OSHA is making heat illness and hazards a top priority with its Heat Hazard National Emphasis Program (NEP), which went into effect on April 8. The agency will conduct proactive inspections for heat-related hazards in “high-risk” industries, including a category that covers many facilities and construction sites. Assessing the Workplace [...]
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) is the overarching federal management regime for the disposal of hazardous waste. This act dictates the different classifications of waste, such as hazardous, municipal, and industrial (non-hazardous), as well as the management requirements associated with each classification. It can be daunting [...]
The purpose of the Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule, promulgated under 40 CFR 112, is to prevent discharge of oil into navigable waters of the U.S. or adjoining shore lines. In order to better understand the SPCC rule, below are some of the fundamentals of the SPCC rule [...]
Abandoned sites can be damaging to the environment and can lead to expensive cleanups. Take for example the former Dayton Tire and Rubber Facility. In 1987, vandals entered the closed tire and rubber plant to recover salvageable materials. While removing copper cores from electric transformers remaining at the facility, the [...]
The range of land use in the United States is extensive, varying from agricultural land use to heavy industrial use. Not only do environmental considerations arise when redeveloping a Brownfields site, they must also be taken into account in nearly all redevelopment scenarios whether it is agricultural to residential or [...]
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and Scaffold and Access Industry Association (SAIA) standards were updated for Mobile Elevated Work Platforms (MEWPs) (sometimes previously referred to as "aerial lifts") in June of 2020. These updates included new classifications (groups and types) which can impact facilities and industry. These revisions [...]
Air permits can be overwhelming to read and understand. A facility’s air permit may include various applicable regulations, stack testing, preventative plan preparations, record keeping, reporting and other requirements. It can be easy to miss a requirement if you do not fully comprehend a permit’s limits and conditions. This article [...]
Vapor Intrusion, or “VI” occurs when there is migration of vapor-forming chemicals from any subsurface source into an overlying building, negatively effecting the quality of the indoor air. VI quickly became and has continued to be a hot button topic for the environmental consulting field. This is due to the [...]
