Release date: 02/27/2008

Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017



(Boston, Mass. – Feb. 27, 2008) – Eleven companies based in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island will pay EPA a penalty for failing to submit chemical inventory reports on chemicals present at their facilities, under terms of settlements recently reached. March 1 is the next deadline for submitting chemical inventory reports.

The settlements are between EPA and the following companies. Each company was assessed a fine of $2,000. The companies are:

Bass Plating Co., Bloomfield, Conn.
Fusco Brothers, Inc., Windsor, Conn.
O & W Heat Treat, Inc., South Windsor, Conn.
Dixfield Discount Fuel Co., Peru, Maine
Lisbon Fuel Co., Lisbon Falls, Maine
Murray Oil Co., Turner, Maine
TI Logistics, Inc., Worcester, Mass.
Geib Refining Corp., Warwick, R.I.
National Chain Co., Warwick, R.I.
Technodic, Inc., Providence, R.I.
M. Weisman Roofing Co., Warwick, R.I.

EPA reached expedited settlements with all 11 entities after inspections discovered failure to report as required under the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). EPCRA Section 312 requires the companies to file hazardous chemical inventory reports (“Tier II” reports) that provide information on the nature, amount, location, and hazards of chemicals stored at the facility. The cases involved several different types of chemicals and businesses, including, among others, metal plating and treating operations that use acids and cyanides, and fuel companies that have large amounts of oil on site.

“Chemical reporting is very important for the public-at-large, and it is essential for the safety of first responders if there is an accident at one of these facilities,” said Robert Varney, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office. “Regular reporting of hazardous chemicals helps first responders to protect themselves, and protect the public, if there is a fire or other dangerous event at a facility. Officials also use this information for disaster planning -- for example when simulating a response to a hurricane.”

Right-to-Know provisions help to increase the public's knowledge and access to information on the presence of hazardous chemicals in their communities. Among the key provisions of EPCRA, there are requirements for annual submission of chemical inventory data (known as Tier II reports) by facilities to state and local planning officials for incorporation into ongoing emergency planning. EPCRA also requires facilities to quantify and submit annual releases of certain chemicals for incorporation into a national database known as the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).

Under EPCRA, reporting of chemical inventory information is required under federal law each year. The next reporting deadline for Tier II reports is March 1. Facilities storing hazardous chemicals are required to file a chemical inventory with several entities: the State Emergency Response Commission, the Local Emergency Planning Committee and the local fire department. This is required to provide planners and first responders with information about the hazardous chemicals present in a community so that they can effectively prepare for and respond to chemical accidents. Facilities are subject to these requirements if they store hazardous substances on site in amounts equal to or greater than 10,000 pounds at any one time during a reporting year, although there are lower thresholds for extremely hazardous substances.

EPA helps companies meet their reporting obligations by offering compliance assistance in the every state. In anticipation of the upcoming March 1 reporting deadline, EPA already has held 13 compliance assistance conferences in several New England states, reaching approximately 1,300 people.

Labels: chemical compliance, chemical inventory, chemical management, EPA, inspections, Reports

Most online help systems provide static reference data. Safetec’s new help system is context sensitive on a per web-page basis. This feature alone is fairly common, but we go one step further by allowing the per-page help files to be customized at either the enterprise level (all facilities) or on a website-by-website basis which would allow facility-specific or even role-specific documentation.

The user’s experience is seamless. Just click on the “Help” link on the toolbar (available on every page) and the corresponding help file is displayed.

We have also made the switch to PowerPoint as the software package for generating help files. The PowerPoint files are converted to PDF format when released into production so you don’t need PowerPoint installed on your system.

You might be wondering, “Why use PowerPoint?”. The answer is based on our findings as to what people really need and want out of help documentation. The reality is long-winded, text-based documentation doesn’t get used. In our PowerPoint approach, almost every page features a screenshot with high-level descriptions of what’s happening on the page along with some quick definitions and background information. Each page is easy-to-read and easily grasped. We call this QDC (Quickly Digestible Content) format.

The slideshow approach also works great for training. You can save the help files to your local system and use them as a base for your own training presentations. As I mentioned previously, the online help files are in PDF format, but you can request a copy of the original PowerPoint files from any of your Safetec contacts. This would allow you to pick and choose which slides you wanted to use as well as adding in your own slides or combining with an existing presentation.

