4 minute read
COMPLETE HEALTH, ENVIRONMENTAL & SAFETY SERVICES C.H.E.S.S
Don’t Ignore the Paperwork
By Janet L. Keyes, CIH and Carol A. Keyes, CSP
If you want your blood pressure raised, get inspected. It doesn’t matter if it’s from your county hazardous waste inspector, your fire marshal, OSHA or (worst of all) the sales tax people. You might try to do everything right, but – well, sometimes you get lax. Sometimes you don’t pay close attention to what goes on out back. Sometimes you just have too much else to deal with. Or you’re so busy dealing with shop issues that you forget about front office issues.
What typically happens in a safety or environmental inspection? The inspector shows up, presents credentials, asks to see records and then walks through the facility. (You should go with that person. If the inspector points out a problem, fix it right away if you can. If you can’t do an immediate fix, take notes so you can get it fixed as soon as possible.) The inspector leaves. Then you get a notice in the mail or by email, telling you that you have to fix things – and that you have deadlines to meet, and need to notify the agency when they are fixed. Don’t ignore that paperwork.
If that paperwork ends up in the “round tuit” file, it will cost you.
Even if you made all the corrections, if you didn’t officially notify the agency of that, it will cost you.
It will cost you money and it will cost you time.
A company with operations similar to yours had a hazardous waste inspection. The inspector found solvent-contaminated rags in the trash. A drum of waste thinner wasn’t labeled as hazardous waste and its funnel was left open. They didn’t do weekly hazardous waste inspections. Solvent from a parts washer wasn’t reported on their annual report. Used oil containers were missing used oil labels. And they had no proof that employees had ever been told how to handle waste.
The company received a notice of violation from the county. They were required to make immediate fixes, and to provide the county with documentation that they had made the corrections. They made most of the fixes, but not all. And we think they didn’t tell the county about their actions.
The result: they are now facing misdemeanor criminal charges and are paying a lawyer to deal with a county attorney. And they’ve hired us to help ensure it doesn’t happen again.
This isn’t the first time we’ve been brought in after someone forgot to deal with the paperwork. The previous time was for an OSHA inspection. The corrections were made, but OSHA cited them for failure to abate because they didn’t report the fixes. Failure to abate penalties can be up to $7,000 per day. That adds up quickly.
The people who inspect you don’t do it because they want the money. OSHA penalties don’t fund OSHA. Hazardous waste inspectors don’t get bonus pay for making you hire a lawyer. If you are cited, it creates more work for them. And because the citation indicates something was wrong, either unsafe for workers or bad for the environment, they want the problem corrected.
You don’t know if or when you’ll be inspected. You could get an OSHA inspection because of an employee complaint. It could be because you had an injury bad enough to require overnight hospitalization or loss of a finger. (You know you need to report those to OSHA, right?) Or it could be a programmed or targeted inspection, one done because you’re in an industry with an above-average injury rate or with exposure to some particular hazard (such as isocyanates in paint). Hazardous waste inspections are usually routine, based on how large of a generator you are.
You can save yourself a lot of headaches by having your paperwork in order before the inspector shows up. There are some records inspectors will always ask for. For hazardous waste, be able to show what hazardous and regulated waste you shipped out and where it went. Be prepared to show the OSHA inspector your safety training records and injury logs. Keep your records organized and know where they are. You don’t need an elaborate recordkeeping system; it can be as simple as a file folder for all hazardous waste records for each year. But don’t lose that folder in the black hole of your desk. Put it into a drawer and label the drawer, so you can find it when you need it.
After an inspection, watch for the follow-up paperwork or email. As soon as you receive it, read it. Take notes about what corrections you need to make. Highlight the deadlines – and mark them on your calendar so you don’t forget them. If you can’t meet the deadlines or don’t understand what you need to do, call or email the inspector. (They aren’t ogres out to get you. If they know you are trying to do the right thing, they’ll usually try to be helpful.) AASP-MN members can also call CHESS for a free but limited consultation, to help you understand the citation and your options.
Submit your responses to the inspector on time. If you can’t correct the problem in time, ask for an extension. Inspectors have some flexibility with deadlines if you are clearly working towards a resolution. But they don’t have flexibility once the deadlines have passed. Procrastination will be at your expense.
For more information, contact Carol Keyes at carkey@chess-safety.com or (651) 481-9787.
