Underground Storage Tanks

Underground storage tanks are under the Ohio Division of State Fire Marshal Bureaus jurisdiction. The UST system must be protected against corrosion by being built with non-corrodible material, have a covering that prevents corrosion, or by being designed in a way that prevents a release of the substance. Also you must put into consideration the material of the UST and make sure that what you are putting into the tank are compatible with each other. As an owner you must obtain all federal, state, and local permits required to begin physical construction or installation of the underground storage tank. Not only does the fire marshal have to approve UST installers and inspectors but they also must approve the registration of UST systems. There is an annual registration application form to be used and thirty days before the registration deadline each year, the fire marshal must provide an annual registration application to each owner that submitted any UST registration application to the state fire marshal during the previous year. There is a fifty dollar fee that must be submitted for every UST listed on the application.

To become an Underground Storage Tank installer you must get the proper certification and training that is approved by the fire marshal. After getting your certification you can supervise the installation of, performance of major repairs on, removal of, performance of modifications of, placing out of service for more than ninety days of underground storage tanks.

To become a UST inspector you must be certified by the marshal under the requirements of rule 1301: 7-9-15 of the Administrative Code. After you get the proper certification you will be able to inspect the installation of, performance of major repairs on site to, closure-in-place of, removal of, performance of modifications of, or the change in service of UST systems. To become certified you must submit a written application to the state fire marshal. A copy of the local ordinance which authorizes the agency to perform inspections and issues written permits for those situations. The fire marshal will inspect all submitted forms and determine if it has the authority to inspect and issue UST permits.  

These regulations do not cover tanks in basements, septic tanks, home fuel oil tanks, propane, farm tanks or petroleum tanks. UST that holds 100 ten gallons or less or containing hazardous wastes that are listed on chapter 2745 of the Administrative Code are not required to the requirements of the Fire Marshal. Since they are not regulated by the Fire Marshall they follow their own set of safety regulations. Septic tanks are regulated through the state, tribal or local responsibility. In Ohio they are regulated through the OAC, and the local department of health.

http://codes.ohio.gov/oac/1301:7-9-15

http://codes.ohio.gov/oac/1301:7-9

http://codes.ohio.gov/oac/1301:7-9-11

Ohio EPA Hazardous Waste

Ohio EPA had to deal with many different types of waste management, such as hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. The EPA has several programs that deal with hazardous waste management, such as: Cessation of Regulated Operations (CRO), Financial Assurance, Generator Requirements, Transporters, Treatment Storage and Disposal Facilities (TSDs), Universal Wastes, and used Oil. The EPA deals with the treatment, storage, and disposal of many different hazardous materials. Treatment is defined as: any method, technique, or process designed to physically, chemically, or biologically change the nature of a hazardous waste. Storage is defined as: holding hazardous waste for a temporary period, after which the hazardous waste is treated, disposed of, or stored elsewhere. Disposal is defined as: the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid or hazardous waste on or in the land or water. A disposal facility is any site where hazardous waste is intentionally placed and where the waste will remain after a TSDF stops operation. Treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDF) are one of the last links in the cradle to grave hazardous waste management system. The requirements for TSDFs are much more extensive than the standards for hazardous waste generators and transporters. These requirements include general facility operating standards, as most do, as well as standards for the various types of units in which hazardous waste is managed. General facility standards address good management practices for any facility engaged in hazardous waste management.

            There are also very detailed technical standards that go beyond the previous requirements to ensure that all of the elements that are a part of TSDF are properly constructed and operated to prevent leaks of hazardous waste into the environment. The technical standards were also addressed in the diversity of hazardous waste operations that were being conducted around the country by guiding facilities in the proper design, construction, operation, maintenance, and closure of a variety of hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal units. These unit standards include requirements for a wide range of hazardous waste management units, from containers (ex: 55 gallon drums) to landfills, in order to ensure that these units handle waste safely and effectively.

The State of Ohio EPA issues hazardous waste permits to applicants seeking to conduct certain hazardous waste management activities. These permits are legally binding and enforceable documents by law. Unless specifically exempted or excluded by Ohio hazardous waste rules, any person that treats, stores or disposes of hazardous waste must first obtain a hazardous waste permit before they treat, store or dispose of these materials.

