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EPA Safety Standards: Monitoring and Enforcement

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Employers need to meet OSHA compliance standards, and these are mostly put in place to protect worker safety. However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, has put another set of standards in place. According to the EPA, the organization puts standards in place that enforce legislation and helps to protect the natural environment and public health.  Of course, any standards put in place to help protect health and the environment are also likely to help protect area workers.

How Does the EPA Monitor and Enforce Safety Standard Compliance?

The EPA works with other federal agencies and state or local governments to monitor and enforce compliance with their standards. As environmental issues are identified, governments pass laws to address these issues. The EPA issues regulations to enforce the laws, provides compliance assistance to companies, and then monitors companies for compliance. If a regulated company or other organization does not comply with regulations, the EPA may take civil or criminal enforcement actions.

Monitoring compliance to EPA safety standards includes the following:

  • On-site: This could include inspections of the premises, evaluations, and investigations.
  • Off-site: This could include collecting data, monitoring oversight, or supporting programs of other agencies.
  • Incentives: The agency also has programs of incentives to encourage violation reports either from within a company or from the general public.

Violation of standards can result in civil fines and in some cases, criminal charges. These are some results of EPA enforcement of safety standards for 2014:

  • Companies invested close to $10 billion to help clean up contamination or prevent future violations.
  • Civil and criminal fines amounted to $163 million.
  • U.S. courts have ordered over $16 million worth of environmental projects because of criminal lawsuits.
  • Responsible parties have committed over $453 million in order to clean up Superfund sites.

This agency doesn't just monitor and enforce rules. They actively help companies stay in compliance with both federal and local rules. The EPA website publishes plenty of compliance materials that are written in plain language and directed at all manner of different companies and organizations.

The EPA also runs compliance assistance centers that provide a variety of resources to help company managers understand how to do their parts when it comes to reducing or avoiding pollution, training workers on EPA safety standards, and filing compliance reports. These centers are mostly EPA funded, and they are divided into different industries or missions. For example, there are centers for agriculture, border issues, ports, chemical manufacturing, and more.

We Help Companies Comply With EPA Safety Standards

At Ventiv Technology, our safety management software also helps companies manage their entire safety program and stay in compliance with both OSHA and EPA rules. The technology helps deliver training classes to employees and produces compliance reports for the government. In turn, we do our part to help keep the environment clean for future generations and save companies money by minimizing the chance of violations. Learn more about our safety management software today.

  

RMIS Guide

Jun 10, 2015

 | Originally posted on 

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