Environmental, Health and Safety Brief for July 2017

 

Heat - The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and OSHA have collaborated to update OSHA’s original Heat Safety Tool. The updated app, available for both Android and iPhone, provides a clearer user interface, while still providing the same information to help keep workers safe when working outdoors in hot weather. Extreme heat causes more deaths than any other weather-related hazard; each year more than 65,000 people seek medical treatment for extreme heat exposure.

Employers should encourage workers exposed to hot and humid conditions to use the app to check the heat index and relevant protective measures. The app displays the heat index in the user’s location and shows the current risk level. The app also forecasts the hourly heat index throughout the entire workday, giving employers information they can use to adjust the work environment as needed to protect workers.

More than 450,000 users have downloaded the original app since it was launched in 2011. The original OSHA app will no longer function after September 30. To download the updated app and get more information on OSHA’s efforts to help protect workers from the heat, visit the website below:

 

 

  

 

 

EPA: A topic that has not been mentioned recently is that of Spill Prevention and Countermeasures Control (SPCC) plans. These plans are federally required for facilities that store more than 1320 gallons of oils and fuels. These plans are to be reviewed and updated as necessary every 5 years. You should take a look at your plan and see if it has been updated with items such as responsible personnel contact information, storage volume changes, site map updates, etc. You can find out more by using the following website for the EPA

Storm Water: Might want to take another look at your storm water plan and make sure that you are complying with its requirements. The fact that the EPA, and even to some extent the TCEQ, are having to cut back on inspections due to budgetary reasons doesn’t mean our industry can get complacent about compliance. Citizen and environmental groups such as Sierra Club and others are gearing up — many already are — to act as watchdogs for environmental compliance and code violations. Storm water runoff is an easy target for such groups to monitor and test for water quality. If your runoff ultimately ends up in one of the state’s impaired water bodies, then fines and cleanup/enhanced control measures costs could get quite high. To find out if your runoff goes to an impaired water body you can click here.

 

 

Something that most of us in our industry don’t really think about is the water that we use in our facility restrooms and kitchen areas. We just assume that it is either safe to drink or to wash with. However, according to TCEQ guidelines if a facility utilizes water sources (for example: well water) other than outside supplied water (e.g. public water supplies, bottled water, etc.) and its restroom(s) or hand washing facilities service more than 25 people then that operation is subject to water testing and reporting requirements and may be required to treat that water to drinking water standards. This has been brought up by some TCEQ inspectors when at the sites of some of our members.  Click Here