Environmental Fire Law - Term Paper Example

Topic: Environmental Fire Law Student Name Institution: Tutor: Date of Submission: TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction to activities of the company 3 2. Environmental legislation Laws 4 2.1. Clean air Act Amendments of 1990 4 2.2. Waste Disposal Act 7 2.3. Clean Water Act 9 3. Penalties for Violation of the Laws 11 4. Fire legislation Law 12 5. Health and Safety Law 14 6. Conclusion 15 7. References 17 1. Introduction to activities of the company This paper presents a legislation that needs to be used in managing welfare of employees at any given work place and ensuring accidents do not occur while the needs of employees are addressed. The main activities that take place at the business unit of the company include; painting, varnishing, lacquering and upholstery. There are a number of legislations applicable to the business. These legislations are applicable in areas of environmental laws, fire legislation laws and health and safety legislation laws. This paper provides a report of how the business needs to comply with some provisions of these legislations and possible sanctions that can befall the company if it does not comply with these laws. It describes and explains the major principles of international, EU and national laws and identification of a number of controls that can be applied in planning, management of wastes, energy, fire and safety in buildings in the context of workplace environments. It also provides a demonstration of applications of major principles in management of activities at the furniture restorer. This assists in preventing implications that can result from no-compliance to these laws. It also provides an appraisal and evaluation of efficiency of controls and legislation relating to environment and safety in the process of accomplishment of environmental protection and control of pollution and application of management principles and independent research and presentation and communication skills in demonstration of legislation laws relating to management of the company. It also provides sanctions that the companies can experience if it does not comply with certain legislations relating to management of its operations such as management of employees and the tasks it performs such as delivery of materials, upholstery and vanishing. 2. Environmental legislation Laws These laws will be useful for the company to institute the right practices that will ensure it does not violate environmental laws. They will also act as a guide for implementation of the right prosecutions in case of violation of certain environmental practices by companies and individuals. It will provide level of personal liability for managers of the company who are in control of the main activities of companies and provides for the right penalties such as cost remediation and legal costs that need to be incurred by applicants in criminal cases. The process of establishment of a basic plan with regards to conservation of environment and systematically implements policies for conservation of environment will include basic outlines for implementation of long-term policies for conservation of environment. The government creates a basic environmental plan 2.1. Clean air Act Amendments of 1990 The Clean Air Act (CAA) of 1963 and its amendments such as complete Clean Air Acts Amendments (CAAA) are focused on protecting and enhancing the air resources of a country with the aim of promoting public health and reproductive capability (Woodhead and Wicker, 2005). There are at least 380 different pollutants that are regulated by Clean Air Act such as Sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, and carbon monoxide, lead and ozone. News source performance standards that are regulated by CAA include hydrogen sulphides, mist, sulphuric acids and fluorides (Wolfensohn and Lloyd, 2007). There are also hazardous pollutants that are regulated by the CAA. This act requires that the right national standards are created for ensuring quality of ambient air is maintained and certain standards are attained by the surrounding air for a company. There should be a minimum amount of pollution released to the air to protect the air from pollutants, reducing visibility, affecting crops, plants and buildings. There are ambient air quality standards that have been set for particular matter, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and lead compounds (Stranks, 2010). The CAA is composed of nine sections that cover National Ambient Air Quality Standards Mobile Sources, Toxic substances in air, CFCs and issues relating to enforcement. Under title 1 of the Act, National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQSs) have been established to limit the amounts of pollutants such as carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, volatile organic materials, ozone or sulphur dioxide. Geographical locations that meet (NAAQSs) have been established as attainment areas while those that do not meet these standards are referred to as non-attainment areas (Smith and Low, 1996). The company in the case study can ensure it complies with these laws by complying with the requirements of these standards such as production of the right amount of carbon monoxide in the vehicle exhausts during delivery of materials into the company. In addition, the amount of toxic gases eliminated into the air can be reduced by ensuring the right standards of elimination are observed. There are a number of implications that can be inflicted on the company if it does not comply with these legislations. For instance, it may be sanctioned against the use of its vehicles in transporting materials into the company (Sabaei, 2006). It may also be barred from using certain products that contribute to emission of toxic gases such as fuels thus paralyzing its operations. This will affect its operations greatly. Furthermore, it may incur a fine for pollution of the air and get additional sanctions that will affect its operations considerably. Title 2 of this Act requires that programs should be greatly expanded in management of hazardous pollutants under the National Emission Standards for hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) uniform standards that are focused on controlling specific hazardous air pollutants. This was composed of 189 compounds that were considered to be hazardous. There are a number of substances handled by the furniture restorer company that can contribute to pollution of the air. These include exhaust