The Right Questions

Return to
Newsletter index

 

GENERAL / COMPLIANCE ASSURANCE & ENFORCEMENT READINESS

 

  1. What BENCHMARKS do we/you (you, i.e. consultant) use for compliance assurance with those laws driven by chemical hazards, thresholds, and regulatory mandates among the 60+ laws imposed by the government?
     

  2. How do we/you TRACK LEGISLATIVE CHANGES & COMPLIANCE DEADLINES? (with the laws evolving by as much as 30% per year)?
     

  3. What’s the status of our DEFENSIBLE DOCUMENTATION in readiness for an enforcement inspection coming from any jurisdiction – federal, state, county, & local - among 60+ EHS laws?
     

  4. How do we/you screen against the FOUR (4) THRESHOLD CATEGORIES encompassing the 60+ laws to which our company is accountable?
     

  5. What methods of PRECISION DUE DILIGENCE do we/you currently perform for compliance assurance, continuous improvement on ever-evolving regulatory laws, and risk management?
     

  6. How do we execute the AGGREGATE TOTAL RULING as a part of our due diligence on the 11 laws requiring its application?

 

 

SPECIFIC REGULATORY: ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH, SAFETY, HAZMAT

 

  1. What's the STATUS of our ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE REPORTING under EPA’s SARA Title III?

    • (California: What’s the status of our Hazardous Materials Business Plan?_______________________)

    • (Maricopa County, AZ: What’s the status of our Hazardous Materials Mgt. Program?_________)

    • (Houston, TX: Hazardous Materials Permit?______ (Flammables: 5 gals inside/10 gals outside)
       

  2. How do we/you screen our company against the 375 extremely hazardous substances under EPA’s SARA, Sec. 302 where the threshold planning quantities (TPQs) go as low as 1 lb, including the execution of the Aggregate Total Ruling?

    For a complete list of "The Right Questions" click here
     

  3. How do we/you screen our company against the 775 chemicals for spills and releases under EPA’s SARA, Sec. 304 where the reportable quantities (RQs) go as low as one lb?
     

  4. How are we prepared to follow the proper protocol with the National Response Center should we have a spill or release past the RQ assigned to any of the 775 SARA, Sec. 304 chemicals on our premises?
     

  5. Do we have records for the last 5 compliance years evidencing our SARA reports were filed via certified mail with the LEPC, SERC, and LERT no later than March 1 annually?
     

  6. What benchmark do we/you use to ensure our facility layout is designed to meet EPA, OSHA, DOT specs when accompanying reports, permits, documents, and training records to various agencies?
     

  7. How do we handle updates and management of change within our organization to alert local responders to changes in our personnel, emergency numbers, and process/product changes; and who is responsible for updating these changes with the proper protocols?
     

  8. How do we/you screen our facility for the 859 chemical candidates regulated under EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)?
     

  9. How many chemicals do we/you report for our facility each year under Form R?________
     

  10. How do we/you screen for the 54 Persistent Bio-Accumulative Toxins (PBTs) required under TRI since the year 2000?  How do we screen for Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds (PACs)?
     

  11. How do we execute the Aggregate Total Ruling against the annual usage thresholds required under TRI?
     

  12. What methods of due diligence do we execute for metallic chemicals regulated under TRI (i.e. manganese, chromium, nickel, lead, copper, and more) found in our metals and steels?
     

  13. How do we/you screen for the 4 Title Programs (I, III, IV, & VI) under EPA’s Clean Air Act Amendments?

    How do we/you screen our facility under Title I for Volatile Organic Compunds (VOCs) commonly found in paints, solvents, inks, and degreasers?

    How do we/you screen our facility for the 187 air toxics (aka HAPs) under Title III?

    How do we/you screen our facility for acid rain deposition under Title IV?

    How do we/you screen our facility for the 22 Class 1 and 34 Class 2 Ozone Depleting Chemicals (ODCs) under Title VI?

    How do we/you execute the Aggregate Total Ruling to ensure our due diligence has been accurately engaged for proper air permitting applicability, permit status, and permit conditions?

    What emissions factor do we/you use to determine proper air permitting applicability?

    How often do we/you analyze our permit conditions against processes, productivity, and output?

    How do we/you assess our facility under Sec. 608 of the Refrigerant Emissions Tracking Rule, inclusive of our air conditioning systems?

    How do we/you determine if one or more of the 187 NESHAPs under Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) impacts our facility for the need of control technology?

    What’s the status of our annual Emissions Inventory Report required to be reported at the state level?
     

  14. How do we/you screen our facility for the 140 highly hazardous substances against their threshold quantities (TQs), plus those flammable or toxics in excess of 10,000 lbs. connected to a process as regulated under EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP 112r)?
     

