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HazMat

FALL 2013

Remediation • Clean Technology

LacMégantic An In-Depth Look at the Rail Disaster that Destroyed a Town — page 8

Sydney Tar Ponds update Radon’s deadly threat Alliance of Hazardous Materials Professionals Removing mercury from wastewater An EcoLog Group Publication / CPMP no. 40069240

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CONTENTS : VOL 25 NO. 4 FALL 2013

on the cover

8

HAZMAT: LAC-MÉGANTIC

Our full report on the train detailment in Lac-Mégantic, Québec that killed dozens and destroyed the core of this rural town, including what happened and lessons learned.

by Guy Crittenden

features 19 HAZMAT: 10 TIPS

Ten tips for hazardous location product approval.

by Brian Whittle

27 HAZMAT: RADON

Strategies for detecting and protecting from radon.

by Bruce Decker

23 REMEDIATION: SYDNEY TAR PONDS Sydney Tar Ponds cleanup strategy and technology.

by John Nicholson

departments Editorial

4

Up Front

6

Event Report

20

Health & Safety

29

Spotlight

34

Products

36

Ad Index

37

Legal Perspective

38

32 CLEANTECH: WASTEWATER Zorbtech removes mercury from wastewater..

by Don Wilson

next edition: winter 2014 OFFICIAL SHOW GUIDE: Sites & Spills Expo in Toronto (see ad, page 21) Annual Buyer's Guide Edition ◆ Remediation and HazMat products ◆ Spotlight on Newalta ◆ Treating petrochemicals in ground and surface water ◆ PCB Cleanup Space closing: November 21, 2013 Artwork required: November 26, 2013 Call 1-888-702-1111 .

FALL 2013 HazMat Management 3

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HAZMAT : EDITORIAL

Runaway Train

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by Guy Crittenden

“The accident rate has declined over the same interval, from 2.8 per million main-track trainmiles to 2.2.”

t’s a given that the Lac-Mégantic train derailment and subsequent explosions and fire — that killed 47 people and destroyed the downtown of this town of 6,000 in Quebec’s Eastern Townships — was one of the worst industrial accidents in Canada in modern times, and something the recurrence of which needs prevention.

(For details on the disaster, read the Cover Story, page 8.)

Making sense of the tragedy and what practical measures need implementation requires that we look past the (legitimate) anger that erupted back in July, when disaster struck.

A sober second look at the facts reveals some clear deficiencies in the system that must be addressed (some have already been) and some reassuring safety news about Canada’s smaller railway operators (about 50 companies outside the CN and CP Rail giants) which suggests that, with targeted changes, another such rail disaster can be prevented.

Some of the specific problems manifested in the LacMégantic derailment were obvious, or at least they seem that way now. Allowing a single worker to operate a 72-car oil-laden train was a very bad idea; this was certainly a factor in the series of problems that compounded upon one another and led to the derailment. The rules have already been changed to disallow this. (Interestingly, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway [MMA] was one of only two railways permitted to operate trains with a single worker, and this was only allowed a year before the incident. Other rail lines have always been required to have at least one engineer and a conductor.)

In addition to some rule changes, a number of equipment and technology advancements could be implemented to prevent runaway trains. These include better inspection, maintenance and repair of the “hand brakes” that need setting for stopped trains, installation of “derailers” in strategic locations, “reset safety controls” that automatically lock the brakes of runaway trains, and — as US legislation requires by 2015 — installation of “positive train controls” on all corridors through which trains carrying hazardous materials pass. (“PTC’s” automatically stop any train traveling at an unauthorized speed on a given section of track.)

It’s reasonable that we should call for accelerated upgrading of flimsy older versions of DOT-111A tanker cars (the kind that spewed their contents at Lac-Mégantic), especially since more and more oil is being rail-hauled between locations not served by pipelines. Rail operators must be required to carry higher third-party insurance.

(MMA had only $25-million, not nearly enough to cover the cleanup costs and inevitable lawsuits that will total billions.)

Investigators have discovered the paperwork for the ill-fated MMA train was misleading and possibly falsified to make it appear the train carried regular bunker-type oil (a “packing group 3” commodity) when in fact the load was a more volatile gasoline-like oil (or “packing group 2” liquid).

Prosecution of any wrongdoers under the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act would send a strong signal to companies to properly manifest their dangerous cargo.

But we must not conclude from the Lac-Mégantic disaster that the overall safety performance of small rail companies is poor. As journalist Andrew Coyne pointed out in a July 13, 2013 column in the National Post, the overall safety record of this business segment has been improving in recent years.

“Accidents of all kinds, the broadest indicator,” Coyne wrote, “have declined from an average of nearly 1300 per year in the decade from 1998-2007 to 1066 per year in the five most recent years. The accident rate has declined over the same interval, from 2.8 per million main-track train-miles to 2.2.