gasses that are produced during transportation of upholstery materials to and from the company (Reilly, Sirgy and Gorman, 2012). It is recommended that in order to prevent sanctions due to production of harmful gases, the company needs to reduce the amounts of toxic gases production to the right standards. Failure to do this will result into sanctions which will prevent it from benefiting from certain privileges such as purchase of certain kinds of fuel for use in its automobiles. Title 4 of the Act states that sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are major precursors that contribute towards acid rain development problems. This title requires that large combustion systems, mainly electric utilities should be regulated as they are major contributors to pollution brought by these gases (Njoya, 2007). Under this section, it is necessary to utilize energy conservation, clean air technology and trade to reduce the amount of acid rains. The program for sensitization on acid rain also focuses on reduction of nitrogen emissions. The company will ensure it complies with these laws by limiting the amount of sulphur dioxide produced by its vehicles to the right standards as well as reducing the amounts of nitrogen oxides produced by its vehicles (Puller, 2003). It will also ensure that the right fuels are used that do not result into production of sulphur and nitrogen oxides when burnt in air. These laws recommend a number of sanctions to companies that do not comply with these standards. For instance, it can be barred from purchasing certain types of products that produce these gases or it s vehicles can be banned from operation to reduce the amounts of sulphur and nitrogen oxide s in the air. 2.2. Waste Disposal Act According to Solid Waste disposal Act of 1989, storage, processing and disposal of hazardous wastes at the municipal pose high risks to residents, public and environment and protection of the environment can be achieved through proper storage, disposal and processing of solid wastes at the right hazardous industrial wastes facilities (Njoya, 2007). Industrial wastes are classified based on the levels of concentration is toxic, corrosive , flammable and a strong sensitizer or irritant and can generate sudden pressures when decomposed, heated and are likely to pose danger to human health and environment if not processed properly or stored or otherwise managed. Commercial hazardous wastes management facility refers to any facility that assists in management of wastes hazards except in a captured facility that accepts wastes from other facilities that are controlled by a single person where the facility produces hazardous materials that are continuously stored, processed and stored on a shared basis (Lewis and Zibarras, 2013). The public policy concerning municipal wastes section 361 states that the municipal shall protect public health and environment through reduction of solid wastes and municipal sludge by eliminating sludge and recycling the wastes, treatment to eliminate reprocessing of wastes and assist in recovery of energy or other beneficial resources if the treatment does not threaten public health, safety or environment. The company involved in the furniture restoring process shall ensure that it does not cause any leakage of materials, spillage or escape in a manner that results into harm to the environment (Hulk, 2008). The company will also be concerned about the legal requirements recommended for storing, transporting and disposing of hazard materials such as waste products from upholstery materials such as old seats, padding, webbings and fabric leather covers. Other upholstery materials that may result into wastes include animal hairs, coils and springs, straws, scrims and webbings that remain during construction of Furniture.The Company will also ensure it tracks all hazardous wastes during their transport to treatment facilities, areas for recycling or disposal (Great Britain, 2011). It will ensure it deals with waste materials by avoiding them and replacing them with less toxic materials or using materials that reduces the levels of toxicity in them. Working methods may also be used which ensures these wastes are minimized. In order to avoid heavy penalties for unlawful disposal of wastes, there is the need to ensure that the wastes are properly managed, transported and disposed of appropriately. The main hierarchies of actions that need to be taken to manage wastes include avoiding unnecessary consumption of resources and reusing resources or recycling and recovery of energy and safe disposal of materials in a manner that ensures harm does not occur to the public or employees (Cote, 2003). If the company is unable to abide by the above requirements, there may be a number of penalties that could be imposed on the company. For instance, clean-up notices, prevention notices and prohibition notices that are likely to be provided under the legislation. Cleanup notices may be issued to the operator of the company or employees of the premises or in areas where regulatory authority suspects that the regulations have not been followed. It may also be issued in case a person in the company is suspected to have caused pollution (Woodhead & Wicker, 2005). There may be fees charged for issuing of clean up notices by the local councils. Compliance cost notice may be issued to the person of a clean-up or prevention notice to cater for clean-up costs and expenses that result from monitoring and ensuring that the actions required to be performed by the clean-up are performed. 