River Falls campus feedback on fire drills

Connie Smith at UW-River Falls is using their website to provide feedback to the campus community on their recent fire drills. It includes FAQ's, Fire Safety Basics, and a summary by building.

Preventing Health Hazards from Metal Working Fluids

Metal working fluids used without controls.

More than 100 million gallons of metal working fluids (MWFs) are produced every year, and more than 1 million employees are exposed to these MWFs. NIOSH issued guidance on recommended exposure limits (RELs) and controls for MWFs in 1998, but continues to find employees exposed to airborne concentrations of MWFs above the RELs and employees with respiratory and skin problems of the types associated with MWF exposures.

MWFs are used to lubricate, cool, prevent corrosion of, and remove chips from tools and metal parts during grinding, cutting, or boring operations. There are several types of MWFs: straight or soluble oils, semisynthetic oils, and synthetic oils. Exposures to MWFs can occur through inhaling aerosols, skin contact with contaminated surfaces, and splashing of fluids. Employees who have been exposed to MWFs often report skin disorders (skin irritations, oil acne, and rashes); eye, nose, and throat irritation; and respiratory symptoms (cough, asthma, or other breathing problems).

In 1998, NIOSH issued RELs of 0.5 mg/m³ for total MWF particulates and 0.4 mg/m³ for the thoracic particulate mass, as a time-weighted average concentration for up to 10 hours per day during a 40-hour work week. (read more of the NIOSH article here...)

New Comm 10 Adopted

The web page for the proposed (and newly adopted) revisions can be found here:

http://www.commerce.state.wi.us/er/ER-BST-Comm10CodeRevisionPage.html

Comm 10 has been adopted and the anticipated effective date is Feb 1, 2009. We are receiving inquiries regarding the ability to use the revised code now. Because the revised Comm 10 has formally been adopted (with an effective date of Feb 1st.) it is acceptable to use the revised Comm 10 for plan development and submittal if it is used entirely, including the respective adopted standards. A person cannot pick and choose between the current Comm 10 and the adopted Comm 10. If using the adopted revised code the submitter should attach a note that the plan submittal is developed in accordance with the revised version of the Comm 10 code.

Revised operator recordkeeping and system test requirements that may change under the revised code are not effective until February 1, 2009.

Sheldon Schall, Chief
Storage Tank Regulation Section
Wisconsin Department of Commerce
US Mail: PO Box 7837, Madison, WI 53707-7837
UPS/FedEx: 201 W. Washington Ave., Madison, WI 53703
(608) 266-0956
Fax: (608) 261-7725
Web site: http://commerce.wi.gov/

EPAs self-audit agreement with independent Wisconsin colleges

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 recently announced that it has signed an agreement with 16 independent Wisconsin colleges and universities that allow the schools to perform their own compliance audits for seven major environmental laws.

The audit agreement calls for 16 members of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities to work with a consultant in screening classroom buildings, laboratories and dining, athletic and maintenance facilities for compliance. As long as the schools correct violations and meet the conditions of the agreement, all or most penalties will be eliminated. (More...)

OSHA releases forklift eTool

Employers who use forklifts in their workplaces have a new resource to help keep their employees safe on the job. The Powered Industrial Trucks (Forklift) eTool is the latest Web-based training tool unveiled by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

The eTool, which focuses on forklifts commonly used in general industry, provides a review of potential hazards and a summary of key OSHA requirements and industry-recommended practices for forklift operations. It includes four modules examining the types of forklifts, safe operating practices, workplace conditions affecting operation and operator training.

SHWEC newsletter

The October 2008 edition of the Solid & Hazardous Waste Education Center newsletter is now available. An email newsletter subscription link is at the bottom of their page. Covered topics include:

Recycling Rate of Used Oil Filters and Absorbents a Concern in Wisconsin
Enforcement Advisory on Outdoor Wood Fired Boilers
Pharmaceutical Waste Update
Drug Collection Grants Offered
WH2E Takes Off
Solar Decade Conference
Zero Energy Homes Grants in WPPI Territory
Will Allen Named a MacArthur Fellow
Building Communities: Focus on Sustainability Webinar Series
Environmental News Briefs
Events, Training and Workshop Opportunities

Perma-Fix fined over issues before purchase of Richland plant

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer

Perma-Fix consent agreement/final order
http://media.tri-cityherald.com/smedia/2008/09/29/23/Permafix_CAFO.source.prod_affiliate.13.pdf

Perma-Fix Northwest Richland will pay a penalty of $304,500 after the Environmental Protection Agency found waste treatment problems stemming from the previous ownership of the Richland plant.

EPA and the Washington State Department of Ecology inspected the plant March 6, 2007, when it was owned by Pacific EcoSolutions, or PEcoS, and issued a notice of violation June 14, 2007, on problems identified during the inspection. That was one day after Perma-Fix Northwest took ownership of the plant.

All but one issue was resolved within 60 days of Perma-Fix taking over the plant and the remaining issue was resolved within 90 days.

"Perma-Fix ended all the issues and we ended up with the bill," said Richard Grondin, Perma-Fix Northwest's general manager.

The plant, on 45 acres on Battelle Boulevard, treats low-level radioactive waste and low-level radioactive waste mixed with hazardous chemicals. Much of the waste comes from the nearby Hanford nuclear reservation, but Perma-Fix also accepts waste from other Department of Energy sites and commercial waste from the nuclear industry, utilities and hospitals.

Perma-Fix has made extensive changes to the plant's ventilation system and purchased equipment to allow remote handling of waste at a cost of more than $1 million, Grondin said.

Within 90 days of taking ownership of the plant, it had disposed of low-level waste mixed with chemicals that had been at the facility for three to four years, he said. In addition, it had disposed of almost 800,000 pounds of low-level radioactive waste that had been at the plant for six or seven years, which was not an issue in the EPA settlement agreement, he said.

The settlement agreement listed seven violations, starting with a finding that PEcoS had been storing 42 containers of radioactive waste mixed with hazardous chemicals for more than one year. Its permit required it to treat and ship such waste it generates on-site within a year.

PEcoS also had eight drums of PCB waste it had stored for more than a year. It had previously received extensions to continue storing that waste, but the last extension had expired months earlier.

In a third violation, EPA found a shipment of 219 drums were brought to PEcoS for processing with no indication that PCBs were present. PCBs were found in one drum, but it was not handled as required, according to EPA.

PEcoS also did not correctly follow procedures for dust contaminated with cadmium, with EPA finding problems ranging from its failure to identify the hazard to its disposal. Other violations included failing to label containers of waste and not following requirements for shipping manifests.

In June 2007, EPA gave Perma-Fix 60 days to solve problems or be barred from accepting waste shipments from federal Superfund sites. Perma-Fix resolved six of the issues within 60 days but requested an extension to allow for sampling of the PCB waste and disposing of it.

That issue also was resolved within 90 days with no interruption of Perma-Fix's ability to accept waste.

"It is critical that facilities like Perma-Fix that handle hazardous waste and PCB waste manage it properly or face penalties," said Mike Bussell, EPA's director of the Office of Compliance and Enforcement in Seattle, in a statement. "Properly managing hazardous waste and PCB waste is absolutely critical to protecting both workers and the surrounding community and environment."

Perma-Fix said it proposed that instead of paying the fine the money be spent on a project that would benefit the environment, but EPA rejected its proposal. Other recent fines related to Hanford have been used for projects such as building a greenhouse for native plants, making improvements at Hanford to protect worker health and purchasing boats and equipment to respond to chemical spills in the Mid-Columbia.

* Annette Cary: 582-1533; acary@tricityherald.com