EEHS School

Having a good relationship with your surrounding community is a vital part of business in today’s world.  What are some key pieces of a successful and robust community outreach plan?  Technical advice using a behavior-based approach assessing an individual’s reasoning, inferring, and decision-making processes to influence unwanted or risky behaviors.  Hear from industry experts with real world examples.

Compounds of emerging concern are showing up in products all around us and ending up in our natural environment. Attention has been focused on PFAS for several years. Now 1,4-Dioxane is set to overtake the conversation on emerging contaminants. With growing public attention and regulatory action looming, what are the next practical steps a company can take?

The growing interest in PFAS and 1,4-Dioxane creates concern with how to treat findings during an environmental compliance audit. This presentation will review:

• Pros and cons of environmental compliance auditing
• Attorney-client privilege
• Best practices
• Processes and policies related to audits
• Self-disclosure under North Carolina and Federal law.

In recent years, manufacturers in North Carolina have faced increasing business threats from hurricanes, flooding, materials shortages, and global pandemic. Which strategies have been effective to avoid loss in productivity? What can manufacturers do to build resiliency? This session will focus on lessons learned from these events and identify how industries can best prepare for future challenges.

A general overview of OSHA changes that may affect your business presented by Senior Leadership at NC Department of Labor.

Audience:
Novice/Intermediate/Advanced

Format:
Presentation

Speaker:
Scott Mabry, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, NCDOL OSHA Division

During pandemic, active shooter incidents in the workplace decreased, but are on the rise as we return to a semblance of post-COVID normalcy. Do your employees remember how to identify and respond to potential threats in the workplace?

Ensuring that your workforce knows how to react quickly when workplace violence erupts doesn’t happen by chance. Training and customized site planning are essential. From cost analysis to OSHA impact and post-incident recovery, this course will provide the foundation your organization needs to develop or refine a response plan for workplace violence and active shooter mitigation scenarios.

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Describe actions to take when confronted with an active shooter and responding law enforcement officials.
• Recognize potential workplace violence indicators.
• Describe actions to take to prevent and prepare for potential active shooter incidents.
• Describe how to manage the consequences of an active shooter incident.

Each manufacturing setting has unique hazards, so where do you begin when determining what risks are present and which hazards to tackle first? Using the traditional industrial hygiene paradigm of recognition, evaluation, and control, this session will share tactics on what to look for, what questions to ask, and what to prioritize when characterizing industrial hygiene risks within these settings. Whether it be for proactive, reactive, or compliance-based reasons, companies are familiar with industrial hygiene sampling from afar, but what about the decision making behind it? This presentation will focus on the concepts behind characterizing industrial hygiene risks and the critical role it plays in maintaining a safe and healthy work environment.

As we emerge from pandemic, the way we work is changing.  new challenges call for new ideas in health and safety management to protect workers and maintain productivity. How will we accommodate remote work and protect workers who need to be onsite? Do physical and mental well-being require different measures in a post-pandemic environment? What generational considerations benefit an effective workplace?

This session is recommended for responsible professionals who Classification of accidents can be very confusing and is critical for accurate OSHA 300 logs and supporting documentation. There are several OSHA Recordkeeping concepts and associated terminology that facility professionals charged with tracking near miss, recordable and lost time accidents still do not fully understand. This presentation clears the significant confusion which will improve the accuracy of OSHA 300 logs by explaining the “often misunderstood” concepts of OSHA recordkeeping. It also includes an overview of OSHA’s most recent recordkeeping interpretations over the past several years.

Managing and maintaining the OSHA 300 log can be a daunting task. So many nuances make decision-making a challenge for recordkeepers. This presentation explains how to make those decisions and improve the accuracy of the OSHA injury and illness records, thus reducing the possibility for large OSHA penalties.