The situation is the same when you dig deeper into the data. Explosions and fires have drooped from 30 per year to 20. Derailments have fallen from about 750 to 600. Most of these are minor; more serious derailments of 10 or more cars total 22 per year these days, compared to 32 each year in the previous decade. (Again, this data concerns the 50 small train operators: the numbers are much higher for CN and CP Rail, because they operate many more trains on more millions of kilometres of track.)

Coyne notes that the rate of accidents involving dangerous goods shipments has fallen precipitously, from 216 per year only 133. And few of these result in a spill: these are down to three per year compared to six per year the previous decade. (These last items are derived from all rail transport, not just the small guys.) Fatalities have fallen from 95 per year to 75 (and most of these are at crossings or rail yards). Deaths from derailments have fallen to statistically zero (excepting the Lac-Mégantic tragedy this year, of course).

Reportable incidents have dropped also, including instances of “runaway rolling stock” which have fallen from 14 a year to 11. And reports of “failure to secure” (which appears to be the cause of the Lac-Mégantic incident) are down from 8.5 per year to 6.4.

Proposed legal and technical changes, when implemented, could make the tragic Lac-Mégantic incident the one-time major safety exception that it hopefully is. HMM Guy Crittenden is editor of this magazine. Contact Guy at gcrittenden@hazmatmag.com

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HazMat

FALL 2013

management

Vol. 25, No. 4

Solutions for the Business of the Environment

Guy Crittenden EDITOR gcrittenden@hazmatmag.com Brad O’Brien PUBLISHER 416-510-6798 bobrien@hazmatmag.com Dave Douglas ACCOUNT MANAGER 1-866-238-1020 ddouglas@bizinfogroup.ca Kimberly Collins PRODUCTION MANAGER 416-510-6779 kcollins@bizinfogroup.ca Sheila Wilson ART DIRECTOR Anita Madden CIRCULATION MANAGER Carol LeNoury GENERAL MANAGER, ENVIRONMENT GROUP Bruce Creighton PRESIDENT

Hazardous Materials Management

AWARD-WINNING MAGAZINE HazMat Management, USPS 016-506 is published four times a year by EcoLog Group, a division of BIG Magazines LP, a div. of Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd., a leading Canadian business-tobusiness information services company.

HazMat Management magazine provides strategic information and perspectives to North American industry and government on pollution prevention and waste management issues.

Readers include corporate executives, compliance and safe ty officers, industrial plant managers and operators, municipal govern ment environment officials, working scientists, and consulting engineers.

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Information contained in this publication has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, thus HazMat Management cannot be responsible for the absolute correctness or sufficiency of articles or editorial contained herein. Al though the information contained in this magazine is believed to be correct, no responsibility is assumed therefore, nor for the opinions ex pressed by individual authors.

Articles in this magazine are intended to convey information rather than give legal or other professional advice. Reprint and list rental services are arranged through the Publisher at (416) 510-6780.

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HAZMAT: UP FRONT

Deepwater Horizon spill effects studied

O

n September 25 a report was released on significant impacts to the deep-sea, soft-sediment ecosystem in a large area surrounding the 2010 Deepwater Horizon wellhead blowout and subsequent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Because the deep-sea is cold, it could take decades to recover from the spill’s impacts, according to a paper reported in the online scientific journal PLoS One. “While a lot of focus was put on the surface effects of the oil spill, we were surprised to find that much of the oil never left the deep sea,” said Dr. Paul Montagna, Endowed Chair for Ecosystems and Modeling at the

Lac-Mégantic fallout pressuring che

C

hemical producers are buying as many mid-level tankers as they can find until supercars with double hulls and extensive safety features get thorough testing and go into production, reports The Canadian Press. Following the July 6, 2013 derailment in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, chemical producers have been under pressure to tighten safety, but many industry players say progress will take time due to design, development and testing that needs to take place for new advanced supercars. So far, only a few advanced units, which cost more than double the cost of a conventional car, have been manufactured for testing.

One company, for example, is spending about $75-million over five years to replace

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities.

The Forest Stewardship Council® logo signifies that this magazine is printed on paper from responsibly managed forests. “To earn FSC® certification and the right to use the FSC label, an organization must first adapt its management and operations to conform to all applicable FSC requirements.”

©2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior consent.

Print edition: ISSN-1713-9511 Online edition: ISSN 1923-3469

For more information, visit www.fsc.org

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Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. “The unseen effects are so much larger than the seen effects.”

The oil spill and plume covered almost 360 square miles with the most severe reduction of biological abundance and biodiversity impacting an area about nine square miles around the wellhead, and moderate effects seen 57 square miles around the wellhead.

“Given [the] deep-sea conditions, it’s possible that recovery in the vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon blowout will take decades or longer,” said Montagna.

Visit harteresearchinstitute.org

Press

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Dry cleaners trigger $19-million US Superfund remediation

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he US EPA has proposed a $19-million plan to remediate a New Jersey-based dry cleaner’s property, after hazardous cleaning solutions leaked into the soil and groundwater for more than 30 years. White Swan Cleaners and Sun Cleaners operated in the area between 1960 and 1991 and are believed to have leaked volatile organic compounds, including perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE), both of which are carcinogenic and cause liver damage.

