I will wrap up this series of posts on EPCRA regulations with the last of the required reports, the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Report. Let’s begin with identifying which facilities need to complete this report (see 40 CFR 372.22 for details). Facilities that have: More than 10 employees A certain North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) …
Category: EHS Compliance
EPCRA Reporting
Over the past few posts I have discussed the requirements of Emergency Planning Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) for both Emergency Planning and Emergency Release Notifications. In today’s post I am going to tackle part one of the last major section of EPCRA, reporting. There are three reports required by EPCRA: Chemical Inventory, Material Safety Data…
EPCRA Emergency Release Notifications
I am on a quest to demystify the requirements of the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know (EPCRA) regulation. In the previous post I discussed the requirements of EPCRA Emergency Planning, today I am focusing on EPCRA emergency release notification. EPCRA standards require the reporting of a release of any Environmental Hazardous Substance (EHS) at or above…
EPCRA Emergency Planning Requirements
In my previous post I mentioned the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) is composed of three major parts. In today’s post I will focus on Emergency Planning, the portion of the law which intends to prepare state and local governments to respond to the most likely hazardous chemical emergencies. EPCRA requires the…
Introduction to EPCRA
Environmental regulations have the tendency to confuse even the most intelligent of professionals. A group of regulations that I revisit often is Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know (EPCRA). This week I will post of series that will detail the requirements of EPCRA. The goal of EPCRA, as indicated by its name, is to facilitate emergency…
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PBCs) Regulatory Changes Ahead
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of man-made organic materials that are desirable because of the following characteristics: non-flammable, chemically stable, have a high boiling point and electrical insulation properties. Unfortunately the same characteristics cause them to persist and bioaccumulate in the environment. In addition, PCBs
Not all bulbs are created equally
In the last post I summarized requirements for universal waste. One waste stream that falls into this category are bulbs (lamps). Did you know that not all lamps need to be managed as universal waste that, in fact, some are not even classified as hazardous waste or universal waste?
Universal Waste Requirements
Universal waste is a special category of hazardous waste that includes batteries, pesticides, mercury-containing equipment and lamps. For the most part, these wastes are self-explanatory but often confusion arises from mercury-containing equipment which includes a device or part of a device (including thermostats, but excluding batteries and lamps) that contains elemental mercury integral to its function. Some…
FAQ: Which companies are required to track employee work-related injuries and illnesses?
Did you know the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires most US based companies to record and report work-related injuries and illnesses? Let’s discuss each requirement a little further:
Are You Shipping Batteries?
Based on my experience, one of the largest areas of non-compliance is the transportation of hazardous materials (hazmat). Many times logistics or warehouse personnel are unaware that hazardous materials are required to be packaged, unloaded, loaded, documented and shipped in a manner that is compliant with the Department of Transportation (DOT), the International Air Transportation…