Environmental Regulations Quiz

Domain 7: Environmental Management

• Percentage: 7.38%

Hazardous Materials

• Definition: Any solid, liquid, or gas that can harm people, living things, property, or the environment.
• Characteristics: Radioactive, flammable, explosive, toxic, corrosive, biohazard, oxidizer, asphyxiant, or allergen.
• Hazardous waste: Solid waste whose quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, or disposed of.
• Solid waste: Discarded material disposed of, burned, incinerated, or recycled. Can be solid, liquid, semi-solid, or gaseous.
• Plasma: A gas with a portion of particles ionized, electrically conductive, and considered a distinct state of matter
• Density: Mass per unit volume (d = m/v)
• Specific Gravity (SGx): Ratio of material density to water density (SGx = dx /d water)
  • SG < 1: Lighter than water, floats
  • SG > 1: Heavier than water, sinks
• Solubility: Solute dissolving in a liquid solvent to form homogeneous solution. Affected by solvent, temperature, and pressure. Usually measured in ppm (parts per million).
• Vapor Density (VD): Weight of a unit volume of gas or vapor compared to the equivalent volume of air.
  • VD < 1: Lighter than air, tends to rise and dissipate
  • VD > 1: Heavier than air, tends to concentrate in low places

Physical Hazards

• Engulfment: Worker surrounded by granular substance (e.g., soil, sand) or liquid
• Overpressurization: Increase in ambient temperature around a container, can lead to fires and explosions. Related to combined gas law
• Fires and Explosions: Chemical reactions, ignition of explosives, agitation of shock- or friction-sensitive compounds, sudden material release under pressure.
• Corrosion: Disintegration of engineered material due to chemical reactions, electrochemical oxidation, localised pitting/cracks, or uniform surface corrosion, often from oxidation.
• Thermal Decomposition: Incomplete combustion by-products such as carbon monoxide.
• Water Reactivity: Chemicals reacting vigorously with moisture, often creating extreme heat and potentially flammable, corrosive, and toxic byproducts. (e.g., sodium, potassium, lithium, aluminium alkyls)

Regulations

• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA): Governs hazardous waste from cradle to grave (generation, treatment, storage, disposal).
• Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) (Superfund): Liability of persons responsible for hazardous waste releases and trust fund for cleanup.
• Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act (SARA): Focus on human health, settlement tools, and citizen participation related to cleanup.
• Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA): Protection of public from chemical emergencies.
• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA): Pesticide registration, approval by EPA of product label, classifications (general use, restricted use)
• Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (1986): Asbestos removal to prevent exposures.

EPA Hazardous Waste Categories

• Large quantity generator (LQG): >1000 kg (2200 lb) per month of hazardous waste generation
• Small quantity generator (SQG): 100-1000 kg (220-2200 lb) per month of hazardous waste generation
• Conditionally exempt small quantity generator (CESQG): <100 kg (220 lb) per month of hazardous waste generation

Hazardous Waste Operations

• Planning and Organization: Development of overall organizational structure, work plans, and site safety plans.
• Training: Employee rights and responsibilities, safe work practices, hazard identification, emergency handling, self-rescue, and safe equipment operation.
• Medical Program: Pre-employment screenings, periodic medical examinations, termination examinations, treatment (emergency/non-emergency), and record-keeping.
• Site Characterization: Assessment of site conditions prior to entry. Offsite and onsite surveys, ongoing monitoring for airborne contaminants.
• Air Monitoring: Contaminant assessment; selection of appropriate PPE, identification of relevant protection zones, evaluating health effects of exposure levels.
• Personal Protective Equipment: Shield or isolate against chemical, physical, and biological hazards at the site.
• Site Control: Minimize potential contamination of workers, protect the public, and prevent vandalism.
• Decontamination: Removal of accumulated contaminants on personnel and equipment

Nine Classes of Hazardous Materials

• Descriptions for each class are included in the document.

1- Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste

• Regulation (40 CFR Part 262): Responsibilities of hazardous waste generators (identification number, manifest preparation, proper packaging, labeling, accumulation units standards, reporting requirements).
• Land Disposal Restrictions (LDRs): Prohibiting disposal of hazardous waste on land without prior treatment (solvents, electroplating wastes, heavy metals, acids).
• Hazardous waste: Includes flashpoint less than 140 °F, corrosive materials (pH≤2 or pH≥12.5), materials that react with exposure to air or moisture. Toxic or harmful materials that can pose a threat to human health or the environment.
• Acute hazardous wastes: Contain dangerous chemicals posing a threat in managed settings.

2- Universal Waste

• Batteries, agricultural pesticides, and thermostats

3- Used Oil Management Standards

• Definition: Any oil (synthetic or refined) contaminated from use.
• Criteria: Refined from crude oil, synthetic, use (e.g., lubricant, hydraulic fluids, heat transfer).
• Contamination: Physical and chemical impurities: dirt, metal, water, or chemicals; excludes animal and botanical oils.

4- Underground Storage Tanks

• Definition: Tank and any underground piping components with at least 10% of combined volume underground.
• Exclusions: Farm Tanks (≤1100 gal), Tanks holding heating oil (on-premises), tanks in basements or tunnels, septic tanks, flow-through process tanks, tanks (≤110 gal), emergency spill tanks.
• Agricultural USTs: less than 1100 gal is excluded from regulation.
• Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP): Procedure to identify if waste is hazardous due to metals (or toxins) and testing for trace materials in diluted solutions.

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and Registration Criteria

• Purpose: Federal control of pesticide distribution, sale, and use.
• Registration criteria: Composition, labeling, function, and environmental effect.
• Product chemistry: Relevant chemical data, manufacturing process, and physical/chemical characteristics.
• Environmental fate: Effects of pesticide residues on the environment.
• Residue chemistry: Expected concentrations, frequency, and duration of pesticide residues.
• Other information (hazards to humans and nontarget organisms): Includes acute, subchronic, and chronic toxicity, skin and eye irritation potential, and potential exposure routes.
• Unreasonable adverse effects on the environment: Risks to people and the environment, considering economic, social, and environmental factors.

Clean Air Act (CAA) 1970, and 1990

• Regulations: Stationary and mobile sources, National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), major sources, area sources.
• Major sources: Stationary sources or groups that emit 10 tons/year or more of a hazardous air pollutant, or 25 tons/year or more of a combination of hazardous air pollutants.
• Area source: Stationary sources that are not major sources.
• Risk categories: acid rain, urban air pollution, and toxic air emissions; components are hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and air pollutants.
• Permitting Programs: Applications reviewed within 12 months of the effective date of a permit and EPA review within 45 days. Permit duration: fixed term are up to 5 years.

Test your knowledge on key environmental regulations and hazardous waste management. This quiz covers important legislation such as CERCLA and the Superfund program, as well as specific hazardous waste disposal practices. Assess your understanding of environmental compliance and safety protocols.