This hazardous waste permit contains terms and conditions that define the permittee’s obligations under Ohio’s hazardous waste rules and the operating boundaries within which hazardous waste management activities can only be conducted. These terms and conditions then serve as the basis for compliance evaluations and, if necessary, subsequent enforcement actions to remedy any non-compliance. This is the reason why the terms and conditions must be met and strictly followed so the company will not be fined for any breaks in compliance.  

Direct-reading Methods

Direct-reading instruments are very important tools for detecting and measuring worker exposure to gases, dusts, mists, vapors, aerosols, and fine particulates that could be in the air around them and that pose a threat to inhalation hazards. These instruments display real-time or near real-time measurements, and their use is specifically required by some OSHA standards. Some examples that have specific OSHA standards for direct reading instruments are: general industry, shipyard employment, and the construction industry. There are many different kinds of direct reading instruments available, each of them are different and designed for their specific purpose. Just because the instruments are direct-reading does not mean they cannot be inaccurate sometimes. The user must follow the procedure correctly and properly operate the direct reading instrument to get accurate readings on air contaminants.  These instruments can take measurements without manipulation of the sample by the user or sending the sample to an offsite laboratory. Devices that are direct-reading instruments are simple, taking a sample in a single point in time of exposure. These devices contain a sampling system, signal processing electronics, a display system, and a detector.

The Wheatstone bridge was originally developed by Charles Wheatstone to measure unknown resistance values and as a means of calibrating measuring instruments, voltmeters, and ammeters, etc, by the use of a long resistive slide wire. Although most people today use digital multimeters that provide the simplest way to measure a resistance, but the Wheatstone Bridge can still be used to measure very low values of resistances down in the mili-ohms range. A Wheatstone bridge circuit is an example of a direct reading instrument. They are used widely for the measurement of resistance, capacitance, and inductance. A basic Wheatstone bridge circuit contains four resistances, a constant voltage input, and a voltage gage. If the bridge is initially balanced, the initial voltage reading Vg should be zero. When the resistance changes are small (<5%), the second order term n is approximately zero and can be ignored. In practice we often use the same resistance value for all four resistors. By thoughtfully selecting the target and reference resistances, the Wheatstone bridge circuit can amplify small changes in resistance and/or compensate for changes in temperature.

Another sensor used to measure combustibility also relies on detecting a change in electrical conductivity; in this sensor, the change is produced when the combustible gas is adsorbed onto the solid surface of a metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS.) In 1959 M. M. (John) Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs achieved the first successful insulated-gate field-effect transistor (FET), which had been long anticipated by Lilienfeld, Heil, Shockley and others by overcoming the "surface states" that blocked electric fields from penetrating into the semiconductor material. Investigating thermally grown silicon-dioxide layers, they found these states could be markedly reduced at the interface between the silicon and its oxide in a sandwich comprising layers of metal (M - gate), oxide (O - insulation), and silicon (S - semiconductor) - thus the name MOSFET, popularly known as MOS. The MOS transistor conducting region is either p-type (making it a "p-channel" device) or n-type ("n-channel" device) material. The latter are faster than p-channel but are more difficult to make. MOS devices hit the commercial market in 1964.

http://www.computerhistory.org/semiconductor/timeline/1960-MOS.html

http://www.efunda.com/designstandards/sensors/methods/wheatstone_bridge.cfm

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871553209000991

https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/directreadinginstruments/index.html

ISO

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a Quality Management System that is based off of performance. In a performance based approach the focus of all decisions is on demand requirements and on required performance in use. In traditional practice describes the way and the method to get things done. Performance based building is focused on the needs of the people using it and focuses on the performance required for the business processes. There are two main points in the performance based concept: need for validation and verification of results, and the use and balance between two different languages (one for the clients and the users and the other for the supply of the performance.) The languages are split in such a way that there is a language that demands the requirements and the other language that requires performance which should have a capacity to fulfill the demand. Performance requirements are used to translate user requirements in more precise quantitative measurable and technical terms for a certain purpose. Performance based criteria need to make sure they list indicators of performance in a way that can be measured against the explicit requirements in either a quantitative or qualitative method. These performance indicators need to be clearly laid out so the user and the evaluator can easily understand them. The appropriate tools and methods must be used to verify that required performance has been achieved.

