Practical Facilities Tips, News & Advice.
Susan Bodine, the EPA’s assistant administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA), has released a new memo suggesting that the Agency will continue to revamp its enforcement activities by emphasizing its engagement with compliance assistance.
Using ambient air to cool and condense steam at electric power plants is a costly alternative to water cooling, however, energy companies are gradually adopting dry cooling according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Dry cooling or hybrid cooling—a combination of air and water—occurs in 3% of all U.S. thermoelectric generating capacity, says the […]
Employers and employees have relied for years on methylene chloride (also called dichloromethane), one of the more effective substances for industrial cleaning, degreasing, and paint stripping, among many other uses. But, as a commercial product, methylene chloride has few peers when it comes to its hazardous effects on users.
The experts at Safety.BLR.com® have provided an answer to the following question: “We have a general industry Texas customer whose business insurance company is requiring that they store all their flammable aerosols in flammable lockers, even if there is less than 25 gallons. Is this true?”
While this last batch of environmental enforcement penalties doesn’t contain any blockbuster million-dollar fines or penalties, they still highlight the ongoing need for regulatory adherence! These four recent compliance slip-ups ranging from risk management violations to spill prevention mishaps, with one costing a business $500,000, not including the $200,000 it will cost them to install […]
Yesterday, we looked at several fines levied against business operating non-compliant facilities. Two of those penalties were over $1,000,000! Today, we can add one more 7-figure fine to the pile. Of course, not all the fines were headline grabbing (one was only $350), but the differences highlight the breadth of violations agencies are willing to […]
Our first environmental enforcement report for August 2018 highlights the importance of running a compliant facility. Below, we present five recent cases—two of which resulted in penalties of over $1,000,000. These kinds of fines are a good reminder of the importance of environmental compliance to a facility’s bottom line.
Anyone who is even a casual watcher of do-it-yourself or home renovation on networks like HGTV are familiar with the preponderance of mold in older homes. It’s expected, to some degree, as the structures often featured in these shows have either been neglected or abandoned for years prior to the start of renovation. What you […]