Chapter 29

Environmental Safety and ISO 14000 [Environmental

Management]

Major Topics

• Environmental problems

• Legislation and regulation

• Role of the safety and health professional

• Hazardous waste reduction

• ISO 14000 standards

Progress made in cleaning up the environment between 1970 and the present

• According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) substantial progress has been made in the following areas:

• Carbon monoxide emissions• Volatile organic compounds• Sulfur oxides• Ocean dumping of industrial wastes• Cities without adequate sewage treatment• Polluted rivers

OSHA-EPA memorandum of understanding signed in 1990

• The OSHA-EPA memorandum of understanding requires them to cooperate in developing a plan for joint enforcement and information sharing.

• The plan has helped to eliminate the bureaucratic overlaps and inefficiencies sometimes associated with government agencies.

• Joint training and maintenance have also resulted.

Major goals of Clean Air Act

• The clean air act contains provisions that requires companies to take whatever action is necessary to prevent or minimize the potential consequences of the accidental release of pollutants into the air.

• It also established an independent chemical safety and hazard investigation board to investigate accidental releases of pollutants that result in death, serious injury, or substantial property damage.

Explain the Titles of the Clean Air Act

• Title I: Urban Air Quality – Establishes five classes for noncompliance with ambient air quality standards: marginal, moderate, serious, severe, and extreme.

• Title II: Mobile Sources – Increase the emission standards for automobiles in two steps (1998 and 2003). Also requires the sale of reformulated gasoline in selected high polluted cities.

• Title III: Hazardous Air Pollutants – Requires EPA to use maximum control technologies to regulate the use of 189 toxic substances.

• Title IV: Acid Rain Control – Allows EPA to issue acid rain allowances to existing companies. Allowances can be used, saved, or sold to other companies.

• Title V: Permits – Requires major pollution emitters to obtain a special permit. Contains provisions that allow concerned citizens to petition for the revocation of a company’s permit.

• Title VI: Stratospheric Ozone Provisions – Bans the manufacture of methyl chloroform. The manufacture of the 5 most ozone destructive chemicals were phased out completely effective the year 2000.

• Title VII: Enforcement – Increase the ability of the EPA and corresponding state agencies to impose both criminal and civil penalties against violators of the Clean Air Act.

Research into economics of clean environment

• Because it is possible to quantify the costs of federally mandated solutions, it is critical that a way be found to quantify benefits.

• A cleaner, safer, healthier environment has the potential to yield a variety of benefits.

• By including the cost-benefit information in the decision making process, the process is improved along with the quality of the decision.

Distinguish between the following types of environments: natural and induced; controlled and artificial

• The natural environment is not human made. It is the environment we typically think of as the earth and all of its natural components, including the ground, the water, flora, fauna, and the air.

• Induced environments are those that have been affected in some way by human action. For example the highly polluted air that results from the exhaust emissions of automobiles in heavily populated cities is part of an induced environment.

• A controlled environment is a natural or induced environment that has been changed in some way to reduce or eliminate potential environmental hazards. For example, a home that is heated to reduce the potential hazards associated with cold.

• An artificial environment is one that is fully created to prevent definite hazardous conditions from affecting people or material. For example, the environment within the space shuttle is an artificial environment.

Environmental Concerns changing the role of Safety and Health Professionals

• Safety and health professionals no longer have the luxury of passing off environmental issues to other members of the organization.

• Because legislation overlaps the safety, health, and environmental areas, the safety and health professional has to be aware of environmental regulations, even if they do not have responsibility for them.

Most common environmental hazards

• High humidity conditions, low relative humidity, sunlight, high temperature conditions, low temperature conditions, airborne salts, dust, sand, dirt, lightning, high and low pressure, radiation, vibration and sound.

• Each of these potential hazards can have an effect on people, machines, systems, and other inhabitants of a given environment.

• For example, high humidity conditions can cause condensation that in turn, results in short circuits and inadvertent activations or disruptions of electrical systems.

Factors that affect indoor environment quality (IEQ)

• NIOSH has found that IEQ problems caused by ventilation systems deficiencies, overcrowding, off-gassing (ventilating) from materials in the office and mechanical equipment, tobacco smoke, microbiological contamination, and outside air pollutants.