2.3. Clean Water Act This Act was formulated in 1977 to reorganize the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 to add new programs to control of toxic water pollutants. The company in the case study will be involved in compliance with the requirements of this Act by ensuring the water used in cleaning does not cause pollution of surrounding water bodies such as rivers that cross near the neighborhood of the company (Wolfensohn and Lloyd, 2007). It will also ensure that the water used in the company is safe enough to prevent contamination of employees and cause harm to their physical health. The Clean Water act also addresses discharges of toxic substances and oil spillage and other hazardous substances into water bodies. The surface waters that are protected under the Act include rivers, lakes and intermittent streams or wetlands. Pollutants that need to be prevented from reaching water bodies include biochemical, suspended solids, oils and grease. It also includes pollutants that are toxic but are not considered as conventional and not identified in the CWA conventional priority. The main provisions of the Act include addressing of discharges from point sources that are addressed by the National Pollutants Discharge Elimination Systems (NPDES) permitting programs. It is a requirement that permits are obtained from NPDEs for discharge of waste waters from the municipality, industries and commercial activities and other agricultural resources before initiating a discharge into water bodies. The permit provides a specification of the amount of discharges (Stranks, 2010). It also includes the limitations for effluent elimination and monitoring and reporting requirements. Indirect discharges into municipal sewers do not necessarily require NPDES permits but must meet the pre-treatment recommendations. These requirements are targeted at preventing high concentrations of particular pollutants in industrial waste water that if not controlled can upset Publicly Owned Treatment Networks. The Clean Water Act also includes a number of provisions that manage and prevent spillage of oil and hazardous materials that have the capacity to affect the quality of water and prevention of spills with the potential to flow into waterways. There are a number of ways in which the furniture restorer company can ensure it observes the legislations recommended in these legislations. These include ensuring employees are exposed to clean and self drinking and cleaning water for materials and equipment used in the upholstery processes (Smith and Low, 1996). It will also ensure that waste water that come from cleaning of upholstery materials do not flow into waterways to cause harmful effects on people using nearby water bodies such as rivers and streams. The company will also ensure it conducts a study on the levels of toxicity of waters produced from its operations before discharging them into rivers and streams. 3. Penalties for Violation of the Laws Violations of the above acts are considered most serious offences. They are considered willful disposal of wastes resulting into harm to the environment such as causing leakage of substances, spillage of liquid substances or escape of gasses in a manner likely to bring harm to the environment. Penalties associated with these offences range from a few amounts of fines up to $ 5 million and years of sanctions. The processes of setting out offences are based on the medium involved. For instance, pollution of air is prohibited under the Clean Air Act (Reilly, Sirgy & Gorman, 2012). Companies are required to adhere to the amount of pollution standards contained in the pollution license to ensure regulations are not contravened. Air and noise pollution offences are identical to those in the repealed legislation. Section 142A prohibits pollution of land by introduction of waste materials into the land. Companies are required to adhere to environmental protection license requirements such as providing pollution notification in case of pollution (Puller, 2003). Failure to do this can result into a fine of $ I million for corporations and $250000 for individuals. In case of further offences, daily penalties can be imposed on the offending company. 4. Fire legislation Law According to the Building Fire Regulation of 2008, owners of businesses or persons that are occupying or managing a building have the responsibility to ensure safety of people in a building in case of fire or other emergency (Njoya, 2007). Occupiers of buildings have the responsibility to appoint and train Fire Safety Advisors who performs the roles of educating employees regarding methods of controlling fire outbreak in a working environment. They are also responsible for providing education regarding methods of maintaining building standards and prevention of fire outbreak in the buildings. The owner of a company or a building is also responsible for performing all actions possible to ensure that fire outbreak does not occur. The Act requires that flammable materials or any substances that are likely to cause ignition or explosion should be properly stored to ensure they do not cause fire explosion at the work station. In a case where fire has occurred at land or premises, fire official has the right to enter into the building and conduct investigations without obstruction (Lewis and Zibarras, 2013). In case of fire, the force in charge of fire prevention will ensure they break into the premises for the purpose of extinguishing fire. It also states that the employer or the person in charge of the building will ensure he takes the right safety precautions to protect employees from any fire outbreak by providing fire fighting equipment that can be used to fight fire in case of outbreaks. It also states that the employer shall ensure employees are protected from fire outbreak by provision of the right protective equipment such as safety clothing and helmets that assists in fire fighting and protection from fire. In addition, the Act requires that employees and any person around the building shall remove anything from the building when the building is on fire if the equipment is combustible, flammable, explosive or dangerous and likely to result into damage to the building (Hulk, 2008). In a case where any employer is found to have violated any of the above recommendations and the investigator is able to approve the negligence, he may be subjected to a fine and will be liable to pay for compensation to the Public Utilities Board a total fine of up to $ 5000 or will be subject to imprisonment for a term of at least six months or both. In the case where the employer does not install the right fire fighting facilities such as fire extinguishers or fire alarms within the premises, the Public Utilities Board has the right to convict him of negligence and lack of preparedness for fire outbreak and he is subject to a fine of at least $2000 or imprisonment for 4 years (Great Britain, 2011). The same charges apply in a situation where the employer does not provide his employees with the right fire protection equipment such as overalls and helmets. However, the Company in the case study can ensure it observes the above recommendations of the Public Utilities Board by inclusion of the right fire fighting equipment at the workshop and providing employees with protective equipment which protect them from fire in case of fire outbreak. In addition, the company can ensure it prevents chances of fire outbreaks within its premises by keeping inflammable materials such as glue that are used to bind furniture components together as well as keeping fabric materials that are likely to result into fire outbreak from sources of fire. Furthermore, the employer of the company must ensure it informs the fire brigade to assist in fighting fire in case of fire outbreak in the premises. Fire fighting process can also be controlled by training employees to use fire fighting equipment and evacuate the premises to prevent loss of property. 