Environmental management periodic operations

The operators [and contractors with Safety and Environmental Management Programs (SEMPs)] should establish and maintain an audit program and procedures for the periodic audit of the safety and environmental management program in order to determine if the program elements have been properly implemented and maintained and to provide information on the results of the audit to management... 

The operations group will develop general operating and maintenance objectives for the facilities which will address product quality, costs, safety and environmental issues. At a more detailed level, the mode of operations and maintenance tor a particular project will be specified in the field development plan. Both specifications will be discussed in this section, which will focus on the input of the production operations and maintenance departments to a field development plan. The management of the field during the producing period is discussed in Section 14.0. 

Consider the environmental benefits and the savings in process and waste-treatment operating costs, along with the payback period for an investment, to decide which options are viable candidates. Once this is done, the audit team can develop draft recommendations to include in the final report and presentation to top management. 

The management program should include written facility operating procedures. These procedures should provide ample instruction for sound operation and be consistent with the safety and environmental information, Procedures should be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect current process operating practices. Procedures provide the means for education of new employees about the process and provide education to all employees on new equipment and practices. 

Procedures should be established to periodically monitor all operations that may have an environmental impact, and similar scheduled periodic checks should be made to ensure that procedures and operations are still in line with regulatory and other requirements. If equipment is involved in the monitoring process then procedures should also be in place to ensure correct calibration. Procedures are also needed to record any preventative or corrective actions identified and to ensure that they are completed to schedule. The whole EMS should be audited periodically to check that it is consistent with the planned policy and has been properly implemented. The details of audits should be discussed and reviewed by management at the highest level with a view to continuous improvement through the modification of both policy and procedures. 

Due to the capacity of deep wells to store injected waste for a long period of time, if the correct measures are taken in design, construction and operation, deep well injection can provide an effective and environmentally safe method of concentrate management. The major environmental concern for deep well injection is the potential for contamination of nearby aquifers, which may be used as a source of drinking water. Six pathways have been defined that describe the potential migration of concentrate that can cause contamination of aquifers (Shammas et al. 2009 United States Environmental Protection Agency 2002) ... 

Dr. Joe Comp retied from SUSC in 1989, Dr. Richman left SUSC in 1990 and Ty Redd took over management of the Water Lab. He quickly recruited several top freshman and sophomore chemistry students who demonstrated a diverse and desired set of personalities, such as attention to detail, reliability, initiative, and collegiality. These students were trained in the QA/QC practices of an environmental water laboratoiy. Dr. Redd formalized a model of peer mentorship by training a sophomore student to serve as the laboratory QA officer. This QA officer trained each new student worker, who was subsequently certified by the State Health Department on specific analyses. During this time period, good laboratory practices were fostered and maintained. The laboratory developed into a quality operation that provided consistent results, customer service, and retained Utah state certification. This certification required the lab to analyze a sample, obtained from the EPA, and get values within a certain threashold. 

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