William F. Martin

Hazardous Waste Transportation Safety

Transportation safety is a critical link in the handling and disposal of hazardous waste. Transportation regulations include hazardous waste under the broader category of hazardous materials. Originators or initiators of the shipment of hazardous waste have the responsibility by federal regulation to identify and package the material for safe transport. This responsibility includes the training of all personnel who must handle the hazardous waste. The selection of qualified transporter, disposal site, and/or ultimate destination must be accomplished with informed employees. Any handler of hazardous waste must make sure that all papers are adequately filled out, containers are labeled and marked, MSDS is provided, and emergency procedures are understood before the trip is started. It is the shippers responsibility to determine the fitness of a package for the transport use intended. However, each person along the way must be trained to recognize the hazards associated with the transportation of hazardous waste and should be familiar with the emergency procedures to protect health and environment. The transportation industry has maintained a good record in transporting of hazardous waste, but the potential for disaster is still very great. With adequate training, information, and resources, hazardous wastes can be transported safely.

Introduction: Laws and Regulations

This chapter provides an introduction to the book on laws and regulations, specific instructions, and guidelines related to the safety and health of workers. The aim of this book is to improve hazardous waste operations efficiency through knowledge and training of the work force, and to reduce the cost of hazardous waste cleanups through reduced lawsuits and liability losses of employers and individuals. Several of the key hazardous waste, health, and safety-related regulations are briefly summarized in the book. In 1980, Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)—the Superfund law—to provide liability, compensation, cleanup, and emergency response for hazardous substances released into the environment, and the cleanup of abandoned and uncontrolled hazardous waste disposal sites. The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986 extended CERCLA and added new authorities under Title III of SARA that included Emergency Planning, Community Right-to-Know, and Toxic Chemical Release Reporting. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976 sets the standards for waste handling, storage, and disposal. The Hazardous Materials Transportation Act of 1975 provides the regulation of the labeling, packaging, placarding, manifesting, and transporting of hazardous materials.

Spills and Site Emergencies

This chapter outlines the important factors considered while planning for and responding to spills and hazardous waste site emergencies. It discusses the nature of site emergencies, the types of emergencies that may occur, and outlines an emergency contingency plan and its components, which include personnel roles, lines of authority, training, communication systems, site mapping, site security and control, refuges, evacuation routes, decontamination, a medical program, step-by-step emergency response procedures, documentation, and reporting to outside agencies. The nature of work at hazardous waste sites makes emergencies a continual possibility, how infrequently they may occur. Emergencies happen quickly and unexpectedly, and require an immediate response. At a hazardous waste site, an emergency may be as limited as a worker experiencing heat stress or as vast as an explosion that spreads toxic fumes throughout a community. Any hazard on site can precipitate an emergency. Chemicals, biological agents, radiation, or physical hazards may act alone or in concert to create explosions, fires, spills, toxic atmospheres, or other dangerous and harmful situations. Site emergencies are characterized by their potential for complexity. Hazards may potentiate one another. Rescue personnel attempting to evacuate injured workers may themselves become victims. This variability means that advance planning, including the anticipation of various emergency scenarios and thorough preparation for contingencies, is essential to protect worker and community health and safety.

Monitoring Well Safety at Hazardous Sites

This chapter focuses on the drilling and installation of monitoring wells. Groundwater monitoring that is required by law at thousands of facilities throughout the United States is ubiquitous in industrial solid and hazardous materials operations. The nature of the sites being monitored determines the level of protection necessary for worker safety. While this can never be reduced to “zero exposure,” it can and must be managed by taking into consideration the site-specific conditions, the contaminants of concern, and the goals of the investigation, while remembering the limitations of the trained worker. The primary goal of monitoring well construction is to obtain samples representative of the site-specific subsurface conditions. Cross-contamination is a major concern in collecting groundwater samples. In a regulatory environment that sets toxicological-based standards in parts per trillion concentrations, cleanliness akin to surgical procedures is sometimes required. Some sites with highly toxic contaminants in their soils, soil gas, and/or groundwater may require specialized personal protective equipment (PPE) and procedures.

Site Control and Work Practices

This chapter describes the basic components of a program to control the activities and movements of people, materials, and equipment at a hazardous waste site. The purpose of site control is to minimize potential contamination of workers, to protect the public from the sites chemical and physical hazards, to facilitate work activities, and to prevent vandalism. The degree of site control necessary depends on site characteristics, site size, and the surrounding community. The site control program must be established in the planning stages of a project and should be modified based on new information and site assessments. The appropriate sequence for implementing these measures must be determined on a site-specific basis. A site map should be actualized; it should show topographic features, predominant wind direction, drainage, and the locations of buildings, containers, impoundments, pits, ponds, and tanks. This helps in better site preparation and allows the formulation of an appropriate system to tackle the hazards. Thereafter, the establishments of work zones will help to assure that the personnel are properly protected against the hazards present where they are working. They will also help to confine work activities to the appropriate areas and will also help to locate and evacuate personnel in the event of emergency. Safe work practices require standing orders that state the practices that must always be followed and those that must never occur in the contaminated areas on the site.