Vapors from the chemical contamination have seeped into some residential and commercial buildings in the local vicinity. The contaminated site is being remediated under the US Superfund program because the dry cleaners are no longer in business and are unable to cover the cost.

Montreal PCB cleanup

T

he Quebec government has approved a cleanup plan for a Montreal company that illegally stored and recycled materials contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) for some 15 years. Environment Minister Yves-Francois Blanchet announced that he approved the cleanup proposal submitted September 3, 2013 on behalf of Radiance Power Equipment.

The used power equipment company had until September 13 to transfer its holding equipment to a safe facility. In March, Quebec environment officials learned that 1,000 litres of oil had leaked into the ground, and was traced to Lake St. Louis from Radiance Power Corp’s Hymus Blvd. location, which backs onto a residential area.

ing chemical companies about 500 tank cars in its fleet with interim cars each costing about $150,000.

For more about the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster, see the Cover Story on page 8 of this edition, and the Editorial on page 4.

CEC launches HazMat waste trainer

T

he Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has launched an online training tool for hazardous waste management. CEC is calling the training a multilingual “one-stop shop” for companies around the world to better understand the “dos and don’ts” and paperwork requirements in North America. The trainer is available in English, French, Spanish and Mandarin.

The easy-to-use trainer explains what can be considered hazardous waste (battery waste, spent solvents, etc.), and which international agreements apply in North America. It outlines environmental import and export requirements for each of the three North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signatories: Canada, Mexico and the United States. Each module concludes with a “Knowledge Check” to test the student’s grasp of the information.

Visit www3.cec.org/hwm/

Yukon cleanup

B

luMetric Environmental Inc. has announced a new mining-site water management and remediation project in the Yukon. The company says the new project involves not only working to minimize groundwater and surface water contamination but to managing the interrelationships among all the players involved. BluMetric is involved in contracts in the Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories worth than $1.5 million. BluMetric serves clients in many industrial sectors, and at all levels of government, in Canada and abroad.

Visit blumetric.ca

CDP’s Twitter site highlights first responder training

T

he Center for Domestic Preparedness’ new Twitter site offers another venue where first responders can learn about fully funded training opportunities, get up-to-date news on CDP training, and read students’ tweets about their own CDP training experiences.

The CDP’s Twitter site includes announcements and information about: upcoming courses and class seat availability; links to photos and videos of the CDP’s hands-on training; and a forum for potential students to ask questions prior to training at the CDP. Visit www.twitter.com/CDPfema or http://cdp.dhs.gov FALL 2013 HazMat Management 7

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HAZMAT: COVER STORY

The Lac-Mégantic Train Derailment Understanding Canada’s largest modern industrial disaster

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hinking about the runaway petroleum train that derailed, exploded and destroyed the small Quebec town of LacMégantic on the night of Friday, July 5, 2013 challenges the imagination. It’s difficult to imagine the scale of the devastation and — at 47 dead — the loss of life. Perhaps more than anything, it’s difficult to believe it actually happened.

For people in the emergency response and environmental cleanup business, it was additionally bizarre that this tragic event happened just three months after the terrible fertilizer plant explosion in the City of West, Texas. (See the cover story “In Harm’s Way” from our Summer 2013 edition at www.hazmatmag.com) And yet, happen it did. And so, with a sense of weariness, we must once again review the circumstances of a major industrial accident and it’s consequences to prevent such awful events in future.

NIGHT TRAIN

Andre Gendron, a resident of the Town of Nantes (roughly 12 kilometres west of Lac-Mégantic), will no doubt be haunted by his memories from that fateful July 5 evening.

Gendron lives in a trailer home near the railway track in Nantes. He was outside just before 1:00 am when he felt the vibration of a train moving along the track, and then watched

the train pass in the dark, with no lights on. He thought it strange, but assumed the train had simply experience some kind of electrical failure.

Gendron had no way of knowing he’d just seen an industrial monster on the loose that less than 20 minutes later would explode, spew oil throughout the nearby town of Lac-Mégantic — setting the whole downtown on fire — and kill 47 people, roughly half of whom were young late-Friday night revelers at a popular nightspot in the town.

How the train got to where Gendron felt its dark presence passing resulted from an extraordinary chain of events.

Most accounts start at about 11:00 pm on the evening of Friday, July 5 when the train’s lone engineer Tom Harding parked his 72-car train for the night on the main tracks of Nantes, Quebec. Harding, a resident of Farnham, Quebec, was regarded as a highly competent train engineer by his industry peers, whose love of trains stemmed in part from his father also having been a train engineer.

