Center for Industrial Services

In this issue ...

1. A HEAVY SUBJECT - LEAD AND FORM R REPORTING
2. COURT UPHOLDS STRICT LIMITS FOR SOOT AND SMOG
3. BEYOND THE GRAVE: MANUFACTURERS DESIGNING PRODUCTS FOR EASIER RECYCLING AND REMANUFACTURING
4. EPA DIRECTOR QUITS OVER AIR POLICIES
5. OSHA ISSUES WARNING TO THOUSANDS OF EMPLOYERS
6. JOURNEY TO WORLD CLASS, PART 4 PLANT SAFETY ….
7. HOT TOPICS AT THE SOLID AND HAZARDOUS WASTE CONFERENCE
8. QUALITY, MANAGEMENT, AND ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH AND SAFETY WORKSHOPS MAY - JUNE

A HEAVY SUBJECT - LEAD AND FORM R REPORTING

EPA continues to expand and tighten the reporting requirements for chemicals under the SARA (Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986). This year is no different, with lead under EPCRA (Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act), Section 313 Reporting, also known as TRI (Toxic Release Inventory) or Form R/Form A reporting.

Most recently, EPA declared the element "lead," CASN 7439-92-1, and the chemical category "lead compounds," category #N420, part of the Persistent Bio-accumulative and Toxic Substances List (PBT) under Form R and lowered the reporting threshold to 100 pounds from the previous 25,000/10,000 threshold. The only exempted substances under this PBT rule are brass, bronze and stainless steels containing lead.

This change has a substantial impact on Tennessee industries for the 2001 reporting year. Companies within a select group of SIC codes that manufacture or use lead or lead compounds in excess of 100 pounds may be required to report on releases of lead to the environment. This rule is expected to affect more than 4,100 industries nationwide and require as much as 110 hours of effort during the first reporting year for this revision.

You may be wondering if you have, use or process lead at your facility. It might surprise you to know that lead is a very common metal and is found in varying quantities in many everyday materials. For example:

• Common automobile batteries - lead-antimony alloy used is 95 to 99 percent lead
• Common electrical and piping solders - 35 to 70 percent lead, depending on type
• TV/computer monitors - 3 to 5 lbs. of lead in each unit
• Lead anodes and cathodes used in metal finishing (plating and anodizing) - 95 to 100 percent lead
• Counterbalance weights - 90 to 100 percent lead

These are just a few of the products found at most industrial facilities for which reporting may be required.

The University of Tennessee Center for Industrial Services is offering a series of workshops across the state to address the reporting requirements for SARA, including those for lead. The workshops are scheduled for:

• Chattanooga - May 22nd
• Jackson - May 29th
• Knoxville - May 21st
• Memphis - May 30th
• Nashville - May 28th

Come join us for the Form R workshop, and learn more about EPCRA, PBT substances and lead.

For EPA information, go to: http://www.epa.gov/tri/lawsandregs/pbt/pbtrule.htm

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COURT UPHOLDS STRICT LIMITS FOR SOOT AND SMOG

A federal appeals court on March 26 upheld rigorous limits imposed by EPA during the Clinton administration on the amount of soot and smog in the nation's air. The court's decision makes it likely that cities and counties across the U.S.A. may soon find themselves struggling to meet the standards.

EPA Administrator Christie Whitman said the agency will act to put the standards into place. The appeals court decision states the EPA is taking the right action to protect the American public from health impacts air pollution can cause. The pollutants in question are:

• Soot: Emitted by coal-burning electric plants and diesel vehicles, it is tied to deaths from heart disease and lung cancer.
• Smog: It forms when chemicals released by vehicles and industrial facilities mix with sunlight. It aggravates lung disease and asthma.

The decision issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is the latest development in a legal battle that began when EPA published the new standards five years ago. The lawsuit made it to the Supreme Court, which ruled in the EPA's favor on constitutional grounds, then sent the case to the appeals court to consider whether the limits were "arbitrary and capricious" as the lawsuit said. The appeals court ruled that the limits weren't. Robin Conrad of the National Chamber Litigation Center, the legal arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which filed the suit, said EPA still has many steps to take before it can implement the new standards.