Don’t like the slideshow approach? One great advantage of this flexible new help system is we can create any style of help documentation you want and then override the base documentation with the new documentation. In fact, you could create your own documentation and send it to us and we can easily drop it in to your existing website(s).

Please feel free to contact Safetec if you’re interested in learning more about this capability and how your online help documentation could be customized for your organization.

Labels: chemical compliance manager, enhancement, new feature, release

Release date: 05/06/2008

Contact Information: Margot Perez-Sullivan, 415947.4149, perezsullivan.margot@epa.gov



SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently reached an $80,080 settlement with a Reno, Nev. company for its failure to submit required toxic chemical reports, a violation of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.

Electronic Evolution Technologies, Inc., located at 9455 Double R Road in Reno, Nev., failed to submit timely, complete, and correct reports detailing the amounts of lead processed at its facility from 2002 through 2005. EPA inspectors discovered the four violations as a result of a routine inspection in April 2007 and a follow-up investigation.

“Facilities that process particularly toxic chemicals, such as lead, must follow reporting rules to ensure area residents and emergency response personnel are informed of possible chemical hazards locally,” said Nathan Lau, Communities and Ecosystems Division Associate Director for EPA’s Pacific Southwest region. “This penalty should remind others that we are maintaining a close watch over chemical reporting practices and are serious about enforcing community right-to-know laws.”

Federal community right-to-know laws require facilities processing, manufacturing, or otherwise using more than 100 pounds of lead to report releases of this highly toxic chemical on an annual basis to the EPA and the state. Although Electronic Evolution Technologies exceeded these thresholds from 2002 through 2005, it failed to submit reports to the agency for any of those years.

The facility uses lead in connection with its manufacturing of printed circuit boards. Although the facility’s operations did not release lead into the environment, it was still required to report lead processing to the EPA because the facility was over the applicable reporting threshold.

Exposure to lead may result in high blood pressure, digestive problems, muscle and joint pain, nerve disorders, memory and concentration problems, increased chance of illness during pregnancy, and harm to a fetus, including brain damage or death. Exposure to even low levels of lead can severely harm children under the age of six.

Each year, the EPA compiles the information submitted to it from the previous year regarding toxic chemical releases and produces a national Toxics Release Inventory database for public availability. This TRI database estimates the amounts of each toxic chemical released to the environment, treated or recycled on-site, or transferred off-site for waste management, and also provides a trend analysis of toxic chemical releases.

Labels: chemical compliance, chemical management, enforcement, EPA, penalties

We at Safetec are very pleased and proud to become affiliate members of the VPPPA. Some of you we know already, and the rest we look forward to meeting. We respect and admire your commitment to become leaders in safety and to be seen as examples of what it looks like when safety is done right.

Safetec is committed to the same goal. Safetec is a Software as a Service (SaaS) organization providing world-class MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) and chemical management solutions and services to medium and large-sized organizations. But, rather than turning this email into an advertisement, we offer it as an invitation.

Please visit our chemical compliance website and see for yourself what Safetec has to offer your organization in regards to MSDS and chemical management.

View previous quarterly MSDS newsletters.

Download our white paper on Software as a Service as an EHS solution.

View our 3 Minute Movie.

Join us at these Chemical Compliance events.
We look forward to hearing from you and meeting you.

Best regards,

Jim Frohlich

Labels: chemical compliance, chemical management, material safety data sheets, MSDS, vpppa

The next release of CCM v8 includes a new navigation panel called “Related Links.” This panel contains a static list of page links commonly used in conjunction with the currently visible page.

The link panel is prominently placed on select search and detail pages. This navigation improvement benefits the user by allowing them to quickly navigate a particular module without returning to the main menu.

As well as being a pleasant visual enhancement to the web application, both new and advanced users will be sure to find this feature a tremendous time saver.

Labels: chemical compliance manager

WASHINGTON -- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently released its annual enforcement statistics, confirming that the agency's enforcement programs are producing positive results for the benefit of American workers.

