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