5. Health and Safety Law The legislation that provides for safety and health of employees at workplace is the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act of 2005. This Act is applicable to all employers, employees and self-employed people in their places of work. According to section 8 of this Act, Employers shall ensure employees are safe, and provided with the right welfare at work as far as is reasonably practicable in order to prevent injuries and poor health by providing and maintaining a safe workplace that uses safe plant and equipment (Failuc, 2010). He will also ensure risks are prevented from exposure to physical agents, noise pollution and vibrations. He will also ensue employees have proper conduct of behavior that ensures safety, health and welfare of employees at the work place. He is also required to provide safety clothing and protective equipment to employees and appoint a qualified person as the Safety Person of the organization. Section 13 of this Act requires that employees should take the reasonable care to ensure their health and safety is assured at the workplace and should not engage in improper behaviors that can cause danger to themselves or other employees (Cote, 2003). In addition, they will be required to undergo a reasonable medical test and report any defects at the work place or facilities that might be in danger of causing accidents. In order to ensure the company in the case study observes these laws, it will ensure its employees take reasonable care in dealing with facilities and equipment at the work place. The employer will also provide employees with safety clothing that can be used to protect them during times of emergencies such as fire outbreaks. In addition, the proprietor of the company will ensure risk assessment is conducted according to Safety, health and Welfare at Work Act of 2005 by identifying the risks present in the place of work, carrying out the assessment arising from the hazards and determining steps that need to be taken to control the risks (Woodhead and Wicker, 2005). The employer of the company also needs to instruct his employees to report any accidents in case they observe any incident at the work station. This will be useful in ensuring social welfare of employees is safeguarded while they are accorded certain rights that can result from occupational accident. There are a number of penalties that can be imposed on the employer if he does not obey the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act of 2005. For instance, if the employer does not provide employees with the right protective equipment and clothing, he is liable to a fine of $ 3000 or imprisonment for 3 years. In addition, court may declare the company unfit to conduct its activities and illegalize its activities (Wolfensohn and Lloyd, 2007). In addition, where risk assessment has not been conducted, the municipality reserves the rights to impose a fine of $2000 or other forms of penalties that are measurable with the level of violation of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. 6. Conclusion A number of changes in structure and components of health safety and environmental legislation in various countries and companies have been made over the last 5 years. Despite the inability of performance industry up to standards at the moment, there are attempts aimed at attainment of success in compliance with the laws relating to environmental management and consideration of safety standards required by the law. This paper presents some legislations that need to be followed in management of workplaces in various ways to ensure safety of employees is guaranteed at the work place while the goals of the company are achieved. The main areas of focus include the contents of Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. The main areas of this Act include duties that the employer need to perform to ensure safety of employees at the workplace as well as the responsibilities of employees themselves towards accomplishment of their health and safety needs at the work place. The other section of this Act is risk assessment process that needs to be conducted by operators of companies and the roles played by protective equipment in ensuring safety of employees at the work place. The other Act that has been investigated in this paper that tries to explain the role of employer in ensuring favorable working environment is the Clean Air Act. The main area of focus of this Act is reduction of elimination of pollutant gases into the air. The other act that is investigated in this paper is the clean water Act. In this case, the employer is strongly recommended to reduce amount of harmful discharge of liquid substances into water bodies such as rivers and streams. In the Waste Disposal Act, the main area of focus is prevention of production of solid wastes that can result into pollution of the environment. This paper also provides a study of Fire Legislation Act where the main areas of focus are methods that can be used to control fire outbreak at the work place. The results from this research are then used to explain what needs to be done in the company in the case study to assist in complying with the safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. 7. References Cote, A. E. 2003. Operation of fire protection systems: a special edition of the Fire Protection Handbook. Quincy, Mass, National Fire Protection Association. Faith, S.(2010). Workplace Law Handbook 2011: Health and Safety, Premises and Environment Handbook. Cambridge, Workplace Law Group. Great Britain. 2011. Reclaiming health and safety for all: an independent review of health and safety legislation. London, Stationery Office. Heaton, C. A. 1994. The Chemical industry. London, Blackie Academic & Professional. Hulk, G.2008. House builders health & safety. Northampton, Construction Industry Publications. Lewis, R., and Zibarras, L. 2013. Work and occupational psychology: integrating theory and practice. London, SAGE. Njoya, W. 2007. 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