Hazardous Waste

Every year, 3.36 billion lbs of toxic waste is disposed of or released

into the environment

Waste categories can include solid waste, exploration and

production waste, universal waste, and hazardous waste

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 Hazardous waste is a solid, liquid, or gaseous
material with certain properties that could be
dangerous to human health or the environment

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 In regulatory terms, hazardous waste is waste that appears on one
of the four Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA)
hazardous waste lists or displays one of the four characteristics of
hazardous waste: ignitable, corrosive, reactive, and toxic

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 Characteristic Description
Ignitable Catches fire under certain conditions

Corrosive Corrodes metal or has a very high or low pH

Reactive Unstable and explodes or produces toxic fumes, gases, and vapors when mixed with water
or under other conditions, such as heat or pressure

Toxic Harmful or fatal when ingested or absorbed, or it leaches toxic chemicals into the soil or
ground water when disposed of on land

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 Hazardous waste is generated  Metal production
from many sources, such as  Metal fabrication
 Petroleum processing

 Chemical manufacturing

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 Some ways to reduce waste include
 Using catalysts to speed up chemical reactions and
convert oil into useful products efficiently
 Recovering products from process waters
 Using cogeneration (generating electricity and steam for
facility use; allows waste heat to be captured for use in
refinery processes)
 Using collection sites to properly dispose of
motor oil

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 Many companies are required to have a waste management
plan that gives workers information on proper disposal
procedures

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 It is your company’s responsibility to make
sure every effort is made to prevent hazardous
waste spills and to clean them up immediately

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 The purpose of the Spill Prevention, Control, and
Countermeasure (SPCC) rule is to help facilities prevent a
discharge of oil into navigable waters or adjoining shorelines

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 The SPCC applies to a facility that
 Stores, transfers, uses, or consumes oil or oil products, such as
diesel fuel, gasoline, and lube oil
 Stores more than 1,320 US gal in aboveground containers (only
count containers with 55 gal or greater storage capacity) or
more than 42,000 gal in completely buried containers
 Could reasonably be expected to discharge oil into
navigable waters of the US or
adjoining shorelines, such as lakes,
rivers, and streams
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 The SPCC rule requires facility owners or operators to create
and use an SPCC plan

The plan
 Must be in writing and maintained at the facility
 May include the facility’s storage capacity, discharge prevention
measures and drainage controls, ways to
dispose of recovered materials, and
emergency contact lists and phone
numbers
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 Some safety precautions for storing and handling hazardous
waste drums and containers to prevent leaks and spills include
 Unlabeled drums and containers must be considered hazardous and
handled accordingly until the contents are positively identified and
labeled
 Fire extinguishing equipment must be on hand and ready for use to
control incipient fires
 Workers not actually involved in opening drums or containers must be
kept a safe distance away from the drums or containers
being opened

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 The first step of an emergency response
operation is to observe that a spill or
release has happened

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 Workers can usually detect an emergency release through
their senses

Signs of a hazardous release can include

 Liquid in unusual places  Visible vapors, fumes, bubbles, or
 A high pitched whistling sound foam

 Strange odors

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 Review your company’s emergency response plan to find out what the
company considers an emergency release

Depending on the size and location of the

release, it may be necessary to get
state and local emergency response
organizations and agencies involved
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 Untrained workers must
not respond to a
hazardous spill

Workers who perform hazardous waste cleanup

operations or perform hazardous waste operations at
treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) facilities in both
general and construction industries require special
training

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 There are five levels of HAZWOPER training
Training Level Duty
First Responder – Workers who may witness or discover a hazardous substance release and have been trained to
Awareness Level start an emergency response sequence by notifying the proper authorities about the release;
do nothing beyond notifying the authorities

First Responder – Workers who respond defensively to releases or potential releases of hazardous substances by
Operations Level containing the release from a safe distance, keeping the release from spreading, and
preventing nearby workers from being exposed; must not attempt to plug, patch, or stop the
release; must only set up initial site control

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 Training Level Duty
Hazardous Materials Responds to stop the release and knows how to implement the company’s plan and carry out
Technician decontamination

Hazardous Materials Requires specific knowledge of the substances to be contained and acts as the point of contact
Specialist with all government authorities

On-scene incident Assumes control of the scene and implements the command system, the company’s plan, and
commander state and local emergency response plans

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 Hazardous waste can be dangerous
to human health and the environment,
and must be managed by trained
workers. Stay informed and know how
to act if there is a leak or spill.

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Copyright © 2016 by PEC/Premier Safety Operations, LLC