As was his custom a couple of times each week, Harding left the train at the end of his shift and took a taxi to the l’Eau Berge hotel in nearby Lac-Mégantic (a town of 6,000) where he planned to spend a quiet night. (A different engineer would normally pick up the train in the morning and continue driving it on the next leg of its long journey from North Dakota,

“The tanker cars contained petroleum similar to gasoline; the documentation had been falsified.”

by Guy Crittenden FALL 2013 HazMat Management 9

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The tanker cars "accordioned" as they broke off and left the rails, while the heavier train engines continued past the town and eventually came to a halt. Explosions from some of the initial tankers to jump the track were like bomb blasts and levelled nearby buildings, leading investigators to eventually discover the fuel was more like gasoline than the heavier crude the train's documentation indicated.

through Quebec, and on to the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick.)

The train operator was Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Rail (MMA), and its heavy load of petroleum was part of a growing system of train-transport of this material, filling demand that outstrips the capacity of North America’s oil pipeline system.

(While train transport accounts for only three per cent of the oil moved by pipeline in Canada, this amount has grown dramatically from previous years.) As would later emerge, small railway companies like MMA are part of a system that — at least until this

event — had become increasingly self-regulated with government downloading.

Harding parked the train on the main rail line because the siding track was already occupied by other train cars. This was a standard practice of MMA, which stored empty rail cars in the siding that were used to deliver materials to Tafisa — a local particle board manufacturer. The siding was equipped with a metal “derailer”; had the MMA train been stored there, it would have derailed on the spot and not traveled on the main track.

As the taxi pulled away with passenger Harding, the cab driver

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HAZMAT : COVER STORY

“The US has passed legislation that will require installation of ‘positive train controls’ (PTCs) on all corridors through which passengers or trains carrying hazardous materials pass, by 2015.”

— Andre Turcotte — noticed that more smoke than usual was coming off the train. (In fact, oil droplets landed on his car.) On the drive to Lac-Mégantic, the driver pushed the issue, wondering aloud about the environmental hazards posed by the smoke.

Harding told Turcotte that was following company directives, and that there was nothing to worry about. (It later emerged that Harding earlier reported the same phenomenon when he was driving the train.)

The nature of those “company directives” would later become a matter of contention between the engineer and executives at MMA. Industry standards themselves would be disputed.

Essentially, Harding shut down four of the five locomotive engine units hauling the oil tanker cars. (It took five engines to pull the heavy load; as is standard practice, an empty box car was

placed between these engines and the long line of tubular tanker cars.) Harding left one engine idling (another standard practice) to maintain static pressure on the train’s brake lines.

Turn all the engines off and brake pressure eventually fails; if the train is on a graded track, you have a runaway train. Except that there’s a backup, which is that the engineer is supposed to also set a number of “hand brakes” on individual cars. This theoretically locks the train in position, even if the engine breaks fail. (The hand brakes are analogous to the emergency brake on a car.)

It’s unclear — and became a matter of dispute — whether Hardin set the the hand brakes and, if he did, how many. MMA officials initially said 11 hand brakes were set, but later stated this was “implausible.”

After the disaster, questions arose. Did Hardin become overly casual with his routine? Did he neglect to set the hand brakes?

How many was he supposed to set anyway? It emerged that there’s no industry standard for the number of hand brakes that need setting for a train of a given length and a given load weight. Canadian Rail Operating Rules only state that “a sufficient number of hand brakes must be applied to prevent [the train] from moving.”

Worse, railway workers claim that many hand brakes are poorly maintained and defective, making them unreliable at the best of times. Setting hand brakes is time consuming; it requires the turning of a hand wheel on each car. Experts later said that for a train the size of this one, 20 or more hand brakes should have been set — a procedure that could have taken over an hour.

Since, at the time, a single engineer working alone executed all these functions (or failed to do so), we may never fully know what Harding did.

In any case, shortly after the taxi left Nantes, nearby residents residents noticed smoke billowing from the unmanned train.

Passing motorists had to slow down as they drove through the sooty plume. Sometime before 11:30 pm residents called emergency services; within 15 minutes, 12 Nantes firefighters arrived on the scene.

The fire crew quickly determined the source of the smoke was from a ruptured fuel or oil line on the one operating locomotive.

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BEFORE ...

BEFORE AND AFTER Nothing shows the impact of the explosion better than these two photos compared side-by-side. The photo on the left shows the corner in Lac-Mégantic that housed the Musi-Cafe as it looked before the train derailment. Seeing the street and these buildings reminds us this was a charming urban area that any of us can imagine walking around in, and visiting the restaurant.

To solve the toughest problems you have to look at the world differently.

By focusing on recycling and recovery, we push beyond conventional thinking and find cost-effective solutions to transform industrial residues back into valuable products. For example, through our coast to coast facility network last year we recovered 2 million barrels of oil, creating millions of dollars in value for our customers. There are better ways to think about waste.

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... AFTER

The photo on the right shows the very same street corner: the Musi-Cafe is in the lower right of the photo, completely flattened by the blast and fire along with the buildings beside it. Almost half of the 47 people who perished in the disaster were people enjoying a concert at the Musi-Cafe, enjoying a late Friday night. Many of them were young people entering the prime of their lives.

