Archive for August, 2011

26th Aug 2011

Compliance Assessment Scheme – 2010 assessments

SEPA have issued guidance on the Compliance assessment Scheme.
What is the Compliance Assessment Scheme?
The scheme is used to assess an operator’s level of compliance with their licence.  Continuous assessment is used throughout a calendar year with the level of compliance being assessed after each inspection, data assessment or environmental event (such as an oil spillage) at a site. This assessment is shown as a compliance level. The compliance levels are; excellent, good, broadly compliant, at risk, poor and very poor.
Which sites are included in the 2010 assessments?
SEPA’s Compliance Assessment Scheme has been used to assess compliance of Pollution Prevention & Control (PPC) Part A & B licences, waste management activities and larger discharges to water (such as a sewage works).
The Part A licences include the larger industrial processes, landfills and large intensive agriculture sites. Part A sites are regulated for emissions to air, water, land, and noise and energy use. 
The Part B sites are smaller industrial processes such as quarries, cement batching units or small foundries and are regulated for emissions to air only.
The Compliance Assessment Scheme replaces the Operator Performance Assessment scheme (OPA) which was previously used to assess compliance. SEPA published OPA results for PPC Part A sites each year from 2004 to 2008. There is no direct translation from OPA to the Compliance Assessment Scheme as the assessment process is quite different.
The new scheme has been introduced as it establishes a common assessment framework for all the principal sites that SEPA regulates. It has been designed to be fair and consistent and to allow SEPA to target its resources more effectively on poorly performing sites. 
How does this relate to subsistence charging?
There was no link to charging in 2009 however there will be for PPC sites only in 2010 and waste & water sites in 2011.  PPC sites that receive an excellent rating will receive a 5% reduction in subsistence charge.  Those sites that get a very poor will receive a 5% increase in subsistence charge.  All sites currently on SEPA’s monitoring programme are subject to subsistence charging, this is based on the polluter pays principle.  For further information on charging refer to SEPA’s charging webpage
 If you need any assistance regarding your site/PPC, please do not hesitate to contact us

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19th Aug 2011

Viridor – Composting Safety Film

A film to help improve health and safety at composting sites has been released by waste management firm Viridor. Designed for people who work on either in-vessel or windrow composting facilities, the film provides essential information needed to comply with Health & Safety Executive guidelines and manage the risks of working with these processes.
 
Please CLICK HERE for a link to more information, and access to the film
More information on Industry H&S can be found on WAMITAB website If you have any questions regarding training or consultancy regarding your composting or any other site, please do not hesitate to CONTACT US 

Posted by Posted by Albion under Filed under Albion Environmental News, Environmental Management Systems, Health and Safety, WAMITAB, Waste Management Comments Comments Off

08th Aug 2011

HSE Consultation

Early August 2011, The HSE opened its three month consultation on plans for cost of interventions to be recovered from businesses found to be in material breach of health and safety law. The consultation can be found here  
As supported by WAMITAB, we would strongly urge and encourage WISH member organisations to take time to look at the proposals in detail and to provide feedback as the proposals represent a significant change in approach. Collective and individual responses from organisations are welcome, as such WISH members may want to alert individual member companies to the consultation process as well.

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01st Aug 2011

The Green Thing

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that
 she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren't good
 for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, "We
 didn't have the green thing back in my day."
 
 The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former
 generation did not care enough to save our environment."
 
 He was right, that generation didn't have the green thing in its
 day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soda bottles and
 beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be
 washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles
 over and over. So they really were recycled.
 
 But they didn't have the green thing back in that customer's day.
 
 In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an
 escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the
 grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every
 time they had to go two blocks.
 
 But she was right. They didn't have the green thing in her day.
 
 Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't
 have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an
 energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power
 really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their
 brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
 
 But that old lady is right, they didn't have the green thing
 back in her day.
 
 Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in
 every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief,
 not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they
 blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines
 to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in
 the mail, They used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not
 Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, they didn't fire up an
 engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower
 that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn't need
 to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on
 electricity.
 
 But she's right, they didn't have the green thing back then.
 
 They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of
 using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water.
 They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen,
 and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away
 the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
 
 But they didn't have the green thing back then.
 
 Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode
 their bikes to school or walked
 instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They
 had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to
 power a dozen appliances. And they didn't need a computerized gadget
 To receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in
 order to find the nearest pizza joint.
 
 But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the
 old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back
then?

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