An Environmental Management Project - Assignment Example

1) Identify a specific industry and outline what must be done to be in compliance with environmental laws within that industry. It is a requirement for hazardous material handling facility to have a detailed plan on its operations which will include preclusive, closure and post-closure operations. This is a requirement by state in order for a permit of operation to be issued. In general the plans will give a description of waste characteristics handled, equipment used and the operation procedure of the same, personnel at the facility how emergencies are handled and other related issues. The operations plans are expected to include procedures of access, identification process of waste, entry procedure, handling and control of waste, security, monitoring, and safety, training in safety issues and management and personnel. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) recognize the need of a hazardous waste facility to include contingency plan that will work towards reduction of unanticipated damage emanating from treatment, storage or disposal of the disposal waste. The contingency plan and emergency procedures give the details of plan, responsibilities for the personnel and procedures for emergencies. The plan puts emphasis on the plan design specifics that will serve to reduce hazards that are posed to human health or environment due to fires, explosions or any form of unplanned release of hazardous components to soil, air or subsurface are put to minimum. There is need for the design to have provisions that will make it possible to have swift and effective emergency response procedures in addition of having features that will aid in avoiding occurrence of emergency situations. Some of the features that are required include primary and secondary spill structures and methods There should be structures that will help in containment and suppressing fire The ideal location of the facility need to be away from active faults, away from fire ignition source and flood zones or low-lying coastal areas. It is recommended that adequate ground-water monitoring be incorporated in addition to having communication and alarm system in place. While it is not a requirement to have specific design features by the contingency plan, it should be noted that an acceptable plan has basis in intrinsic safety features of the particular facilities. There is need for extra contingency planning and the development of emergency repair procedure in the case of surface impoundments. It is a requirement of for owners/operators of hazardous waste management facility to train the workers of the facility. The rule specifies that the personnel need to successfully complete on-the-job training or classroom training session which will fully equip them with skills required in their duties. The person to direct the training must have training in hazardous waste management procedures and should include instructions that educate the works on procedures of hazardous waste management which should be inline with the area they are dealing with. The program design should be such that there should be effective response to emergencies by the personnel through familiarization of the emergency procedures, emergency equipment and emergency system. The specific requirement may include How to respond to fires and explosions How to respond incase there is an incident of ground-water contamination Shutting down of operations Knowledge of important parameters in automatic waste feed cutoff systems Procedures for inspection, using, repair and replacement facility emergency and monitoring equipments The training received by the workers must have been completed in less than six months from the date one is being employed in a waste management facility or the time of moving to a new position in the facility (California Storm water Quality Association, 2003).. the regulation also emphasize that the training received by the facility personnel need to have a correlation with the class of the job being done even though regulations does not give any criteria for training programmes that are acceptable. Some of the activities undertaken at the facilities need personnel to be trained under the Ocupational Safety and Health Act but personnel training requirement under RCRA interpretation goes beyond the design of protecting workers and there is extension into community protection area as well (California Storm water Quality Association, 2003).. Some of the states training is a mandatory requirement in hazardous waste regulatory program have training requirement that are stricter than those of RCRA. The federal training standards are, however, required as a minimum in all the states. 2) Develop environmental control methods, procedures, and programs to handle environmental hazards presented by your industry. Discuss the issues associated with working with governmental officials and how those might be addressed. When designing a hazardous waste land disposal or land treatment facility it is important that the basic operations should be understood. The understanding play a vital role in developing of design plans that put into consideration the operations of the facility, equipment requirement, health and safety needs. The type of operations in a hazardous waste disposal depend on the type of waste disposal system. The process involved in a hazardous waste landfill include transfer of waste onto the active using equipment like forklift or front-end loader. The wastes need to be separated into cells in order to avoid the mixing of wastes that are incompatible(U.S. Office of Personnel Management, 1997). The waste is covered with soil for the purpose of preventing wind dispersal. There is need for the over soil to be graded as this will facilitate collection of direct precipitation in a sump. As a precaution that will ensure that there is minimal infiltration of rainfall in extremely wet conditions, there is use of tarps in covering the active area of the landfill (California Storm water Quality Association, 2003). During the seasons of very high rainfall the waste in placed in containers or simply stored until the end of the rainfall season. In landfill operations specialized equipment is required to be used in waste and cover material handling, decontamination process, and spill and fire control. Forklift and front-end loader are utilized in unloading and placement of solid waste and containers while dozens and self-loading scrapers are used in the process of spreading and compacting cover materials (Brown, 1983). Support functions are important and thus the need for road graders, vacuum trucks and water pick-ups. Other equipment required in the operations are spill control, fire control and decontamination equipments The operation of the facility involve various inspections when the liquid waste are impounded. There is need to monitor to ensure rise of liquids into the freeboard will not occur in addition to the leak detection system being monitored. The containment berms are inspected to ensure that no signs of leakage or erosion exist. Periodic sampling is also done on impounded wastes for some chemical parameters in addition to periodical inspection for floral and faunal activities like animal burrows which are likely to cause leaks through earthen dikes, embankments or levees. There is need to remove liquid waste in an impoundment and the methods involved include decantation, pumping and settling, chemical neutralization and solar drying. In the process of closing impoundment the equipment required include hydraulic pipeline or centrifugal pump used in removal of impounded liquids, vacuum truck which is used in the extraction process of hardened sediments which a dragline or front-end loaded is used in excavation of solidified sediments (Engineering Science,1982). There are three typical operations which are associated with land operation treatments. First there is application of liquid waste through spraying the waste on the land by use of sprinklers or through use of flood or furrow irrigation methods. The other operation involve the spread of semi liquid sludge on the land surface or the sludge is injected 4 to 8 inches below the surface of land. The last operation involves the application of low-moisture solids that has more 15% solids on the surface of the land and later owns the solids being incorporated in the soil (U.S. Office of Personnel Management, 1997). In operating the plant interaction with government officials is common where inspection of the facilities is required. The facility is required to keep copies of The Uniform Hazard Waste Manifest Form. This is a shipping document that reports on the contents of waste transfer, the company involved in transferring and the disposal company receiving it. The source of the waste, the transporter and the facility disposing the waste are all required to sign the document and retain a copy and the signed copy is expected to be kept at the waste handling facility for 3 years. It is also required that the facility maintain incident records (spills and other discharges) and other information that gives the details of the storm water quality and quantity discharged (U.S. Office of Personnel Management, 1997). It is also a requirement for the facility to maintain records of inspection and maintenance activities undertaken on the facility. Other requirement that the government officials may be interested in is a confirmation that the hazard facility Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasures (SPCC) 3) Discuss challenges associated with ensuring company personnel follow environmental regulations. There are several changes in ensuring that workers follow the environmental regulations. The fact that there are many workers who should be supervised is one a problem in ensuring that the workers follow the environmental regulations. The workers may avoid following the right procedures of in order to cut down on the time they are engaged in performing some activities. Lack of appropriate equipment and workers protective gear is also a reason which may be a cause for lack of observing the environment regulations at the facility. Some of the workers may lack full protective gear due to the fact that the protective gear may have been worn out faster that the expected time. This could be due to improper care of the protective gear and therefore the worker may choose to use the ineffective gear other than risk punishment by asking for early replacement. 4) Outline possible ethical and professional dilemmas of a responsible environmental professional. As a responsible environmental professional one exposed to several ethical and professional dilemmas. In a situation where the environmentalist need to base a decision on some studies which might note be proved to be true. In some of the situations several study might be used and there results may be contradictory. In some situations an environmentalist may be dealing with a situation where a certain population is exposed to some dangers due to exposure to an environmental hazard. The environmentalist will be forced with ethical dilemma when deciding on the right decision. While the environmental specialist will decide to order the evacuation of the population for their safety the same decision will expose the population to lose of their property and social interference on the population. In the recommending the setting up of waste disposal facilities the amount of money used on the facility is substantial. When operating in a society where people may not be having basic needs like food expenditure of huge some of money on sophisticated waste disposal system may be an ethical issue. The machinery used in the operation of the waste disposal system are expensive and may also be used in other projects that can benefit the public directly. The workers in facilities may be exposed to high danger even though they are working towards saving the general public from being exposed to danger. The professional is in an ethical dilemma whether it is right to put some part of the population to a higher risk in order to save the health of the general public. References Brown, K. W.(1983). Landfills in the Future. Public Works, 200 South Boward Street, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07451. California Stormwater Quality Association (2003) Hazardous Waste Management Engineering Science,(1982). Comparative Evaluation of Incinerators and Landfills. EngineeringScience, Inc., 150 N. Santa Anita Avenue, Arcadia, California . U.S. Office of Personnel Management (1997). Hazardous Waste Disposing Read More

