements

If your facility performs industrial activities outside or has outdoor storage, there is a good possibility that you are applicable to general industrial stormwater permitting. Whether you are familiar with the requirements of your industrial stormwater permit or are looking to apply for permit coverage for the first time, all general industrial stormwater permittees are required to develop a stormwater pollution prevention plan, or SWPPP as it is commonly known. This plan outlines important details about your facility and how

OSHA’s Regulatory Agenda Understanding OSHA’s regulatory agenda and priorities for 2021 can help your business maintain compliance and avoid costly fines. OSHA’s Regulatory Agenda and the recently published Site-Specific Targeted Inspections guidance help provide insight into regulatory areas that this year’s inspections will focus on. This information is critical for evaluating the likelihood of an OSHA inspection at your facility. More importantly, it can help you prioritize onsite health & safety initiatives for 2021 and beyond. OSHA Inspection Strategy OSHA

Safety Committees can be a multifaceted tool within any organization’s Health and Safety program. According to an article from EHS Today by Guy Burdick, “Having one could reduce the number of workplace injuries and illnesses and workers’ compensation claims while bolstering your compliance with federal or state occupational safety and health regulations.” However, there is an even greater benefit that occurs from a committee: fostering management involvement and employee engagement. This is really what is needed for the long-term success

In order to facilitate the response to a potential emergency, all Large Quantity Generators (LQGs) are required to submit a Contingency Plan. According to Title 40 CFR §262.261, a “contingency plan must describe the actions facility personnel must take to comply with §§262.260 and 262.265 in response to fires, explosions, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents to air, soil, or surface water at the facility.” Requirements apply to all hazardous waste generators,

The transportation of hazardous materials (HazMat) within the United States is governed by the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act, with its purpose being to “protect against the risks to life, property, and the environment that are inherent in the transportation of hazardous material.” The regulations, which were created under the passage of this act, can be found in Title 49 of the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). These standards set forth the requirements for material classification and labeling, provide for

The Clean Air Act (CAA) was established to protect public health and the environment from hazardous and harmful emission releases into the atmosphere. As part of the CAA, stationary source emissions monitoring was implemented; this provides data and information from a source to demonstrate compliance with certain regulatory requirements in federal or state rules, or in an operating permit. Parametric Monitoring Systems Parametric monitoring systems use observations of an operational parameter of an emission unit, emission process, or air pollution

The upcoming environmental reporting season includes major obligations for most programs. With business as usual disrupted for the past couple of months, it is important to prepare the necessary information in order to submit accurate reports despite furloughs and temporary closures. With the expiration of the EPA’s COVID Temporary Enforcement Policy on August 31, 2020, it is important to understand how regulatory agencies are exercising their enforcement. Are regulatory deadlines in effect? Yes. There has been consistent communication that all

Whether we spend our day sitting in an office chair or working on a production floor, we are all affected by ergonomic factors. Poor management of ergonomic risk factors may lead to Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) such as repetitive stress injuries, lower back injuries, vibration syndromes, subluxation, and neck and shoulder injuries. In order to protect ourselves and our employees, we need to understand what ergonomic risks we are exposed to, and more importantly, how to control these risks to

The purpose of an SPCC Plan is to establish a comprehensive program that mitigates oil spills from reaching navigable waters and describes the necessary equipment, engineered controls, and procedures in place to prevent oil spills from occurring. The SPCC Rule is controlled under The Oil Pollution Prevention Regulation, which is outlined in Title 40, Part 112 of the Code of Federal Regulations. For a facility to be applicable under the SPCC Rule, they must: Be non-transportation-related; Have aggregate bulk oil

Many states require facilities covered under a general industrial stormwater permit to collect stormwater samples and have them analyzed for common pollutants. Stormwater pollutants vary by facility and industry because the potential pollutants will be dependent on the materials and equipment stored inside and outside of the facility. Two common stormwater pollutants are zinc and total suspended solids (TSS). It is not always clear where a pollutant is coming from, which makes lowering the level of that pollutant in the