• NIOSH has also found comfort problems due to improper temperature and humidity levels, poor lighting, unacceptable noise levels, adverse ergonomic conditions, and job related psychological stressors.

Sick Building Syndrome

• Sick building syndrome is a term many people use to convey a wide range of symptoms that they believe are attributed to the building itself.

• Workers typically implicate the workplace environment because their symptoms are alleviated when they leave the workplace.

Requirements of OSHA hazardous waste standard

• Develop a safety and health program to control hazards and provide for emergency response.

• Conduct a preliminary site evaluation to identify potential hazards and select appropriate employee protection strategies.

• Implement a site control program to prevent contamination of employees.• Train employees before allowing them to undertake hazardous waste operations or

emergency response activities that could expose them to hazards.• Provide medical surveillance at least annually and/or at the end of employment for

employees exposed to greater than acceptable levels of specific substances.• Implement measures to reduce exposure to hazardous substances to below established

acceptable levels.• Monitor air quality to identify and record levels of hazardous substances in the air.• Implement a program to inform employees the names of people responsible for health and

safety and of the requirements of the OSHA standard.• Implement a decontamination process that is used each time an employee or piece of

equipment leaves a hazardous area.• Develop an emergency response plan to handle on site emergencies.• Develop an emergency response plan to coordinate off site services.

Goals of hazardous materials regulation

• The goals of hazardous materials regulations is to:

• Encourage companies to minimize the amount and toxicity of hazardous substances that they use.

• Ensure that all remaining hazardous materials are used safely.

• Ensure that companies are prepared to respond promptly and appropriately when accidents occur.

Define Hazardous Waste Reduction

• Hazardous waste reduction is reducing the amount of hazardous waste generated and in turn the amount introduced into the waste stream through the process of source reduction and recycling.

Hazardous waste reduction strategies

• Source reduction:• 1. Management improvements in operating efficiency: reducing the

inventory of perishable materials, segregating hazardous and non hazardous materials by storing them separately, and reducing equipment leaks and spills.

• 2. Better use of technology: Use a mechanical cleaning system (no hazardous waste) to replace a chemical cleaning system (alkaline chemical bath).

• 3. Better material selection: Clean electronic boards using water based process rather than hazardous solvents.

• Recycling:• Reclamation: Silver is a hazardous by-product of photo processing

operations. Silver cannot be discharged into the waste water system without expensive pretreatment. One photo processing company solved the problem by investing in a silver reclamation system (electrolytic cell to recover silver).

Steps involved in organizing a waste reduction program

• There are four steps that must be accomplished in establishing a waste reduction program.

• 1. The first step is to convince top level managers that the program is just not environmentally and ethically necessary, but also cost effective (regulatory compliance, legal liability, workers compensation).

• 2. The second step is to form a waste reduction team. It should have representatives from every department that purchases, stores, or uses hazardous waste.

• 3. Develop a comprehensive waste reduction plan. (more in next slide)

• 4. Implement, monitor, and adjust as necessary.

Minimum contents of waste reduction plan

• Statement of purpose: explains briefly the overall purpose of the waste reduction plan.

• Goals with timetables: goals translate statement of purpose into specific action items with timetables for their accomplishment.

• Strategies for accomplishing each goal: how?• Potential inhibitors associated with each goal.• Measures of success for each goal: monthly inventory

printout.• Tracking system: to monitor hazardous materials

purchase, storage, use and waste.• Audit process: (more later).

Waste reduction audit

• A waste reduction audit is a procedure for identifying and assessing waste reduction opportunities within a plant site.

• The audit consists of a careful review of the plant’s operation and waste streams and the selection of specific streams and/or operations to assess.

• The audit is a very useful tool in analyzing how a facility can reduce wastes destined for treatment and/or disposal sites.

• In a waste reduction program, legal and regulatory compliance should be considered in order to be within present and future regulations.

Steps in a waste reduction audit

• The most important steps in a waste reduction audit are:

• 1. Target processes

• 2. Analyze processes

• 3. Identify reduction alternatives

• 4. Consider the cost-benefit ratio of each alternative

• 5. Select the best option

EPA’s top environmental priorities for the future

• The progress made in cleaning up the air and water pollution are encouraging.