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HAZMAT: COVER STORY

being thrown up into the turbo charger in the exhaust manifold, causing smoke and sparks.) The firemen powered down the locomotive (as they learned in joint training with MMA workers) and extinguished the fire. At 11:50 pm they radioed traffic control, triggering the dispatch of an MMA maintenance employee to the location.

By 12:15 pm, with the fire extinguished, the fire crew departed, leaving the train in the custody of MMA staff, who vacated the scene by 12:56 pm. Everything seemed secure, except for one thing: with no engine running the pressure in the air brakes eventually failed, and the train slowly set in motion just before midnight.

THE CRASH

A one per cent grade may not sound very steep, but when the laws of physics are applied to a wheeled vehicle of great weight sitting on metal rails, the speed and force that may be achieved are profound.

According to reports and calculations done by academics for the National Post newspaper, the math in this incident was tragic.

Over the course of its 12 km runaway journey between to Town of Nantes and Lac-Mégantic, the MMA train descended 115 metres. Each of the 72 tanker cars weighed between 122 and 128 tonnes; add this to the five locomotive engines at 193 to 196

tonnes each and you have a total mass of 9,975 tonnes careening down the track, ultimately reaching a speed of about 101 kilometres per hour.

Without frictional force, the train would have reached 170 kms/hour, and would likely have overturned 8 kms into its journey in the town of Laval-Nord — the first major bend in the track.

The fact that it never exceeded 101 kms/hr suggests that at least some hand brakes were set and working, if only imperfectly.

Data retrieved from the train’s black box recorder shows the train reached its maximum speed when it encountered the next major bend in the track, in downtown Lac-Mégantic, slightly before 1:14 am (on what was now the early morning of Saturday, July 6.) When the train hit this bend it was traveling 85 kms/hr faster than the authorized speed, and had just enough centrifugal force to flip the rail cars.

In fact, the five locomotive engines (with their lower centre of gravity) didn’t overturn; instead, they broke off and continued along the track before finally coming to rest more than a kilometer past the town (having been slowed down by the derailment of the cars behind them).

The heavy oil-laden tanker cars behind them jumped the track in the downtown of Lac-Mégantic, where Rue Laval turns into Rue Frontenac and adjoins Rue Graham, Rue Millette and Ruelle duEnvQuebec Central; this was the very centre of the town, where Cat bleed ad-may2010-B.qxd 5/25/10 12:49 PM Page 1

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the streets are made up of shops with upstairs businesses and apartments, and other dwellings.

About ten of the very front tankers broke off and traveled or rolled some distance forward. The next dozen or so cars “accordioned” behind them and derailed, but stopped close to the tracks.

Many cars behind derailed — only about 13 remained on the track and were safely removed.

The oil tankers were of a class known as US DOT-111A (or TC or CTC-111A in Canada). Unlike the sturdier Class 112 and 114 cars, which have thicker tank shells and head shields, 111A’s

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are often the minimum specified shell thickness of 11 mm. These non-pressurized tank cars normally have no protective housing for top fittings. In a derailment or rollover, the top fittings can break off, leading to leakage of fuel and sparks that trigger explosions.

On the underside of the tankers, bottom outlet valves on 111A’s are vulnerable to damage; the handles are thick and don’t beak off (as one would want them to), leading to ripping the valves apart.

(In October 2011 a new standard DOT-111a standard came into affect that stipulates thicker shells and sturdier fittings, but most railcars in use today are still the old kind.)

INFERNO

Yannick Gagne — owner of the Musi-Cafe in the centre of the town — was sitting at home, having left the restaurant shortly after 12:15 pm to relieve a babysitter. Soon after he arrived home he called his wife and encouraged her to come home too. Seeing that the place filled with about 20 people and no more waiting in line, she left her post collecting a cover charge for the music concert and returned home.

She was undressing for bed when the runaway train derailed and exploded.

A combination of explosive blasts and fire from leaking tanker cars quickly destroyed 40 buildings in downtown Lac-Mégantic.

The Musi-Cafe and the buildings near it were ground zero for the incident, and were completely leveled. Incredibly, three smokers huddled outside Musi-Cafe heard the train speeding into town and escaped death by running just ahead of the spreading flames and jumping into the nearby waterway. The crowd inside perished.

Months after the event, the real and sinister reason the destruction of Lac-Mégantic’s core was so total emerged. First responders were initially perplexed why thick bunker-type oil would explode in such a bomb-like blast. Investigators discovered that the tanker cars in fact contained a type of petroleum that’s similar to gasoline, and that documentation for the train had been falsified.

The oil came from suppliers from the Bakken Shale formation in North Dakota. These suppliers arranged for truck-hauling of the oil to a rail-loading facility in New Town, and all of them correctly classified the material as “packing group 2” (appropriate for gasoline-like volatile fuels). However, when the oil was loaded onto a train, the shipper classified all the tanker cars as the less hazardous “packing group 3.” The reason this was done remains unclear, but investigators say Irving Oil, as importer of the material, could be held responsible for mislabeling the product under the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act. Explosions spewed oil hundreds of metres in the air; 6.5 million litres of oil was spilled or burned during the incident. Much of the oil that leaked from the rail cars flowed downhill into the streets and then residential basements and sewers where when it caught fire it and ejected manhole covers and sent flames 10 metres in the air, incinerating buildings from above and below.

