What is a Hazardous Communication Plan and Why Do I Need One?

Written By Adam J. Herrmann, Project Manager, EnviroForensics in Collaboration with Stephen R. Henshaw, PG, President & CEO, EnviroForensics. As seen in the April 2012 issue of Cleaner & Launderer.

Do you have a Hazardous Communication Program (HazCom Program) in place?  If you are a dry-cleaning facility and use tetrachloroethylene (PERC) and/or other chemicals for dry-cleaning or spotting, then you should have a current and updated HazCom Program in place.

In 1983, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released the Hazardous Communication Standards, which was expanded to include non-manufacturing employers in 1987.  The Hazardous Communication Standards provide employees with information regarding the hazards of the chemicals they come into contact with during work or have the potential to come into contact with (“Right to Know”). 

In order to achieve a safer working environment for employees and to comply with OSHA, the implementation of a HazCom Program is mandatory when employees are or have the potential to be exposed to hazardous chemicals.  Workplace illness and injuries that are chemical related may be prevented by implementing a HazCom Program.  The HazCom Program is designed to aid in the relations between the employer and employee by opening regular lines of communication.  In addition, a HazCom Program will assist the owner/operator to avoid potential OSHA citations, violations, and related compliance costs.  Read more »

Indiana Supreme Court Stays the Course on Pollution Exclusion: General Liability Policies Continue to Provide Coverage in Indiana

Written By David O’Neill, Director of Investigations, EnviroForensics & PolicyFind

The Indiana Supreme Court has issued its long-anticipated decision in State Automobile Mutual Insurance Company v. Flexdar, Inc. and in so doing has re-affirmed its ruling in American States Ins. Co. v. Kiger, 662 N.E.2d 945 (Ind. 1996) that the absolute “pollution exclusion” typically appearing in commercial general liability (“CGL”) policies issued in policy periods beginning in 1986 and later is ambiguous and unenforceable as to most, if not all, types of environmental liabilities. 

Declining to take State Auto’s suggestion that it bring Indiana’s law more in line with those of other states, the Court rejected what it called “literal” as well as “situational” interpretations of the absolute pollution exclusion, opting instead to stay the course and reaffirm its prior rulings regarding the ambiguity of the exclusion. Read more »

Green Clean: How “Environmental” is Remediation?

Written By Keith Gaskill, PG, EnviroForensics, in collaboration with Stephen R. Henshaw, President & CEO, EnviroForensics. As seen in the March 2012 issue of Cleaner & Launderer.

Environmental impact due to historical drycleaning practices is not a rarity.  In fact, it’s common to find drycleaning solvents in the soil, groundwater and vapor under and around current and former drycleaning facilities.  A big part of our job is to figure out the means to best remediate the environmental impact. 

The purpose of remediation is to abate the environmental impact, clean up the contamination and protect human health and the environment.  But just how much are we affecting our overall environment by cleaning your site?  Does removing 50 tons of impacted soil from under a drycleaning facility clean a site?  Where does that soil go?  Does the installation of a mechanical remediation system such as Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE) not have its own environmental impacts?  The systems run on electricity and electricity must be produced, many times by the combustion of coal or hydrocarbons which creates greenhouse gas emissions and sulfur and other non-friendly emissions.  Even the protective Tyvek suits, Latex gloves and disposable sampling equipment creates waste which is landfilled.  On one hand we are cleaning up a problem and on the other we are creating a problem. Read more »

Vapor Intrusion Assessments: Can You Trust Your Indoor Air Data?

Written by Jeff Carnahan, LPG, Senior Project Manager, EnviroForensics in collaboration with Stephen R. Henshaw, PG, President & CEO, EnviroForensics.

f you’ve ever had to hire an environmental consultant to investigate your property and collect samples, you’ve probably had to look at an analytical report from a laboratory and use it to answer some pretty important questions.  Is there contamination on my property? What chemicals are present? How much is there?  Most importantly, are the levels of contamination high enough to be causing harmful health effects? Only slightly less importantly, are they high enough to require a costly cleanup?  You needed to know the answers to all of these questions so that you could sell or buy a property, get a business loan, or maybe just to sleep at night.  With today’s trend of highly regulated vapor intrusion (VI) assessments being required at sites where dry cleaning with perchloroethene (PCE) has taken place, these questions have become increasingly important and more difficult to answer. Read more »

EPA Officially Characterizes Perchloroethylene as ‘Likely Human Carcinogen’

Written by John Bird, P.G., Vice President, EnviroForensics.

On Friday, February 10, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the final health assessment for perchloroethylene (Perc) to the EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database.  EPA’s IRIS is a human health assessment program that evaluates risk information on effects that may result from exposure to environmental contaminants.   Perc is a chemical solvent widely used in the dry cleaning industry.  This health assessment appears to confirm longstanding scientific understanding and research, that Perc is a “likely human carcinogen.”  For the first time, the EPA provides estimates for both cancer and non-cancer effects associated with exposure to Perc over a lifetime.

It’s important to note that the EPA does not believe that wearing clothes dry cleaned with perc will result in exposures which pose a risk of concern.  EPA has already taken several significant actions to reduce exposure to Perc. EPA has clean air standards for dry cleaners that use Perc, including requirements that will phase-out the use of Perc by dry cleaners in residential buildings by December 21, 2020. EPA also set limits for the amount of Perc allowed in drinking water and levels for cleaning up Perc at Superfund sites throughout the country, which will be updated in light of the IRIS assessment. Read more »