While it is not a requirement to have specific design features by the contingency plan, it should be noted that an acceptable plan has basis in intrinsic safety features of the particular facilities. There is need for extra contingency planning and the development of emergency repair procedure in the case of surface impoundments. It is a requirement of for owners/operators of hazardous waste management facility to train the workers of the facility. The rule specifies that the personnel need to successfully complete on-the-job training or classroom training session which will fully equip them with skills required in their duties.

The person to direct the training must have training in hazardous waste management procedures and should include instructions that educate the works on procedures of hazardous waste management which should be inline with the area they are dealing with. The program design should be such that there should be effective response to emergencies by the personnel through familiarization of the emergency procedures, emergency equipment and emergency system. The specific requirement may include How to respond to fires and explosions How to respond incase there is an incident of ground-water contamination Shutting down of operations Knowledge of important parameters in automatic waste feed cutoff systems Procedures for inspection, using, repair and replacement facility emergency and monitoring equipments The training received by the workers must have been completed in less than six months from the date one is being employed in a waste management facility or the time of moving to a new position in the facility (California Storm water Quality Association, 2003).. the regulation also emphasize that the training received by the facility personnel need to have a correlation with the class of the job being done even though regulations does not give any criteria for training programmes that are acceptable.

Some of the activities undertaken at the facilities need personnel to be trained under the Ocupational Safety and Health Act but personnel training requirement under RCRA interpretation goes beyond the design of protecting workers and there is extension into community protection area as well (California Storm water Quality Association, 2003).. Some of the states training is a mandatory requirement in hazardous waste regulatory program have training requirement that are stricter than those of RCRA.

The federal training standards are, however, required as a minimum in all the states. 2) Develop environmental control methods, procedures, and programs to handle environmental hazards presented by your industry. Discuss the issues associated with working with governmental officials and how those might be addressed. When designing a hazardous waste land disposal or land treatment facility it is important that the basic operations should be understood. The understanding play a vital role in developing of design plans that put into consideration the operations of the facility, equipment requirement, health and safety needs.

The type of operations in a hazardous waste disposal depend on the type of waste disposal system. The process involved in a hazardous waste landfill include transfer of waste onto the active using equipment like forklift or front-end loader. The wastes need to be separated into cells in order to avoid the mixing of wastes that are incompatible(U.S. Office of Personnel Management, 1997). The waste is covered with soil for the purpose of preventing wind dispersal. There is need for the over soil to be graded as this will facilitate collection of direct precipitation in a sump.

As a precaution that will ensure that there is minimal infiltration of rainfall in extremely wet conditions, there is use of tarps in covering the active area of the landfill (California Storm water Quality Association, 2003). During the seasons of very high rainfall the waste in placed in containers or simply stored until the end of the rainfall season.

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