An Ontario laboratory, known for poor storage and handling of caustic and acidic substances, was fined numerous times by Ministry of Labour for not cleaning up its act. Even after several such actions, a worker was using “aqua regia” – a toxic mix of concentrated hydrochloric and nitric acid which forms a powerful oxidizing medium for cleaning tubes – and failed to follow standard safety procedures for cleaning up. When he finished, he simply poured about 60ml of residue in a waste bottle. The worker capped it securely and placed the bottle in a flammable storage cabinet.
Not surprisingly, what could go wrong did go wrong.

The bottle burst roughly an hour after it was placed in the cabinet, breaking an adjacent bottle of pyridine, which leaked onto the floor. Fortunately, nothing caught fire or exploded but the spill dissolved tiles while creating a lingering foul odour that lasted for days.
When questioned by his supervisors and ministry investigators the morning after the incident, the man shrugged his shoulders and said he’d never been given the proper equipment needed to store the chemical after he finished using it, or what to do if it spilled. He thought he’d done the right thing: He poured it into a safety bottle, tightened the cap and put it in a cabinet he thought was safe.

The fact is that while nearly every worker is carefully shown how to use toxic and hazardous materials, not nearly enough effort is put into providing the right equipment to dispose of substances properly or how to handle a spill. As a result, toxic spills – occasionally large but most often small – plague businesses, universities, schools, hospitals and other institutions. Keep Reading.

A sure sign that the world is changing comes from a study done by the Centre for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College. Nearly one-third of companies surveyed said good “corporate citizenship” is a key component in recruiting and retaining quality employees. Yet just five years earlier, less than 10% of companies in a similar study said it was important.

Moreover, other surveys of customers, investors or lenders, and other stakeholders show that a plurality of them prefer doing business with responsible companies. Indeed, an increasingly common question in consumer market research asks if respondents avoid companies that don’t reflect their values and, consistently, more than half say they do.

Admittedly, in the depths of a strangling recession, it’s tough for companies to think about something as seemingly ethereal and removed from the bottom line as being a good corporate citizen. Yet doing so actually shows up on the P&L statement, either because loyal customers who like a company are more likely buy from them again, or – and this is just as likely – because an irresponsible company can end up paying hefty fines for a cavalier attitude. Keep Reading.

For most people, thoughts of recycling start and stop with wheeling a bin full of crumpled cans, empty bottles and disgusting old pizza cartons to the curb. Once the city truck collects the contents, recycling is pretty much out of sight and out of mind until the next pick-up. Few wonder or give any notice to what happens to the discards after the truck rumbles around the corner.

Yet a growing number of savvy businesses, government agencies and other organisations are starting to pay attention. They recognise that diligent recycling of industrial wastes coupled with buying and using products coming out the other end of the recycling loop saves serious money as well as seriously helps the environment.

Indeed, it’s amazing how a little recycling can have a major impact:

• One recycled can saves enough energy to power a TV set for three hours, about how long the average household watches the tube every day.
• One recycled plastic bottle saves enough energy to light a 60-watt bulb for three hours – maybe a lamp in the room where the TV is on for those three hours.
• One recycled glass bottle saves enough energy to run a computer 25 minutes.
• Roughly 70% less energy is required to recycle paper compared to making it new.

Crucially for anybody concerned about holding down costs, recycling can be a real money saver. If anyone knows how to control expenses, it’s Wal-Mart. By instituting a rigorous recycling programme, Wal-Mart is eliminating the need for the equivalent of 22,000 garbage trucks. Continue reading here.

Blue bins and boxes are so common around workplaces that people don’t even notice them anymore; they’re part of the industrial landscape. But while most employees may be in the habit of tossing a soda can or old newspaper in the container, not as many businesses are as diligent about recycling.

That may be about to change because the price for not recycling is set to skyrocket.

A bill moving through the House of Commons in Ottawa will push fines up to as much as a whopping $6-million for a corporation found guilty of violating recycling provisions of environmental laws – and a biting $1-million for company officers. Even employees can be held liable, although the fines would be somewhat less.

That’s a lot of money to pay for not recycling a $1 newspaper. Keep Reading here.