Audience:
Intermediate

Format:
Presentation

Speaker:
Guy R. Butts II, BS ASP CSP CHMM CSS CDS, Corporate Health & Safety Director, Draper Aden Associates

What kinds of inspections are conducted at your facility? There are literally thousands of things that require inspection at most any industrial facility. In addition to 60-day machine guard audits and monthly fire extinguisher inspections, employers should also audit programs, systems, changes, etc.

There are numerous types of inspections that should be conducted at industrial facilities to maximize worker safety. This course describes them and how to effectively implement a thorough inspections and audit program involving employees at every level to meet OSHA requirements and to protect workers.

An update on energy and climate policy initiatives at all levels of government. What are the policies? What do they mean to manufacturers in North Carolina? including:

• Biden Infrastructure Plan
• CLEAN Futures Act
• Hitting net carbon goals
• Takeaways from Glasgow UN Climate Conference
• Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)
• Federal program impacts on NC policy

Audience:
Intermediate

Format:
Panel Discussion

Speaker:
Dixon Snukals, McGuireWoods
Aaron Flynn McGuireWoods (invited)

We are seeing our share of storms, drought, and pandemic. International supply chain disruptions are affecting manufacturing productivity. This course will explore several key sustainability issues in manufacturing, which may include:

• Electrification and natural gas management
• Supply chain management issues related to ESG and/or COVID
• Recycling market challenges/solutions

In February this year the state of Texas experienced massive failure of their power grid leaving millions of homes and businesses without electricity in a winter storm. The state was unprepared and unable to import electricity from other states because of their self-imposed isolation from the national grid.

Much of North Carolina industry relies on Duke Energy to maintain reliable power. Are we vulnerable to a Texas style system failure? Find out the latest on energy management in North Carolina including:

• Renewable energy initiatives
• Differences between NC and Texas
• Microgrids
• Future of nuclear power in NC

Audience:
Novice

Format:
Presentation

Speaker:
Mark McIntire, Duke Energy

Current and relevant topics related to Environmental Social Governance (ESG) initiatives and how they relate to responsibilities for EHS personnel including:

• GHG management and target setting (e.g., net-zero, science-based targets, carbon offsets)
• Circular economy and waste goals (e.g., zero waste)
• Cost/benefits of ESG goals
• Managing stakeholder pressures
• Ethical sourcing

An overview of technologies that are anticipated to be an important part of the transition to a low-carbon world including:

• Feasibility of using Hydrogen as fuel and understanding the methods of carbon production
• Carbon capture (e.g., in cement)
• Technologies to measure carbon removal (e.g. Pachama)
• Solar and Wind options
• Energy Storage
• Improving transmission to get new energy sources where they are needed

Audience:
Novice

Format:
Presentation or Panel

Speakers:
William Joe Sagues, PhD, Assistant Professor, Biological & Agricultural Engineering, North Carolina State University
Steve Chris, Project Gigaton, Walmart (invited)
Carla Davis, NCSU Sustainability (invited)

A detailed look at House Bill 951 and the energy policy perspectives among stakeholders that shaped the ultimate outcome.

If the Bill passes, this will be a look at the costs, the details of the bill and how they will affect your business.

If the Bill fails, this will be a postmortem review of what went wrong and why after all these months we could not pass a bill.

Audience:
Novice

Format:
Presentation

Speaker:
Alex Elkan, Brooks Pierce

A thorough overview of Hazardous Waste Management Regulations including components of the New Generator Improvement Rule adopted into North Carolina Regulations in March 2018.

Discussion includes:

• Small and Large Quantity Generator classifications
• container management standards, including labels, manifest, contingency plans, and training
• Satellite Accumulation Area requirements
• Daily management of nuisance hazardous waste such as solvent wipes, aerosol cans and spent light bulbs

Audience:
Novice/Intermediate

Format:
Presentation

Speaker:
Andrea L. Stermer, Environmental Specialist II, NC Department of Environmental Quality, Waste Management Division

It seems every company has an abandoned facility or idle acreage about which rumors exist!  This course will help put that “unknown risk” squarely in the resolved category by discussing the pros and cons of remediation of contaminated property under North Carolina’s voluntary remediation action program.  Students will review notification requirements, cleanup levels, and treatment options for some of the common site cleanup issues.  Most important, the course will help attendees know when the nightmare can end.