What is the impact in Tennessee? Monitoring data collected in the late 1990s indicate that as many as half of Tennessee counties will be declared non-attainment as a result of the tighter limits on ozone (smog). This will likely result in more regulations and/or more stringent control strategies. This issue will be discussed in the UT Center for Industrial Services Air Regulations Overview courses during April.

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BEYOND THE GRAVE: MANUFACTURERS DESIGNING PRODUCTS FOR EASIER RECYCLING AND REMANUFACTURING

New regulations and concerns for the environment are prompting manufacturers to design products for easier recycling and remanufacturing. By Doug Bartolomew in IndustryWeek.

In the old days, a manufacturer made a product and shipped it to the distributor, who then passed it on to a retailer, who sold it. Whether the product was a piece of furniture, a car or a computer, the "ka-ching" of the cash register pretty much meant the end of the manufacturer's responsibility, except for returns, warranty service, repairs or product liability.

No more. Manufacturers, forced by new laws from Europe to California, are rethinking their responsibility for their products once they are worn out. Many manufacturers are taking positive steps to ensure that their products can be either recycled, remanufactured or returned to the earth safely when they have exhausted their useful life -- a concept known as design for the environment (DFE).

General Motors Corp. (GM), Detroit, which has had an ongoing DFE program for more than a decade, is trying to increase the percentage of materials in autos that can be recycled. Others, such as Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), San Jose, have set examples for their industries. HP not only recycles its products, but also personal computers built by other manufacturers. Xerox Corp. reuses portions of old machines to build new ones. For all of these companies, the efforts bring both an economic payoff and an environmental one. …….

Read the complete article at http://www.industryweek.com/CurrentArticles/Asp/articles.asp?ArticleId=1205

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EPA DIRECTOR QUITS OVER AIR POLICIES

The Bush administration's environmental policy has come under attack from various camps. In perhaps the toughest blow yet, Eric V. Schaeffer resigned from his position as director of the Office of Regulatory Enforcement for EPA, suggesting that the Bush administration is undermining the Clean Air Act.

Schaeffer went straight to the media with his resignation and alarm over the direction EPA is taking in terms of the controversial New Source Review (NSR) provision of the Clean Air Act. A concern for industry is that in absorbing this blow, the Bush administration may respond by toughening its stance in other areas. One victim may be the one-year delay industry is requesting for the significantly lowered TRI reporting threshold for lead.

In his resignation letter to EPA Administrator Christie Whitman, Schaeffer bluntly expressed his "frustration about the fate of [EPA's] enforcement actions against power companies that have violated the Clean Air Act." He specifically references nine lawsuits EPA filed in the final year of the Clinton administration against companies that expanded their operations without obtaining New Source Review (NSR) permits and up-to-date pollution controls required by law.

According to the former director, these companies emit five million tons of sulfur dioxide and two million tons of nitrogen oxide every year. "As the scale of pollution from these coal-fired smokestacks is so immense, so is the damage to public health," wrote Schaeffer, who cited data from the Senate Environment Committee, which estimated the emissions result in thousands of cases of premature death, chronic bronchitis, and emergency room visits and 1.5 million lost workdays.

Schaeffer's hopes for reducing these numbers through litigation were dashed when the White House requested a reexamination of the law. "It is hard to know which is worse, the endless delay or the repeated leaks by the energy industry lobbyists of draft rule changes that would undermine lawsuits already filed," he said. "[T]he confusion over where EPA is going with New Source Review has made settlement almost impossible, and protracted litigation inevitable."

Reaction to Schaeffer's resignation and claims were mixed. Environmentalists lauded his actions as demonstrating integrity in the face of disagreeable policy. Schaeffer's opponents state the longtime enforcement bureaucrat is not interested in revamping the Clean Air Act and is acting prematurely.

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OSHA ISSUES WARNING TO THOUSANDS OF EMPLOYERS

OSHA has issued a reminder to employers it calls a "proactive tool to raise awareness that injuries and illnesses are high."

Word went out late last month to approximately 13,000 employers. OSHA informed them that incident rates at their worksites are higher than average and told them about assistance "to help them fix safety and health hazards."

The establishments were identified by OSHA through employer-reported data from a 2001 survey of 80,000 worksites. The survey was based on data from calendar year 2000. Those workplaces identified had eight or more injuries or illnesses resulting in lost workdays or restricted activity for every 100 full-time workers. The national average is three instances for the same number of workers.

