Texas manufacturers are required to implement and manage a long list of environmental and hazardous materials regulations mandated by TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) and/or EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).
But this is much easier said than done due to, among other things, the volume & complexity of these regulations, not to mention the fact that they often change.
Here is a list of some of the more common regulations:
Even if you’re able to understand the regulations, implementing and managing them on an ongoing basis can be even tougher. Compliance management is a daunting endeavor, which includes having customized written programs, obtaining permits and registrations, conducting routine inspections & employee training, tracking, meeting reporting deadlines and so on.
As a result of these and other challenges, many Texas manufacturers routinely operate out of compliance.
Small manufacturers tend to struggle the most, due to a very common lack of internal expertise, time and resources that are needed to keep up.
But the problem is that this situation ends up creating significant risks, not only for the company in the form of huge regulatory fines and penalties as well as PR nightmares if things go wrong, but also for potential harm to the environment and local communities.
These risks are very real and unfortunately play out everyday across the country with devastating effects.
It’s a lot to take in, but the facts and risks can’t be ignored: If you’re a manufacturer operating out of compliance, you need to take action or face the potential consequences.
Fair enough you might be thinking, but making the decision to take action and achieve compliance poses some very interesting questions, and in my experience here are the 2 big ones:
These 2 questions bring us back to the point of this blog post, which is the Texas Environmental, Health and Safety Audit Privilege Act.
For companies in this predicament, Texas offers a fantastic “get out of jail free” program called the Texas EHS Audit Privilege Act.
The act is an incentive program designed to help non-compliant companies achieve and manage environmental compliance without the fear of fines and penalties, even if they’ve been operating out of compliance for many years.
Here’s a quick summary of how the program works:
Do all of these things, and believe it or not, your company can not only achieve compliance, but do so without fear of fines and penalties.
Of course, as with any government program, there are rules and guidelines that must be followed, which can be found on TCEQ’s website.
I strongly encourage you to read this guidance, but here are some of the highlights:
-You must submit the “Notice of Audit” via certified mail AND it must be received by TCEQ prior to the start of the audit. If you fail to do this, all protections are voided. And they don’t accept fax, email or phone call notifications, it has to be via certified mail due to the way the law is currently written. No exceptions!
-In order to qualify, your company must not previously know that they’re out of compliance. This is a little tricky so let me try to explain: TCEQ understands that companies wouldn’t participate unless they know or suspect they’re out of compliance, but what they won’t tolerate is if a company is intentionally operating out of compliance or already knows it’s out of compliance with specific regulations.
This is an important issue so let me elaborate:
For example, let’s say that a company had assessed their paint booth operational emissions in the past and determined that they needed an air permit, but failed to get one (for whatever reason). This scenario would void their right to participate in the program.
Here’s my guidance on this issue: if you suspect that you’re out of compliance with any environmental or hazardous materials regulations, DON’T TAKE STEPS TO CONFIRM IT, “JUST PUT DOWN THE PENCIL” AND MOVE FORWARD WITH THE AUDIT PRIVILEGE ACT PROCESS. In this situation, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!
-Your company can opt to only audit certain media (ie: air, water, waste or hazardous materials) but skip others.
– You have 6 months to complete the audit, but make sure to disclose any violations in writing (ie: “Disclosure of Violations”) as soon as you find them. This is critical, because even if you’re participating in the program, TCEQ could inspect your company, and if they find violations that you haven’t disclosed yet, they can still fine your company believe it or not!
– If your company doesn’t have a qualified person on staff to complete the self-audit, it’s recommended that you hire a qualified employee or environmental consultant with experience navigating the Texas EHS Audit Privilege Act process.
On a final note, always remember that once the audit is completed and the violations disclosed, the clock starts ticking so it’s critical that your company immediately begin taking action to correct all violations and achieve compliance. Once this process is complete, submit notification to TCEQ to close the process and now you can breathe a sigh of relief and achieve yet another critical goal: piece of mind!
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How A Sales Guy Transformed Into An Environmental, Health & Safety Expert & Advocate For Small Businesses I've spent my entire 30+ year career working within the manufacturing and “industrial services” sectors. The first 15 years of my career focused on sales of hazardous materials related products and services to the manufacturing sector, then for the last 16+ years transitioned into entrepreneurship, founding 3 small industrial services related contracting businesses. As you’ll see below, running these companies eventually lead me to found yet a 4th business, but more on that in a minute…. Here’s a brief description of the first 3 companies: Berg Environmental Services, Inc.: hazardous waste disposal & transportation services, founded in August of 2003 3rd party wind energy operations & maintenance services provider to utility scale wind farms throughout the US, founded in September 2007 3rd party oil & gas exploration & production services provider, founded in August of 2011 Each of these companies operated in extremely dangerous working conditions and exposed my employees to a wide range of serious health & safety hazards on a daily basis. To complicate matters, 2 of the companies also exposed the environment to significant potential harm. In other words, I learned very early the critical importance of managing environmental, health and safety issues so as to ensure the safety of our employees and the environment, as well as minimizing related risks. But I also learned how incredibly difficult and challenging this endeavor can be due to the wide range of complicated and continually changing environmental, health and safety rules and regulations that impacted the companies. To summarize the challenges: First I had to determine which regulations applied to each company, then I had to build compliance programs to meet those regulations, and finally I had to ensure that the programs were being managed and followed by our staff on a daily basis. All while trying to run and grow 3 profitable businesses…. It was overwhelming and I always struggled to keep up. To make matters worse, throughout this time I also witnessed the devastating price that companies, management and ownership can pay for failing to manage EHS compliance. This included seeing one of my hazardous waste management clients get sent to jail over environmental issues, another client’s management team threatened with jail time, a direct competitor get fined $378,000 by OSHA fine after an employee was nearly killed, and many others face major fines and penalties. Full disclosure, one of my companies got fined by OSHA at one point, & another was cited by TCEQ, so I know how it feels. In summary, I learned first hand how incredibly difficult it is for small companies to manage EHS compliance due to a common lack of the critical expertise, time and resources that are needed to keep up, and how this situation then ends up exposing them to these potentially catastrophic risks that can literally destroy lives and businesses. This later inspired me to found my 4th company, Berg Compliance Solutions in 2012, which is dedicated to helping other small businesses, and business owners, to manage EHS compliance and risk. Education BA, Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder, December, 1990. Summary of Professional Experience & Qualifications: 30+ years serving the manufacturing & industrial services sectors 30+ years of sales and marketing experience 16+ years as small business owner & entrepreneur: Founded and operated 4 small businesses since 2003. Environmental, Health & Safety Compliance & Program Related: 19 plus years of hazardous waste management including EPA, TCEQ & RCRA regulations 8 years of DOT/FMCSA compliance experience, including hazardous materials transportation 8 years of combined experience implementing and managing OSHA health and safety compliance programs for 2 high risk energy services businesses Successfully implemented and gained ISO 9001 Quality Management Certification and OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health & Safety Advisory Service) Certification for wind energy maintenance business. Regulatory Enforcement Related Experience: Served as expert witness in criminal environmental compliance enforcement cases Superfund-CERCLA OSHA enforcement inspections, investigations and resolution in following industries: industrial services, manufacturing & construction. TCEQ enforcement inspections, investigations and resolution in manufacturing.
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