One person awakened by the noise was MMA train engineer Tom Harding, whom a receptionist at the L’Eau Berge hotel said looked “very, very shaken up.” One can only imagine his thoughts as Harding borrowed firefighting equipment and assisted with pulling railcars away from the rear of the train. One brave citizen used a loader to pull at least eight tankers away. Only six minutes after the blasts woke him up, local contractor Raymond Lafontaine ran to his front-end loader and poured gravel into manholes, and even used his machine to smash buildings to block the burning oil.

AFTERMATH

Aerial photos of Lac-Mégantic after the train derailment look like images from World War Two bombing campaigns. It’s impossible to describe the totality of destruction.

Two thousand residents were initially evacuated from the area.

A week later most of them were allowed to return.

Officials estimated that about 1-million litres of oil remained on the 13 railcars rescued from the rear of the train. Quebec’s

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HAZMAT : COVER STORY

Opposite Page: The explosion and fire of fuel cargo that was more like gasoline than what was indicated in the train’s documentation.

environment ministry announced a week later they’d pumped 400,000 litres of oil from sewers and recovered 4-million litres from the nearby lake that gives the town its name.

For several weeks police and responders combed through the rubble, recovering bodies and then just fragments for DNA identification. Their grisly task was shrouded from public view by temporary barriers erected at the scene. Within a week, the team of helpers in the town included 30 grief counselors, 50 Red Cross personnel, 200 SQ officers and 20 Transportation Safety Board members. (Eventually, 42 bodies were recovered and five people were deemed missing and presumed dead.)

The cleanup of the contaminated site has been quarterbacked by national marine oil spill response organization ECRE/SIMAC (www.ecrc.ca), with Genivar and Veolia Environmental Services acting as principal subcontractors. The cleanup is expected to take a year or more to complete, and cost more than $200 million.

The fallout for Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Rail was immediate. MMA Chairman Edward Burkhardt held a press conference on Wednesday, July 10 in front of angry residents and the media in

which he initially blamed engineer Harding for the incident, saying he’d failed to set enough hand brakes before leaving the train.

(The company’s position changed later.) MMA had only $25-million in third-party insurance — not nearly enough to cover the billions of dollars it will cost to clean up the site and settle multiple lawsuits; not having the cash to cover its debts (and unable to operate most of its transportation lines after the disaster), MMA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 9.

Canada’s federal government announced a $60-million fund

Map of the disaster that obliterated the small town and killed 47 people.

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Siphoning oil from Lac-Mégantic. The Quebec government estimates that more than 6.5 million litres of fuel oil were released in the incident. About 400,000 litres were pumped from sewers and 4 million litres from the nearby lake that gives the town its name.

for emergency aid. The Quebec government created its own $60-million fund and provided emergency aid that saw stranded people receive $1,000 cheques. From the new federal fund, $25 million will go to the provincial government for emergency aid and $35 million will go to longer-term economic-recovery projects for the region.

The Quebec government donated $16.2-million to build a new downtown and a temporary rail link in Lac-Mégantic by the beginning of December 2013. The money will also go towards a memorial park to commemorate the train disaster.

LESSONS AND CONCLUSIONS

It will be some time before all conclusions can be drawn from the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster, but within only a few weeks of the tragedy certain changes were put into effect.

Any student of industrial “safety culture” would recognize that allowing a single person to steward a train carrying volatile cargo is a bad idea. Lac-Mégantic s tragedy was clearly not simply the failure of a single railway engineer; rather, it was a systemic failure of the technology and safety practices of a company and an entire industry.

Some of these concerns were addressed in short order by the federal government and new rules the railway industry imposed on itself. The Transportation Safety Board announced plans to hire new additional railway safety inspectors, and issued new directives on July 23 that necessitate a minimum two-person crew, and forbid a loaded tank car from being left unattended on a main track.

(Interestingly, MMA was one of only two companies allowed to operate these kinds of trains with a single crew, and permission to do this had been granted only about one year before.) Any unattended trains on main tracks must be appropriately protected from unauthorized entry into the train car’s cab. Also, the TSB

has stipulated that directional controls known as “reversers” must be removed from unattended trains to prevent them from moving.

A train company must apply its hand brake policy to locomotives attached to one or more cars left unattended for more than one hour on a main track or siding. The automatic brake must also be set in full service position and the independent brake fully applied for any locomotive attached to one or more cars left unattended for one hour or less on a main track or siding.

According to experts, derailers installed in strategic places could also have prevented the Lac-Mégantic tragedy. (A derailer is a metal piece installed on a track that lifts a wheel to derail a train.) “Reset” safety controls, if installed, can automatically lock train brakes, unless the engineer takes a specified action in a certain time frame.