OSHA chief John Henshaw explained the action, saying, "Our goal is to identify workplaces where injury and illness rates are high, and to offer assistance to businesses so that they address the hazards and reduce occupational injuries and illnesses." In addition to letters, the affected employers received copies of their injury and illness data, plus a list of the most frequently violated OSHA standards for their industry.

The 13,000 sites are listed alphabetically by state on OSHA's website, http://www.osha.gov/as/opa/foia/hot_8.html. The list does not include employers in states that operate their own OSHA programs, of which Tennessee is one.

JOURNEY TO WORLD CLASS, PART 4 PLANT SAFETY ….

This article from IndustryWeek is on the fact that plant safety is everyone's top priority, and employee feedback mechanisms are a must. By Jim Cauhorn.

There is a significant story I have yet to tell you about. It is about safety. The topic is an easy one to ignore, and many companies do -- or at best they profess to be concerned about safety yet don't really know what to do. I also have encountered the "accidents happen" syndrome quite a bit. This is the syndrome that assumes nothing can be done to keep people from doing things that can cause accidents. In these cases people simply don't understand that accidents can be prevented, not only by using safer equipment, guarding, et cetera, but also -- and more importantly -- by raising the level of safety awareness within the employee group. ……..

Continue reading at http://www.industryweek.com/currentArticles/Asp/articles.asp?ArticleId=1202

Come join us for our workshops on How to Effectively Use Safety Teams to learn about team building in for a safer manufacturing facility.

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HOT TOPICS AT THE SOLID AND HAZARDOUS WASTE CONFERENCE

The 31st annual Solid and Hazardous Waste Conference and Exhibition will be held May 1-3 at the Gatlinburg Convention Center. Featured this year will be professional development hours (pdh) for attendees who need them for professional license renewal. Some sessions of special interest will be:

• Hazardous waste generator issues
• CCA treated lumber report
• Acoustic imaging applications
• Removing contaminated sediments from Sweetwater Creek
• Corrective action workshop by the Tennessee Association of Business

To see the complete conference agenda and register for this event, visit http://www.state.tn.us/environment/swm/conference.htm

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QUALITY, MANAGEMENT, AND ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH AND SAFETY WORKSHOPS -- MAY - JUNE

For more information about the courses listed below, please Click Here. Or, call us: (615) 532-8657 or toll-free at (888) 763-7439. To register for any of these courses, please use this Registration Form.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project Management For Manufacturers

• Knoxville -- May 14-15
• Nashville -- May 7-8

QUALITY MANAGEMENT
ISO 9001:2000 Internal Auditor

• Jackson -- May 7-8

QS 9001:2000 Internal Auditor

• Nashville -- June 11-13

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
EMS/ISO 14001 Implementation

• Jackson -- June 18
• Knoxville -- June 20
• Nashville -- June 19

Form R

• Chattanooga -- May 22
• Jackson -- May 29
• Knoxville -- May 21
• Memphis -- May 30
• Nashville -- May 28

Construction Storm Water Permit Regulatory Requirements

• Chattanooga -- June 5
• Jackson -- June 7
• Knoxville -- June 4
• Nashville -- Jun 6

HAZARDOUS WASTE/CHEMICAL SITE WORKER
8-Hour Site Worker Refresher

• Memphis -- May 7
• Nashville -- May 30

40-Hour Site Worker

• Gatlinburg -- June 10-14
• Nashville -- May 20-24

16-Hour Industrial Incident Management System

• Gatlinburg -- June 19-20

DOT COMPLIANCE
8-Hour DOT Refresher

• Nashville -- May 31

SAFETY
How to Effectively Use Safety Teams

• Jackson -- June 25
• Knoxville -- June 4
• Nashville -- June 18

Basic Healthcare Safety Issues

• Knoxville -- May 28
• Memphis -- May 7
• Nashville -- May 14

SUBSCRIBE FREE: http://www.tmep.utk.edu/

Feedback by e-mail: gsmelcer@tennessee.edu
Feedback by phone: (615) 532-8657 or (888) 763-7439
WRAP Sheet archive: http://www.tmep.utk.edu/formspub.html
WRAP Sheet is published by the Tennessee Manufacturing Extension Program: http://www.tmep.utk.edu

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