  1. What’s the status of our Multi-Sector General Permit under EPA’s Storm Water Runoff Law?

    • When’s the last time our Pollution Prevention Plan was updated?

    • How do we/you screen for the 692 Water Priority Chemicals as a part of our Stormwater Runoff?

    • How do we demonstrate compliance under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)?
       

  2. How do we/you screen our facility against the 78,000 chemicals regulated under the Toxic Substances Control Act in preparation for reporting under the Inventory Update Rule (IUR) for the years 2002, 2006 and leading to 2010?
     

  1. How do we/you analyze our waste streams against the 750 hazardous waste codes regulated under EPA's Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA)?

    • What is our Generator Classification?  LQG__    SQG__    CESQG__       (KS: EPA Gen__    KS Gen__    SQG__)

    • What evidence do we have that our generator classification is accurate?

    • What’s the status of our Hazardous Waste Permit?  Is it current to our generator classification and readily available for inspection?

    • What’s the status of our annual 8 Hour HazWaste Training program as required by EPA’s Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA)?
       

  1. What’s the status of our SPCC Plan (Spill Prevention Control & Countermeasure)? [if liquid inventory is > 1,320 gals]
     

  2. How do we/you screen our facility against the 123 pollutants under EPA’s Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990?

 

  1. What implications does the Wetlands Conservation Act (WCA) have for our facility to obtain a Federal 404 Permit?

 

  1. What implications does EPA’s Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) have for our facility? What's the status of our annual Pesticide Report?
     

  2. How do we/you screen for our state requirements for Source Reduction/Waste Minimization?
     

  1. What preparations have we/you made for screening our facility against the 87,000 substances under EPA's upcoming Endocrine Disruports Screening Program, soon to be imposed upon Industry (already law in the European Union?)
     

  2. How do we/you fulfill our HAZARD DETERMINATION MANDATE as required by OSHA?
     

  3. What's the status of our site-specific HazCom Written Plan? (#1 violation with OSHA)

    When’s the last time our HazCom Training (aka Employee Right-To-Know) was performed? (#2 violation with OSHA)

    What’s the status of our New-Hire Orientation for each new employee coming to our company?

    How do we/you  determine exposures to flammability, pressure, reactivity, acute, and chronic health hazards?

    How do we/you determine exposures to health hazards and safeguard our personnel against adverse affects to genes, lungs, organs, eyes and skin?

    How do we/you organize our site-specific chemical inventory list in order to ensure HazCom Training is done as mandated by OSHA?

    How do we/you assess physical states for products/chemicals in our facility?
     

  4. What’s the status of our 24 Hour HAZWOPER Training with annual 8-Hour Refreshers to follow?
     

  5. What’s the status of our Lockout/Tagout Program…Machine-Specific Design, Machine-Guarding, Written Guarding, Written Program and Training for authorized, affected, and other employees?
     

  6. How do we/you screen our chemical inventory for the 750 known and suspected carcinogens, mutagens and teratogens as required by OSHA?
     

  7. How do we/you assess our facility for the 547 air contaminants, specific to each permissible exposure limit (PEL) and action level affecting our facility under OSHA's Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Standard?
     

  8. How do we/you assess our facility for OSHA's 29 specific chemical hazards, each hazard having its own Standard (or law)?
     

  9. How do we/you continue to determine the implications and changes for 704 placard ratings at our exits as regulated by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)?
     

  10. How do we/you screen our facility for the 130 highly hazardous substances against their threshold quantities (TQs), plus those flammable or toxics in excess of 10,000 lbs. connected to a process as regulated under OSHA's Process Safety Management (PSM)?
     

  11. What’s the status of our Exposure Control Plan (ECP) and annual training under OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogens Standard?

    What's our confidence that our ECP is site-specific and our employee training records from the past 5 years are accessible for an inspection?

    Would this stand the test of an attorney's expert witness in a court of law?
     

  12. How do we/you screen for the 1,100 Hazardous Materials as required by the U.S. DOT where chemical products RECEIVED have more implications for compliance requirements than, perhaps, products shipped?

    What's the status of our triennial HazMat Employee Training for those employees exposed to chemical products we receive, as well as those we may ship?

    What implications and further requirements does California's Proposition 65 impose upon any products we are shipping?

    What's the status of our HazMat Registration due annually each July 1?

    For those chemically-oriented products we receive, how do we/you fulfill our DOT Hazmat Employee Training?
     

  13. How have we/you screened for the new Homeland Security law against the 344 chemical Hazards regulated under the Anti-Terrorism Standard?