• According to the EPA nitrogen oxide emissions and ocean dumping of sewage sludge are still problems.

Trends for the future regarding environmental protection

• Acid rain: Gradually reduce sulfur oxide emissions while concurrently avoiding expensive new regulation induced clampdowns until sufficient evidence is available to justify such actions.

• Ground level ozone: Develop new regulations that focus on gas stations and other small sources of ground level ozone emissions while concurrently avoiding any new drastic reductions on automobile emissions.

• Global warming: Focus more on the use of nuclear power while continuing efforts to use fossil fuels more efficiently.

• Water pollution: Build more sewage treatment plants throughout the nation as quickly as possible.

• Toxic wastes: Develop and implement incentive programs to encourage a reduction in the volume of toxic waste.

• Garbage: Increase the use of recycling while simultaneously reducing the overall waste stream. Burn or bury what cannot be recycled, but under strict controls.

• Lead: Better protective clothing and hygiene facilities should be provided for employees in lead contaminated workplaces.

• Mercury: Better detection, mitigation, and elimination of mercury in work and home environments.

Environmental management system

• An environmental management system (EMS) is the component of an organization with primary responsibility for the functions of leading, planning, organizing, and controlling as they relate specifically to the impact of an organization’s processes, products, or services on the environment.

Competitive advantage of implementing EMS

• Minimization of funds siphoned off into non productive activities such as litigation and crisis management.

• Ease of compliance with governmental regulations in the foreign countries that make up the global marketplace.

• Better public image in countries [especially European countries] where interest in environmental protection is high.

Potential benefits of EMS• Reduction in liability or risk: The focus on being environmentally friendly reduces the likelihood of

environmentally hazardous behavior that may lead to expensive, non productive litigation.• Regulatory incentives: Companies that show initiative in establishing an effective EMS can take

advantage of incentives that reward organizations for showing leadership in protecting the environment.• Sentencing mitigation: Adoption of a comprehensive EMS may serve as a mitigating factor when fines are

assessed for failing to comply with regulations.• Pollution and waste reduction: Better environmental management results in less waste and less pollution.

This in turn results in attendant savings.• Profit: Better management of any kind- quality, human resources, time, or environment – translates into

better profits.• Community goodwill: Good environmental management makes companies good corporate citizens in

their neighborhoods which in turn lead to community goodwill.• Retention of high quality workforce: Employees live in the communities where their companies are

located. Companies that are good corporate citizens find it easier to retain their best brightest employees than do companies whose environmental practices are embarrassing or irresponsible.

• Insurance: Companies with established, effective environmental management systems may have fewer problems finding insurance policies that can be written at reasonable prices.

• Preference in lending: One of the key factors that lending institutions consider before making a loan is the company’s ability to pay. Because costly environmental litigation can bankrupt even the most solvent of companies, lending institutions may give preference to those with established EMS.

Process and Product oriented ISO 14000 standards

• Process oriented standards cover the following three broad areas: environmental management systems, environmental performance evaluation, and environmental auditing.

• Environmental management system (EMS) provides the structure for implementing its environmental policy. EMS consists of the organization’s structure, personnel, processes, and procedure relating to environmental management.

• EMS audit is the process used to verify that an EMS actually does what the organization says it will do.

• Product oriented standards cover three different broad areas of concern: life cycle assessment, environmental labeling, and environmental aspects in product standards.

Summary

• Environmental problems include acid rain, ozone, global warming, water pollution, toxic wastes, and garbage.

• Federal agencies involved in environmental safety are OSHA and EPA.

• Indoor environmental quality is affected by heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.

• The ISO 14001 standard is structured as: general requirements, environmental policy, planning, implementation and operation, checking and corrective action, and management review.

Home Work

• Answer questions 3, 10, 11, 20, 23, and 24 on page 679.

• 3. What are the major goals of the clean air act?• 10. Explain the term sick building syndrome.• 11. Summarize briefly the requirements of the

OSHA hazardous waste standard.• 20. List 4 trends for the future regarding

environmental protection.• 23. List 5 potential benefits of an EMS.• 24. Distinguish between process and product

oriented ISO 14000 standards.