The US has passed legislation that will require installation of “positive train controls” (PTCs) on all corridors through which passengers or trains carrying hazardous materials pass. PTCs automatically stop any train traveling at an unauthorized speed on any given section of track. The PTCs are to be installed by 2015.

Such measures as derailer installation, PTCs on train corridors, and an accelerated timeframe to replace older versions of the DOT-111A tanker railcars with new safer ones, must be implemented across Canada and the United States. Perhaps this is the only positive thing we can garner from this terrible tragedy — cold comfort to those whose loved ones perished on that infamous night in Lac-Mégantic.

HMM Guy Crittenden is editor of this magazine. Contact Guy at gcrittenden@ hazmatmag.com (For more insight into the changing rules for rail transport of dangerous goods, see the Editorial column on page 4.)

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HAZMAT : COVER STORY SIDEBAR

10 Tips for Hazardous Location Product Approval M

anufacturers of equipment for use in hazardous locations and potentially explosive environments find themselves increasingly up against a number of new industry standards, design requirements and other regulations. Complying with this ever-changing list of technical and commercial criteria is not an easy task.

Testing required by the standards can take weeks and, with each week that passes outside the planned schedule, another potential week of revenue is lost. Despite the challenges that can arise, there are ten clear actions manufacturers can take during the product development, evaluation and testing phases to ensure that compliance activities don’t slow down the process.

1. COMPLIANCE AS PART OF THE PLANNING PHASE It’s important to consider compliance in the product planning phase, and not at the end of the design. Decisions on which countries the products will be sold in can influence both the design of the product and its compliance requirements. Knowing the specific requirements for the targeted countries helps manufacturers set an effective compliance strategy, allowing for extra time and costs if needed.

2. COMPLIANCE AS PART OF THE DESIGN PHASE Products should be designed for compliance with the standards. This greatly increases a product’s chances of passing testing the first time around. Having to adjust a design and then retest it can add weeks to a compliance project. This can be avoided by knowing the standard and what technical specifications it requires beforehand.

3. PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGY

A common problem in a compliance project is fixing an issue that has led to a test failure by modifying the design, then finding that it compromises something else.

Problem solving can be more effectively achieved by a small team of engineers who each know a part of the bigger picture rather than the designer alone.

4. DESIGN REVIEW

A fourth tip for a smooth product approval process is to confer with a certification expert and undertake a design review.

Initial discussions with a third-party testing and certification partner can begin as early as the first artist’s rendering or cardboard mock-up of the product. These reviews give companies the opportunity to modify or re-work product designs as necessary even before prototyping begins.

5. LISTED OR APPROVED COMPONENTS

It’s important to use listed or approved components in critical systems when possible. Nonapproved components can be tempting to use because they are less expensive; however, these components are more likely to be unproven and will require their own extensive evaluation and testing, which will be time-consuming and costly.

... continues on page 22

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HAZMAT: EVENT REPORT

Sites & Spills Expo Preview Pilot-scale test for beneficial reuse of contaminated sediment

F

ebruary 18-20, 2014 will see the return of the Sites & Spills Expo to the International Centre in Toronto, Canada. You can learn more of the details on the page opposite, or by visiting the event website at www.sitesandspills.com The event, presented by HazMat Management magazine, features tracks on issues that relate to responding to HazMat emergencies, like the Lac-Mégantic train disaster (see Cover Story, page 8) and also the cleanup of contaminated sites.

To give readers a feeling for that site remediation side of the conference, we decided to profile one of the presentations at the event. Tiana Robinson is a consultant with Stantec Consulting Ltd.’s Kitchener office. Along with coworkers Tanya Shanoff and Michael Charles, Robinson authored a paper on a local case study that should be of interest to anyone in the site cleanup business. Other contributors to the paper included Melissa Ryan (City of Kitchener), Naz Ritchie and Mike Greenhill (Region of Waterloo), and Nick Gollan (City of Kitchener).

The study authors say that stormwater management (SWM) facilities are designed to enhance water quality, control the quantity of urban stormwater runoff, and accumulate sediment. Over time, this sediment must be removed; however, given the nature of urban runoff, there’s a problem: the material may be impacted by polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) parameters and, on occasion, metals.

With more stringent legislation and regulatory requirements around the disposal of impacted materials, the cost to recover and dispose of these sediments is becoming a financial burden on municipalities. Unfortunately, the common disposal practice is to

The site was specially prepared to remediate sediment from Kitchener’s stormwater management system.

landfill dredged sediments (due to the contaminant levels often found in them).

Although some research on biodegradation of certain parameters has been undertaken recently on these material types, full-scale application outside controlled laboratory conditions has been limited. The study authors undertook a case study that will be presented at the Sites & Spills Expo that involved pilot-scale field trials undertaken to assess whether or not recovered sediment (material) can be effectively remediated through a simple, low-cost process. They wanted to find out if the materials could be reused in a sustainable manner and not simply placed in landfills. (Saving valuable landfill space is also a priority for municipalities.)

