Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
It’s a Small Project—Do You Need a Stormwater Discharge Permit? The operator of a small construction activity site is required to obtain coverage under a stormwater discharge permit if: The construction project will disturb more than 1 acre but fewer than 5 acres. The construction project will disturb less than 1 acre of land but […]
As an employer, you can promote shared transportation among your employees in several ways. Employer-sponsored vanpools. The employer buys or leases vans, but employee/drivers may be responsible for planning routes, recordkeeping, collecting fares, and maintaining the van. Drivers are often allowed to use the vans during nonworking hours. Vanpools/Buspools. Third-party firms operate vanpool fleets and […]
The Senate Majority Leader is itching to pass legislation that allows your state to opt out of the Obama administration’s CPP rule. Some states are trying to pass laws so that their legislatures will be able to veto the rule, and Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin recently issued an Executive Order prohibiting the state’s Department of […]
BLR Legal Editor Tim Fagan offers tips on the process for submitting your Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reports this year.
The Clean Air Act required the EPA to develop NAAQS for six pollutants commonly found throughout the United States. These pollutants, referred to as “criteria pollutants,” are: Sulfur dioxide; Particulate matter (PM-10 and PM-2.5); Carbon monoxide; Ozone; Nitrogen dioxide; and Lead. The EPA established a primary and a secondary NAAQS for each criteria pollutant. The […]
Employer Trip Reduction (ETR) Under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, states that have areas designated as extreme or severe nonattainment for ozone were required to revise their state implementation plan (SIP) by adopting regulations to implement ETR programs and reduce work-related vehicle trips and miles traveled by employees. In 1995, Congress amended the law, […]
Compliance with refrigerant handling and appliance and equipment repair requires a lot of paperwork and recordkeeping. Exclude Purged Refrigerants Tip 8: If you own refrigeration equipment and want to exclude purged refrigerants that are destroyed from annual leak rate calculations, keep these records: Records sufficient to support the amount of refrigerant you claimed you sent […]
EPA’s regulations for safeguarding and repairing the stratospheric ozone layer include provisions for the servicing and disposal of refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment. Under these regulations, a “refrigerant” is defined as any substance consisting of, or is part of, a Class I or Class II ODS that is used for heat transfer purposes and provides a […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends conducting these inspections at least monthly and, while not as thorough as an operations and maintenance (O&M) inspection, each inspection should be recorded by date and initialed. 9 Steps for Inspecting Your USTs Step 1. Release Detection System—Check the release detection system to ensure it is working properly. […]
Note: The current health-based ozone standard is 75 parts per billion (ppb). The groups discussed in this article all recommend that the EPA retain the current ozone standard. National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) NAM commissioned a study concerning the costs of EPA’s proposed ozone standards. The initial (July 2014) and updated (February 2015) study was […]