- By Isaac Rudik at Compliance Solutions Canada – A Nimonik affiliate

Along with acting against other pollution issues, the federal and provincial governments are cracking down on water contamination caused by industrial, agricultural and municipal sources. Not only is Ottawa pouring more money into dealing with water pollution, it’s nearly doubling the number of inspectors and enforcement officers to more than 320.

Unlike water itself, it is increasingly difficult for businesses to drip through the cracks as anti-pollution laws and regulations covering water get tougher – and fines get steeper. The days of a “slap on the wrist” are a thing of the past with seven figure penalties being assessed even against companies that inadvertently contribute to water pollution.

It’s happening because environmental experts agree that the best way to tackle pollution is through something called “polluter pays.”

Basically, this means that whoever causes pollution pays for the clean up, in numerous ways:

• Tanker owners must buy insurance covering the cost of any oil spill cleanup.
• Factories using rivers must have water inlet pipes downstream of their effluent outflow pipes, so if they cause pollution they are the first to suffer.
• Even shoppers pay, being charged for plastic grocery bags – now required in Toronto – to encourage recycling and minimize waste.

Ultimately, polluter pays is designed to deter people from polluting by making it less expensive for them to be green. Continue Reading Here.

In a world where workplace and outside noise can seem like an unyielding din, it is easy to take hearing for granted. Moreover, symptoms of hearing loss can be overlooked since they appear gradually and are seldom associated with pain. As a result, increasing deafness remains unnoticed often for years until it’s too late.

In fact, among all occupational hazards, noise is the biggest cause of permanent disability claims settled by Ontario’s Worker’s Compensation Board. According to WSIB, hearing loss due to high workplace noise levels resulted in roughly $100-million in claims paid out over a recent 10 year period.

As a result, Ontario’s Ministry of Labour introduced strict limits for workplace noise exposure. Among other things, the government reduced the allowable exposure time to noise by workers in half. The Environment Ministry deals with preventing excessive noise in Ontario, and sounds produced by human activity is controlled by the laws in the Ontario Environmental Protection Act (EPA), which holds that noise is a contaminant with adverse effects on workers.

Why? Because researchers proved that an individual exposed to 85dba for eight hours a day, week after week, will suffer hearing loss. The louder the sound, the less time it takes. Thus, the noisier the workplace, the fewer exposures and time it takes to produce significant – and, for employers, costly – hearing loss.

Continue reading here.

– By Isaac Rudik at Compliance Solutions Canada – A Nimonik Affiliate Partner

When you think of it, no one should really be surprised that hospitals, nursing homes, extended care facilities and other health care providers are among the country’s largest users of water.

Beyond the obvious such as a significant number of people simply drinking water there is – hopefully – frequent hand washing by doctors, nurses and other employees, washing enormous quantities of bed linens and patient gowns or pyjamas every day as well as cleaning floors, walls and rooms in large buildings, preparing meals and cleaning dishes, and using water in various lab tests and other procedures.

Continue Reading.

The more a business reduces, reuses and recycles, the less waste it needs to dispose. The less waste, the fewer bins or pickups are required and disposal fees drop. Anything that lowers operating costs adds to the bottom line.
By Isaac Rudik at Compliance Solutions Canada

Not long ago, a 70-year old Ontario hospital was to be razed – right down to the footings and foundation – before being rebuilt. A simple job except the hospital told the contractor that at least 50% of the material had to go somewhere other than a landfill.

Once hazardous material was removed, the demolition contractor physically inspected the property, prioritizing and marking items for reuse. A detailed waste management plan identified a schedule of activities and workers were instructed in proper techniques and workmanship. Materials were handled carefully, maximizing reuse and recycling opportunities.

Continue reading

Buoyed by tougher rules and armed with more enforcement money from the Ontario Parliament, environmental regulators are hitting the road – literally. The ministry says it is getting stricter about damage caused by trucks, buses and other forms of transport if they pollute the environment, even accidentally.

While the vast majority of companies do their best to meet environmental standards at the plant, many forget that their liability remains while it is being transported to a customer, along with the transporting company. Indeed, the MoE is now co-operating with provincial and local police to enforce a trucker’s requirement to deal with spills and other contamination while on the road.

What this means is that a spill hundreds of miles from a plant that occurs while a product or industrial waste is en route to its destination could result in the manufacturer facing fines and other sanctions.

Read More at Compliance Solutions Canada Inc..