Best practical means

Some variants of best practicable means are spelled out in the U.S. Clean Air Act of 1977. One is the requirement that best available control technology (BACT) for a specific pollutant be employed on new "major sources" that are to be located in an area that has attained the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for that pollutant. BACT is also required for pollutants for which there is no NAAQS [e.g., total reduced sulfur (TRS), for which emission limits are specified by a Federal New Source Performance Standard (NSPS)]. BACT must be at least as stringent as NSPS but is determined on a case-by-case basis. 

BPM 1 Best practicable means general principles and practice... 

Means, best The best practical means for preventing the escape of noxions or offensive gases, smoke, grit, and dust from a process into the atmosphere. (U.K. Alkali Regulations.)... 

It is clear that very few gas-fired installations will fall within these categories. Notes on the Best Practicable Means for meeting the requirements were published by HM Inspectorate of Pollution in 1988. 

Where the noise to which the notice relates is that caused by carrying out a trade or business, that the best practicable means have been used for preventing or for counteracting the effects of the noise. Best practicable means incorporates both technical and financial possibility. The latter may be related to the turnover of... 

A breach of these emission levels is an offence under Section 2(2) of this Act. Best practicable means may be used as a fence against this action, and the Regulations prescribe to which classes of appliance they apply. Schedule 1 furnaces are rated by heat output and are boilers or indirect heating appliances where the material heated is a gas or a liquid. The maximum continuous rating concerned are from 825,000 to 475 million BTUs. 

Section 11 of the 1968 Act states that Sections 1-10 of the 1956 Act and Sections 1-16 of the 1968 Act shall not apply to works subjected to the Alkalis Act (those premises now listed in the Health and Safety (Emission into Atmosphere Regulations)). These premises are therefore subject to enforcement by HMIP. However, sub-Section 3 of Section 11 does contain a proviso for the local authority, upon application to the Minister, to ask for an Order applying the Acts to the whole or part of the schedule works. If an Order is made, best practical means is applied to all (alkali) works whether or not provided for in the two Clean Air Acts. 

HMIP publish sets of Guidance Notes, which relate to activities they control. These notes are known as Best Practicable Means (BPM) Notes. BPM is explained in Note BPM 1/88, Best Practicable Means. General Principles and Practices. Copies of these notes may be obtained from the Department of the Environment Publications Sales Unit, Building 1, Victoria Road, South Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 ONZ, telephone 020 8841 3425. 

Section 5 of this Act places a duty on persons having control of premises to take the best practicable means to prevent the emission into the atmosphere of noxious or offensive substances. This Section is used by HMIP in the enforcement of best practical means for the scheduled processes. 

Under Part I of the act an IPC system controls emissions to air, land or water for the most polluting industrial and similar processes. IPC is limited to prescribed processes (e.g. chemical, fuel and power, waste disposal, minerals etc.) by prior authorization. Authorization is based on the requirement for owners/controllers to prevent release of prescribed substances or, where this is not practicable, to reduce the release to a minimum. Any residual release must be rendered harmless. To achieve these aims, operators must use the best practicable means not entailing excessive cost (BATNEEC). 

Kiely (1996) gives a comprehensive summary of EU and US environmental legislation. All the legislation embodies the concept of Best Practicable Means (BPM). This requires the designer to use the most appropriate treatment to comply with the regulation, whilst taking into account local conditions, current technology and cost. The concept of BPM also applies to the installation, maintenance and operation of the plant. 

The Act, however, probably reflects the ancient view that disease can be carried by smell. Essentially, the Act provides two approaches. The first concentrates on the cause of the nuisance and how to remedy the nuisance. Here the defendant can claim that he is using best practicable means to abate the smell or that such means will be used in future. The second deals with the loss of amenity suffered by the complainant here the nuisance must be removed completely. 

The best practicable means should be used in waste conditioning and disposal operations. 

Emission standards are derived differently by the air quality management and the best practicable means of control approaches to air pollution control. In the best practicable means of control approach, emission standards are derived by consideration only of the means of engineering control available to control emission from a process. Air quality standards ate not involved in the setting of the emission limit, and emission controls of the same stringency ate applied to different processes. 

Best practice means a comprehensive integrated and cooperative approach to continuous improvement of all facets of an organization s operations. It is the way leading-edge companies manage their organizations to deliver world-class standards of (safety) performance. 

These duties are outlined in ss. 2-5 where the obligations are qualified by the phrases so far as is reasonably practicable and best practicable means. Interpretations of these phrases have been made which indicate that reasonably practicable implies a balance of the degree of risk against the inconvenience and cost of overcoming it, whereas best practicable means ignores the cost element but recognises possible limitations of current technical knowledge. 

Those in charge of premises are required by s. 5 to use the best practicable means for preventing noxious or offensive fumes or dusts from being exhausted into the atmosphere, or that such exhausts are harmless. Offensive is not defined and may depend upon one individual s opinion. 

In proceedings alleging a failure to use reasonably practicable or best practicable means the prosecution only has to state the suspicion and it is up to the accused to prove that what was done was as good as, if not better than, the duty required (s. 40). 

A defence on contravention of a noise order may be that the best practicable means had been used to reduce or control the noise. Constraints may be placed on construction or demolition work. 

In the UK all major works using lead come within the jurisdiction of HM Alkali and Clean Air Inspectorate [10]. The Inspectorate s policy of enforcing best practicable means of pollution control is well known. Presumptive limits applying to all gases and exhaust streams from scheduled lead processes have been set. These are as follows ... 

There is one important difference between procedures for criminal cases in general and criminal cases involving health and safety. The prosecution in a criminal case has to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. While this obligation is not totally removed in health and safety cases, section 40 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 transferred, where there Is a duty to do something so far as is reasonably practicable or so far as is practicable or use the best practicable means , the onus of proof to the accused to show that there was no better way to discharge his duty under the Act. However, when this burden of proof is placed on the accused, they need only satisfy the court on the balance of probabilities that what they are trying to prove has been done. 

The majority of the duties in the Health and Safety at Work Act are qualified by these phrases. What do they mean Unlike many other terms they are not defined by aity of the relevant statutory provisions but have come to acquire their now accepted meaning through decisions in the courts. Practicable is usually taken as meaning that which is physically possible in the light of current knowledge and invention 6 what of reasonably practicable Clearly this cannot be such a strict standard as that denoted by the word practicable (or all practicable steps or best practicable means). The conrmoirly accepted definition is that found in the judgemeirt of Lord Asquith in the case of Edwards V National Coal Board ([1949] 1 KB 704) ... 

The notice will specify the date by which the notice is to be complied with and may also specify the remedial action to be taken. Appeals against the notice can be made within 21 days. Failure to comply with the notice can attract a fine on conviction of up to 20 000. ft is a defence to a prosecution to demonstrate that the best practicable means had been used to prevent or counteract the effects of the nuisance. A private individual can start a proceeding in a magistrates court and, if the court is satisfied that a nuisance exists, it can require the accused to abate or terminate it. The court may also specify the remedy to be followed. 

In practice, these design targets can be addressed independently, although in principle any enhancement of waste treatment systems to reduce the releases of radioactive substances to the environment may result in additional work being carried out by site personnel with a consequent increase in their exposures. In providing the best practicable means for reducing releases, the imphcations for the exposures of site personnel should be monitored to ensure that there is no undue increase. 

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