Preparing Before Accidents Happen: Best Practices for Keeping Your Company Out of the Headlines
Posted by [email protected] on Mar. 28, 2023
No industrial company wants to find itself on the morning news tied to a chemical spill or train derailment. Events like those can transform even the most highly regarded company into a movie villain and give rise to substantial liability. Preparation is essential to mitigate against that possibility.
Who Needs to Prepare for Industrial Accidents?
Any facility that uses or stores chemicals with the potential to pose a threat to the environment and human health if spilled should develop and implement a Spill Response and Prevention Plan. While similar plans are compelled at certain facilities by regulatory requirements, including Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act, proactively developing a Spill Response and Prevention Plan, even in the absence of a regulatory requirement, can best position companies to avoid or mitigate potential liability.
What Should Spill Response and Prevention Plans Contain?
Spill Response and Prevention Plans should clearly state how to prevent spills, stop the source of a spill, contain and clean up a spill, and dispose of contaminated materials. Plans should contain information related to (a) what chemicals are used or stored at a facility; (b) how the facility intends to prevent spills; and (c) a response plan to deploy if a spill occurs. We break down these Plan sections further below.
General information. Spill plans detail how facilities should handle the chemicals being used and stored at their plants from soup to nuts - from preventing a spill with proper handling procedures and practices all the way through cleaning up and disposing of the spilled material.
Prevention. Preventing a spill will obviously always be better for a facility, the environment, and public health. Prevention plans should define material handling procedures and storage requirements clearly and posit continual employee training (and refreshing) on plan implementation.
Read the full article at: https://www.afslaw.com/perspectives/environmental-law-advisor/preparing-accidents-happen-best-practices-keeping-your
Contributed by Francis X. Lyons, ArentFox Schiff; http://www.afslaw.com/