5 – Air Monitoring

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the purpose of air monitoring that is to identify and quantify all airborne contaminants so that the level of worker protection needed can be determined. Air monitoring is conducted in a variety of stages and categories. The chapter identifies the factors to consider when conducting air monitoring at a hazardous waste site. The first factor is presenting strategies for assessing inhalation exposure to chemicals at the hazardous waste sites. The second factor is describing instruments and methods for measuring exposures. Identification is often a qualitative event, that is, the contaminant or the class to which it belongs is demonstrated to be present, but the determination of its concentration must wait on subsequent testing. Two principal approaches toward identification and quantification of airborne contaminants are available, both derived from NIOSH and industrial hygiene standards. Identification and quantification of these contaminants through air monitoring are essential components of a health and safety program at a hazardous waste site. The first standard is the on-site use of direct-reading air survey instruments, and the other is the laboratory analyses of air samples. Direct-reading instruments provide information in real time, enabling immediate decision making. The information provided by direct-reading instruments can be used to institute appropriate protective measures, determine the most appropriate equipment for further monitoring, and develop optimum sampling and analytical protocols. To detect relatively low-level concentrations of contaminants, long-term personal air samples, also called as full-shift samples, are analyzed in a laboratory. Full-shift air samples may be collected passively or by means of a pump that draws air through a filter or a sorbent.

3 – Planning and Organization

Publisher Summary This chapter deals with the planning and organization of health and safety plans. Planning is the first step in hazardous waste site response activities. By anticipating and taking steps to prevent potential health and safety hazards, work at a waste site can proceed with minimum risk to the workers and the public. Planning can be organized into three phases—developing an organizational structure for site operations, establishing a work plan that considers each specific phase of the operation, and developing and implementing a health and safety plan. The organizational structure should identify the personnel required for the operation, establish the chain of command, and specify the responsibilities of each employee. The work plan should establish the objectives of site operations, and the logistics and resources required to achieve the goals. The health and safety plan should determine the health and safety concerns for each phase of the operation, and describe the procedures for worker and public protection.

Planning and Organization

This chapter reviews the planning and organization of operations in hazardous sites. Planning is the first step of hazardous waste site response activities. By anticipating and taking steps to prevent potential health and safety hazards, work at a waste site can proceed with minimum risk to workers and the public. Planning should be viewed as an ongoing process; the cleanup activities and health and safety plans must be continuously adapted to new site conditions and new information. Planning can be organized into three phases: (1) developing an organizational structure for site operations, (2) establishing a work plan that considers each specific phase of the operation, and (3) developing and implementing a health and safety plan. Coordinating with the existing response organizations is also required as it brings one in contact with experienced individuals. Once an organizational system has been developed, all individuals should be identified, and their respective authorities must be clearly explained to all members of the response team. A work plan describing the anticipated cleanup activities must be developed before beginning on-site response actions. Effective management of response actions at hazardous waste sites requires commitment to the health and safety of the general public as well. Prevention and containment of contaminant release into the surrounding community should be addressed in the planning stages of a project.

9 – Site Emergencies

Publisher Summary This cheaper reviews important factors that need to be considered when planning for and responding to emergencies. Any hazard on site can precipitate an emergency: chemicals, biological agents, radiation, or physical hazards may act alone or in concert to create explosions, fires, spills, toxic atmospheres, or other dangerous and harmful situations. Site emergencies are characterized by their potential for complexity. Advance planning, including anticipation of different emergency scenarios and thorough preparation for contingencies, is essential to protect worker and community health and safety. For this purpose, a contingency plan must be developed. Situation-specific contingency plans should be outlined at the time of the emergency. All site personnel and others entering the site must have some level of emergency training. Communication during emergencies is of upmost importance; to this end, a separate set of internal emergency signals should be developed while channels of external communication systems should be clear and accessible to all workers. Preplanning and outlining potential emergency scenarios help familiarize personnel with points to consider. Evacuation of general public is also needed when an incident may threaten the health or safety of the surrounding community.

4 – Site Characterization

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the process of site characterization for hazardous sites. Site characterization is directly related to worker protection. Site characterization begins with an initial off-site investigation into the current circumstances, the origin, and the history of the site. The process of site characterization progresses in a triphase fashion: (1) conducting of off-site surveys, (2) conducting of on-site surveys, and (3) constant monitoring of the site conditions. Each phase begins with the gathering of information about the hazard site, followed by its evaluation. This assessment is then used to develop work and safety plans that define the scope and limits of the next phase of investigation. The selection of protective equipment for the initial site survey should be based on the information from remote sources and the off-site reconnaissance and the proposed work to be accomplished. The ensemble of clothing and equipment referred to as Level B protection is generally the minimum level recommended by EPA for an initial entry until the site hazards have been further identified and the most appropriate protective clothing and equipment chosen.