ISO DIS 14001 is being updated and the final version is expected to be released on October 2015. Documentation of ISO can take anywhere from a couple weeks to a year to get certified. This new version has updated their environmental management system. The first step in updating your environmental management system is to know the context of your organization, both the external and internal components that are relevant to your organizations purpose. The next step is to clarify the needs and expectations of your interested parties that are relevant to your organization’s environmental management system. Then you need to identify the interested parties that are interested in your environmental performance. To develop your environmental management system you must clarify boundaries and use them to define the scope of the program. To further specify your scope of your environmental management system you must include all products, services, and activities that have specific environment aspects and then document them. Now that you have determined the scope you can establish and maintain an environmental management system. When you are doing this an organization must consider the external and internal context of how interested parties and issues could influence your organization’s environmental management system. Organization’s must provide leadership in their environmental management system and ensure that an environmental policy and objective are established. Communication is key for explaining why environmental management is important to your organization and to expect your managers and personnel to be accountable and personally support the environmental management system. To make sure your program’s environmental policies are put into effect the organization must assign roles, authorities, and responsibilities and make sure that they are well communicated.     

How to Survive a Disaster

You do not need to have any special or amazing set of skills to survive a disaster, you just need to know what to do. Many of the deaths that occur in disasters are completely avoidable, but they occur because “75% of people thrown into a life-threatening situation” are so bewildered by what is happening that they are unable to think clearly and act in the correct manner to escape to save their own life. Many people are said to be frozen by fear of the situation, they become “mentally paralyzed” unable to act. On the other hand 15% of people are able to remain calm and think clearly to make the correct decisions to save their life. The remaining 10% hinder the survival chances of everyone else by acting irrationally. This is shocking to me that only 15% of people can act in the correct manner to save their own life.

When engineers design evacuation procedures for buildings they believe that people will respond immediately but this is not the case. For example during the plane attack of the Twin Towers on 9/11 many of the people did not even start to evacuate until 45 minutes after the alarms started going off. People were gathered in groups talking about what was happening, some people resumed their normal daily routine finishing up emails or working on projects, one person was even reported to have changed into their biking clothes to start on their way home. If they had followed the safety emergency plan and started to evacuate right away many of the deaths could have been avoided. Many people when a disaster occurs have trouble getting comfortable so they resume their normal activities to try and attain any amount of comfort.

Survivalist behavior is very goal-oriented, “if you are hungry you look for food, if you feel isolated, you seek companionship.” In a disaster it is difficult to ignore those feelings and to act and find the exit. In an emergency your brain becomes overwhelmed by all of the incoming stimuli before we can properly assess the situation and decide on the right decision. One way to override the wrong decisions is to make the correct actions automation through rigorous practice so it becomes second nature. In every new situation make sure to find the directions of the proper emergency plan, whether it be in a hotel, a movie theater, or at work. In a disaster there will always be things you cannot control, such as the 10% of people that are detrimental to others survival in an emergency situation. However in most situations groups are more cooperative rather than hindering each other’s survival.

If you were to ask a stranger if they saw someone being attacked in public while there were many other people around if they would do anything, they would of course say yes of course they would help. However, this is not always the case. The bystander effect proves that the more people there are that witness an attack, the more the individual responsibility is diffused. Everyone figures that someone else will do something.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201103/when-disaster-strikes-others-how-your-brain-responds

 http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150128-how-to-survive-a-disaster

http://www.udallas.edu/udjs/departments/psychology/2013-2014/survival-psychology.html

Fit Testing

There are four steps involved in the fit testing process: choosing the respirator, fit checking, taste threshold (sensitivity) screening, and the fit test. A company should provide various sizes from different brands to have available for selection for their employees. People have a variety of face and head sizes so there must be different types available for them to select which one is most comfortable. Before an employee can decide which one is most comfortable the company must first show them how to properly put the respirator on, including the position of the face piece on the chin and around the bridge of the nose. Once the employee has chosen a proper respirator they should next be taught how to perform positive and negative fit checks.

