Commenting on the Chemical Safety
Board’s chemical release reporting rulemaking,
ASSE is urging the CSB to
adopt an approach that would avoid
adding one more chemical incident reporting
requirement, when CSB is already
effective in obtaining timely
chemical incident information.
ASSE says layers of chemical incident
reporting requirements already exist, and
expressed concern that the incident reporting
comes at a time when a site supervision
team is working to mitigate the
impact of an emergency. ASSE is responding
to an advanced notice of a proposed
rulemaking that seeks input on
possible approaches to a regulation on
chemical release reporting.
The Clean Air Act requires the CSB
to establish a regulation requiring accidental
chemical releases be reported to
the CSB or to the National Response
Center. Also, a 2004 Inspector General
report recommended CSB implement the regulation.
“The CSB needs to refine its mechanism
for learning of chemical incidents,
and it should publish a regulation describing
how the CSB will receive the
notifications it needs,” according to “A
Report on the Continuing Development
of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard
Investigation Board.”
With this advance notice of proposed
rulemaking, the CSB seeks comments on
how best to proceed with implementing this
requirement, and says it will use this information
in the development of a proposed
and then final rule.
In the letter, ASSE President C.
Christopher Patton, CSP, noted, “While
supportive of CSB’s intent to be thorough
in learning all it can about chemical
incidents in furtherance of its
mission, our members on the front line
of managing safety and health report that
industry is already reporting sufficient
information to regulatory authorities.
“As the advanced notice of proposed
rulemaking itself recognizes, chemical
incidents are already required to be reported through the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation and
Liability Act (CERCLA), the Emergency
Planning and Community Right-to-Know
Act (EPCRA), the Occupational Safety
and Health Act (OSH), the Clean Water
Act, the Clean Air Act, and the
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
Additionally, industry is required
to report to various state and local
agencies.”
Fulfilling these reporting requirements
comes at a time when a facility’s supervision
team is in the midst of managing
an emergency, making immediate notifications
to local emergency responders,
making calls for assistance to off-shift
employees and contractors for help in responding
to the emergency and otherwise
taking immediate actions to ensure
the safety and health of employees and
the community.
ASSE is concerned that adding another
reporting requirement solely for
the purpose of informing the CSB of an
event would only add unnecessary burden
and distraction to a supervision team working to mitigate the impact of an
emergency.
“For these reasons, ASSE supports the
third approach outlined by CSB in the
proposed rulemaking, which would have
the CSB rely primarily on existing
sources for initially learning of chemical
incidents, but would follow up on a
subset of the incidents to gather additional
information through a questionnaire
or on-line form that the reporting
party would be required by the rule to
complete and submit to the CSB,” Patton
noted. “ASSE and its members
will work with the CSB to help ensure
that this rulemaking is effective and
continues CSB’s established record of
helping industry better protect workers
through the lessons learned from its
investigations.”
ISO Addresses Safety
for Gas Turbine Applications
A new ISO standard addresses the
major safety considerations to be taken
into account when designing, packaging
and installing gas turbine applications.
ISO 21789:2009, Gas turbine applications
– Safety, covers the safety requirements
when using liquid or gaseous
fuels, as well as the safety-related control
and detection systems and essential
auxiliaries for all types of open-cycle
gas turbines used in onshore and offshore
applications, including floating
production platforms.
The standard addresses the risks of injury
or death to humans and risks to the
environment. In this respect, it details
the anticipated significant hazards associated
with gas turbines and specifies the
appropriate preventative measures and
processes for reducing or eliminating
them.
“The prime motivation for developing
this standard was an identified need
to facilitate a common industry approach
towards the application of safety
methodology and its integration into
best practice,” said Roger Santon, convenor
of the ISO working group that developed
ISO 21789. “International
standardization in this area gives both
manufacturer and purchaser a clear set of globally accepted requirements
against which to assess the risks associated
with each gas turbine installation,
and ensures a single point of reference
for all stakeholders.”
In addition to covering the relevant
safety requirements, ISO 21789:2009
will also assist designers, manufacturers
and others by providing methods of
compliance with the relevant, essential
safety requirements of key European Directives
for gas turbine applications related
to machinery, ATEX and pressure
equipment.
Moreover, and as far as practical, ISO
21789 also provides methods for compliance
with the relevant, essential safety
requirements of related European legislation
concerned with the workplace,
electromagnetic compatibility, pollution
prevention, environmental noise, classification,
packaging and labeling of dangerous
substances, among others.
The ISO says the standard’s focus on
European legislation does not prejudice
its application outside the European
Union.
Insource Safety Acquired
by Top Exec, Advocates Group
Insource Safety Associates, an environmental,
health and safety services
provider, has been acquired by The Advocates
Group, Salt Lake City, and its
top executive, who led the company to
500 percent growth over the last four
years.
James E. Eaton, who has been serving as
president and general manager of Insource
North Carolina, Inc. and its operating units,
has been named CEO.
“Now Insource is strategically positioned
for accelerated expansion and we
feel it is fitting at this point for Jim (and
the new ownership group) to acquire the
firm,” said Chad Hoggan, speaking for
the outgoing group of owners. “We have
achieved our objectives as the original
owners of Insource, and Jim can continue
his dedicated efforts to build the
firm, not as an employee, but as an
owner.”
Insource is a professional services
firm headquartered in Charlotte, NC that provides comprehensive on-site services
in support of the Environmental Health
and Safety programs of clients nationwide,
as well as focused Transformative
Culture (behavioral-based) initiatives
and specialized HR strategies.
The company was formed in 1998 and
has remained a privately-held corporation.
Eaton became president of the firm
in 2005.
“We take this opportunity to express
our gratitude to the clients of Insource
for many years of loyalty,” said Hoggan.
“Some of them have been with us from
the very beginning and have become
good friends.
Further we are confident that services
provided by the firm will continue to be
of the utmost quality and professionalism.”
Under Eaton’s leadership, Insource
grew 500 percent over a four-year period,
said Hoggan.
“We’ve enjoyed healthy growth, and
it would be nice to say that it was because
of a ‘brilliant business plan’ that
we developed and implemented. That’s not the case,” said Eaton.
“We’ve
grown, expanded capabilities, and even
improved processes, primarily as a result
of the influence of our larger
clients.
“We felt that our approach was unique
and even powerful: ‘We will provide the
same highly-focused, high quality support
to your facilities wherever they
might be…coordinated, consistent, costeffective.’
This message has been well-received
and afforded us the opportunity to establish
extended term relationships with
major corporations and organizations.
But our plan also included building our
base of small to mid-size clients in primary
markets. We have not gotten this
done,” said Eaton.
Expect Insource to continue seeking to
partner with large, multi-facility companies
as it increases “emphasis on supporting
clients in dealing with the
emerging pressures from government and
world political influences, such as being
‘green,’ crisis and incident management,
and advanced security concerns.