In FY 2007, OSHA conducted 39,324 total inspections, a 4.3 percent increase over its stated goal of 37,700. Total violations of OSHA's standards and regulations were 88,846, a 6 percent increase from Fiscal Year (FY) 2006. The agency cited 67,176 serious violations, a 9 percent increase from the previous year and a more than 12 percent increase over the past four years. The number of cited repeat violations also rose from 2,551 in FY 2006 to 2,714 in FY 2007.

''The fact that OSHA surpassed its inspection goal for FY 2007 proves our enforcement commitment remains strong,'' said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Edwin G. Foulke, Jr. ''The significant increase in citations for serious and repeat violations documents OSHA's focus on identifying and eliminating severe hazards in the workplace.''

Fatality and injury and illness rates have continued to decline to record lows. The injury and illness incidence rate of 4.4 per 100 employees for calendar year (CY) 2006 was the lowest that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has ever recorded. Workplace fatality rates hit an all-time low in CY 2006 with 3.9 fatalities per 100,000 employees.

OSHA's results show that a strong, fair and effective enforcement program, along with outreach to employees and employers and partnerships and cooperative programs, add value to the workplace for both employers and employees by reducing injuries, illnesses and fatalities.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace for their employees. OSHA's role is to help protect the safety and health of America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health. For more information, visit OSHA

Labels: chemical compliance, citations, osha

The Safetec regulation database now includes the finalized version of the Department of Homeland Security’s Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards - Chemicals of Interest list. By including this list, Safetec makes it possible for clients to verify if they have any chemicals on that list.

In addition to loading the chemical list into the database, Safetec has also captured all of the attributes associated to each chemical. The data has been transposed from the original format (which is PDF) to Excel.

All are welcome to pass the DHS CHemicals os Interest List on to any interested party.

This list contains chemicals that, if possessed by a facility in a specified quantity, trigger a requirement to complete and submit an online consequence assessment tool called a Top-Screen.

The DHS identified these chemicals in the specific amounts for preliminary screening based on their potential to create significant human life or health consequences.

Using the information gathered through the Top-Screen, the DHS will be better able to make a preliminary determination as to whether a facility presents a high level of security risk and whether it will be required to comply with the substantive requirements of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS)


For more information on the chemical list or the Top-Screen click here

Labels: CFATS, chemicals of interest, CSAT, dhs, Top-Screen

Every business needs guidance and what would the business world be without attorneys? We wanted to go with the best so we are proud to announce that we have chosen AterWynne LLP as Safetec's legal partner.

“Safetec is pleased to announce its decision to partner with AterWynne LLP for legal counsel. AterWynne is well known for its work with both emerging and established software and technology businesses, and the firm also offers a highly skilled environmental practice. We believe this is a perfect fit to support Safetec’s needs as we grow our presence in the chemical management and compliance market,” said Jim Frohlich, Safetec CEO.

AterWynne is known for its strong practice among technology companies in the Pacific Northwest and California. Six AterWynne partners have been included in The Best Lawyers in America 2007, a national referral guide for the legal profession.

Labels: aterwynne, chemical management

To assist us in managing Safetec's current and predicted growth, we are now partnering with KPMG LLP for accounting and tax advising services.

“Safetec is on a rapid growth path. We expect to continue to double in size and will soon enter directly into international markets. KPMG has the experience and breadth of services to be a key partner in helping us achieve our ambitious goals,” said Dave Bundy, Safetec CFO.

KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm, is the U.S. member firm of KPMG International. KPMG International’s member firms have 113,000 professionals, including more than 6,800 partners, in 148 countries. They are recognized as the leading accounting and tax services firm in the Portland/Vancouver market for software and technology companies.

Labels: KPMG, Safetec News

We are very proud to announce that version 8.1 of our popular Chemical Compliance Manager (CCM) software has gone into production!

The new version of CCM boasts an innovative approach to its current functionalities. This includes an even higher level of configurability, which has been a hallmark of Safetec’s technology. It also features a new internationalization component and improved user interface characteristics.

“This is an important milestone in Safetec's history,” said Paul Burkett, Chief Technology Officer. “This new generation of software will place Safetec far ahead of all of our competitors in the MSDS and Material Management industry.”

Labels: chemical compliance, GHS, internationalization, reach