11/06/2012
Q. Less than one year ago, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) amended the Hazard Communication Standard (HazCom) to harmonize with the Globally Harmonized System of Chemical Classification and Labeling (GHS). HazCom is one of two major programs in the United States that classifies a large universe of chemical hazards. The other major system is the Hazardous Material Regulations (HMR) promulgated and enforced by the Department of Transportation (DOT). How do OSHA’s new GHS classifications compare with the DOT’s hazmat classification system...
10/29/2012
The U.S. Department of Transportation is phasing out the ORM-D classification. The last day to ship packages properly classified and marked as ORM-D-AIR is December 31, 2012. Starting January 1, 2013, no new ORM-D AIR packages may be offered for transportation. Instead, shippers have to use...
10/23/2012
10/16/2012
When shipping fully regulated hazmat packages, all shippers must create shipping papers to provide hazard information to their carriers and emergency responders. The core element of a hazmat shipping paper is the “basic description” of each hazardous material in the consignment. [49 CFR 172.202(a)] The basic description is made up of the following four elements...
10/09/2012
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “there are approximately 587,000 underground storage tanks (USTs) nationwide that store petroleum or hazardous substances.” (http://www.epa.gov/oust/) The Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) was established by EPA in 1985 in response to Congress’s statutory mandate under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act to better regulate USTs. The intent was to...
10/02/2012
09/25/2012
Although lead-acid batteries generally exhibit the hazardous waste characteristic of toxicity for lead (D008) and would be subject to significant restrictions when discarded, the EPA encourages their recycling by providing two alternative management standards. Lead-acid batteries may be managed as “universal waste” under 40 CFR Part 273 or under the specific alternative standards of...
What to do before, during, and after a RCRA hazardous waste inspection to defend your site from rising state and Federal penalties.