A fit check makes sure that the respirator properly fits the employees face and that no air is getting into the mask. There are two types of tests, positive pressure and negative pressure. This fit test should be completed every time the respirator is worn. A positive pressure test is when the user breathes out, which exerts a positive pressure on the respirator. On the other hand, a negative pressure check is when the user breathes air in, which exerts a negative pressure on the respirator. To perform these tests the user will properly put the respirator on and then they must cover the surface of the respirator completely. The entire respirator acts as a filter and this is why the entire thing must be covered. The easiest way to do this is to cover the respirator with a sheet of plastic.

To complete the positive pressure test the user should breathe out gently and feel around the respirator to see if air is escaping from the face piece. If the user does not feel air escaping around the face piece, they have passed the positive fit check. However, if they feel air escaping around the face piece, the respirator should be repositioned and perform the fit check until a positive result is achieved.

To complete a negative pressure fit check the user should inhale, thus creating a vacuum which causes the respirator to be drawn in slightly toward the face. If this does not occur then the test has failed and the respirator should be removed and examined for any holes or a problem with the seal. If neither is found then the respirator should be repositioned and the test should be re-performed until it results in a positive result.

The next step in fit testing is the taste threshold screen test. A dilute solution is used to determine if the wearer can detect the substance while wearing the respirator. Two substances that could be used are: saccharine (sweet taste), or bitrex (bitter taste.)

The fit test is finally performed after completing the above procedures. The subject should wear the respirator for at least five minutes before the fit test. The test subject should perform the following exercises for at least 30 seconds each, while the tester continues to squeeze the correct amount every thirty seconds: · Normal breathing · Deep breathing · Turning head from side to side, inhaling at both sides · Nodding head up and down, inhaling in both up and down positions · Bending forward to touch toes, inhaling when head is down · Talking (Ask the subject to read a paragraph aloud, such as The Rainbow Passage, or ask them to tell you a story, etc.) · End by resuming normal breathing.

This is the rainbow passage:

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act like a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

http://www.aphl.org/aphlprograms/infectious/tuberculosis/TB-Core-Curriculum/Documents/FitTestProcedure.pdf

SIte Evaluation

Phase one of CERCLA, Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act, has three parts. These parts are, pre-site evaluation, physical on-site inspection, and a written judgment. There is limited sampling in this step so you cannot confirm or deny the presence of hazardous materials in past issues, only determine what is currently there. In phase one it determines site history, deed notations, interviews with past and current owners. Some issues one could discover are site odors, soil discoloration, vegetative stress, soil disturbance, stream or surface water impacts, and any obvious hazardous material impacts.

                While researching the Flower Shoppe building on Union Street I could not find a lot of information, but it is believed that there has always been a restaurant or a business in that current building with a motel/ apartment above it so there would be no hazardous tanks underneath the property. I researched some more and on the Athens County Auditors website you can figure out what type of property was there before the Flower Shoppe. The current structure is unstable and will have to be torn down as is but I would recommend buying it after they rebuild it. Although the buildings will be rebuilt in the same way and with relatively the same materials as deemed by the Historical Society as a historical district, the fire safety and codes will be brought to the modern day level which will make it a much safer building. The original building was from pre 1900’s so there was no sprinkler system and many of the fire alarms batteries were dead or simply missing at the time of the fire. Chipotle survived the fire because it was a more modern building with more fire safety codes implemented into the building. At first I thought the only place to get a satellite image was Google images but those are not current, after doing a quick Google search I found various websites that are available to purchase satellite images of buildings.

                Some observations I had on site were: there is no fire hydrant nearby, there is a steam vent, water meter, sewer manhole, surrounded by old buildings, there is a lot of water damage to the building due to the firemen, there is a barbed wire fence at the back and part of it is hanging over the edge about to fall off, there are various exposed wires and pipes. As I was examining the building an employee of a nearby business told me we had to leave because of the structure is unsafe and could fall down. The Flower Shoppe is next to old buildings which could give the possibility of renovations over the years. The sewer is municipal so it is city owned. There are a lot of problems with the current property so I would not recommend purchasing the property, possibly when the building is done being rebuilt but you may have to deal with future problems since is it part of a historical district which could have certain coding laws.

http://www.mapmart.com/Products/SatelliteImagery/SatelliteImageMaps.aspx

http://www.athenscountyauditor.org/