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

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

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

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

We completed the relocation of our server systems to the new collocation facility, SunGard, in early June and have experienced a very noticeable increase to system performance. This primary production complex now includes three load balanced IIS servers, two clustered redundant SQL servers, and two mirrored file servers with a fully redundant firewall and switch architecture. SunGard provides advanced monitoring to validate that all of the servers are not only running, but that actual application processes responsible to “serve up” the Safetec application are operational. We now exceed our previous systems availability of a 99.95% service level, and our customers are experiencing this in terms of better system responsiveness and throughput.

Safetec’s development team continued to advance Chemical Compliance Manager (CCM) v8, with a completely redesigned Chemical Inventory Module released into production in June. This redesign was based on several years of working closely with Safetec’s chemical inventory customers, such as Cooper Standard Automotive, Con Edison and McWane. The primary focus was usability, additional reporting options plus the ability to include purchased, received and usage data. This additional data extends CCM’s reporting capabilities to include SARA 313 / Toxic Release Inventory reporting which has been a highly requested feature from our customers.

Labels: chemical compliance, chemical inventory, Safetec News