Audience:
Intermediate/Advanced

Format:
Presentation

Speakers:
Harry H. Morris, PG, Principal Consultant – Senior Client Executive, TRC

Ryan Trail, Esquire, Williams Mullen

We’ve all faced it.  Our plants cannot escape the “long arm of the law” and at some point, a DEQ inspector will want to review container management and disposal practices for hazardous wastes generated onsite.

This course will help you understand:

• How to prepare for the inspection
• The best way to conduct the plant’s side of the inspection
• When to voluntarily disclose non-compliance.

Audience:
Novice/Intermediate/Advanced

Format:
Presentation

Speaker:
Richard C. Concepción, Environmental Chemist, NCDEQ-Hazardous Waste Section

The Town of Maysville, NC is currently addressing per-and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) compounds in the Town’s drinking water well and public water supply (PWS) system.  On February 22, 2021, USEPA made a final regulatory determination to regulate perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) compounds, which comprise eight of the 109 pollutants listed in the fourth unregulated contaminant monitoring rule (UCMR) list. PFOA and PFOS are long chain PFAS compounds with a current health advisory level of 70 ng/L (i.e., parts per trillion). Importantly, the Maysville PFAS treatment system was designed with the primary objective of attaining the lowest detection level of any long- or short-chain PFAS compound. This strategy was adopted due to current toxicological data available for a more comprehensive list of PFAS compounds.

Recently, US.EPA proposed a new Safe Drinking Water Act rule that will require all PWS to collect occurrence data for 29 other PFAS compounds, and lithium, as part of the UCMR 5 cycle. This list includes several other long- and short chain PFAS compounds other than PFOA and PFOS. The final regulatory determination on these 29 other PFAS are likely to be made by end of 2026. As a result, design of PWS treatment systems should focus on all PFAS compounds undergoing toxicological studies and potential regulations that may be established in the near future.

Audience:
Advanced

Format:
Presentation

Speakers:
Andy Dastidar, PhD, Draper Aden and Associates
Lindsay Boone, Enthalpy Analytical

With increased pressure on existing water resources due to growing populations, industries across all sectors are actively pursuing sustainability programs to minimize water withdrawal and consumption.  Competition for scarce water resources is leading to business disruption, brand damage and the loss of the license to operate.  This course discusses the value of water management ranging from corporate responsibility to specific economic impacts. We will have open discussion regarding why manage water. We will review World Economic Forum and CDP reporting tracking specific companies and sectors. And discuss how investors and consumers use reported information. The goal of the course is to provide information to improve understanding and communication the social and economic value of water management.

Audience:
Intermediate/Advanced

Format:
Presentation

Speaker:
Janet Egli, PE, Ramboll

The course will begin with an update on wastewater and stormwater regulations and proceed with a course that explains how to review analytical reports for wastewater or stormwater samples. The course will provide guidance on what to review on your report (Ex. chain of custody information, sample receipt log, and results qualifiers). Discussion on what different results qualifiers mean. Discussion on how to identify if results make sense (i.e. are the “total” parameters” larger than the “dissolved” parameters). Charts explaining key wastewater parameter and how they are split up in various tests. (i.e. Total Nitrogen, TKN, nitrate, nitrite, Organic N, ammonia N, similar for total solids, total phosphorus).

Audience:
Novice

Format:
Presentation

Speakers:
Maria Schiccitano PE, Ramboll
JP Verhuel, Enthalpy

A course on how to develop clear, specific, and measurable stormwater management plans, and resilient stormwater solutions. Provide guidance on what should be included in a SWMP, how to make it measurable, and what to avoid when writing a SWMP. General guidance on how to design resilient stormwater systems considering a changing climate and regulatory environment, with  a review of best practices.

Audience:
Novice

Format:
Presentation

Speaker:
Russell Parkman, PE