Stantec Consulting was retained by the City of Kitchener to undertake the design for the removal of over 50,000 tonnes of sediment from Victoria Park Lake — a large online SWM facility in the city’s downtown. With Stantec’s assistance, a partnership between the Region of Waterloo and the City of Kitchener was formed to study the beneficial re-use of sediment dredged from this SWM facility. (The material was transported to Waterloo’s Cambridge waste management facility, to a specific area that was prepared for the purposes of completing this experiment.)

The objective was to achieve the Ontario Ministry of the Environment’s standards for “unrestricted soil use” within a twoyear period, through biological breakdown of the compounds of interest, or to be able to use the material as a compost or topsoil amendment.

To achieve the remedial objectives, it was necessary to assess and understand the microbial communities and natural nutrients found in the material (i.e., to degrade contaminants under a range of environmental conditions, including aerobic and anaerobic conditions).

Today, the study team is systematically evaluating contaminant degradation in the material at the field scale under natural conditions, as well as under the influence of adjustable variables (such as oxygen, temperature, and types and quantities of nutrients). The study team is also completing another experiment in the field that involves amending compost feedstock materials with 10 and 20 per cent material to determine whether conditions are more favorable for degradation of certain petroleum hydrocarbon parameters during the composting process.

Monitoring data will be collected until the end of 2013, and the data will be used to identify potential options for the beneficial end-uses of excavated sediment material. The results will be documented in a final report to be provided to the environment ministry, and will be made publicly available. (Funding for this study was obtained from the ministry’s Showcasing Water Innovation Grant.)

So, if this is the kind of project and science that interests you, consider coming to the 2014 Sites & Spills Expo. In addition to conference presentations and roundtable discussions, the event also includes a small trade show that presents leading-edge strategies and technologies for emergency preparedness and environmental cleanup.

HMM Written by Guy Crittenden, editor of this magazine. Contact Guy at gcrittenden@hazmatmag.com

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Returning…

with an all new date and exciting new format!

Join us in 2014 for an enhanced conference program giving you the latest information on HazMat Management and Site Remediation. The newly improved tradeshow space is geared to boost supplier - customer interaction in a fresh new way.

sitesandspills.com Gain Insight from Top Industry Leaders: • HazMat Emergency Response to Propane Cylinders Filled with Anhydrous Ammonia • Using Environmental Fracturing to Enhance New and Existing Extraction Systems • New Technology in the Collection of Oils Spill Pollution, • Investigation into the Treatment of Co-mingled Salt and Hydrocarbon Plumes • Pollution Abatement Factors in Major Flood Incidents or Environmental Disasters • Lac-Megantic Railway Disaster Case Study, Lessons Learned • A Business Focused Approach to Risk-Based Remediation …and more!

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Gordon Bures, Director, Remediation, FracRite Environmental

John Willms, Partner, Willms and Shier LLP

New Date!

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... continued from page 19

6. BASIC BENCHMARK TESTING

9. A FAMILY OF PRODUCTS

Conduct basic preliminary testing before a product is sent to the testing partner. An in-house team of engineers knows its products and technology better than anyone else and can conduct basic benchmark testing to help identify simple issues. This can be as simple as checking voltages or dropping the product from various heights.

When products are submitted to the laboratory for testing, consider grouping them into a family of products, submitting as many similar products as possible. This will help to reduce the cost and time required for the compliance process for multiple products.

7. EARLY TESTING

Be available to answer questions from the testing partner throughout the review and approval process. Being readily available to clarify points on documentation or respond to requests for replacement parts or additional samples allows the project to retain momentum and prevent delays.

Manufacturers are encouraged to approach the testing partner early in the design process to reduce the impact of longer project pickup times. Laboratories cannot always start a project right away so it is important to discuss availability early. When forewarned of an impending project, they will usually be able to make a provision by taking this into consideration when planning. (Some will even allow manufacturers to book a test slot well in advance to better help them meet timelines.)

8. DOCUMENTATION The testing and certification team will require access to the components and materials as well as circuit diagrams and drawings in order to test and assess the product.

Surprisingly, many testing and approval projects get delayed because the laboratory doesn’t have all of the paperwork needed to move forward.

10. A COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIP

CONCLUSION

There’s no magic solution to prevent delays with testing and approval. Unfortunately, sometimes products fail and sometimes delays occur. However, these simple efforts can help reduce the chance of failure or delay and assist in expediting the overall approval process. In the end, a well-designed product that meets the required criteria will be the most influential factor in getting through the compliance process in a timely manner.

Brian Whittle is Operations Manager -- Hazardous Locations for Intertek in Edmonton, Alberta. Contact Brian at brian.whittle@intertek.com

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REMEDIATION

New Ferry Street bridge over remediated Muggah’s Creek.

The Sydney Tar Ponds Cleanup Success at last, and under budget!

T

he tar ponds in Sydney Nova Scotia have little in common with the tar sands of Alberta, though they both loom large in the imaginations of Canadians interested in environmental protection.

Extracting the bitumen from the tar sands in Alberta to produce oil, whatever the side effects, is still a major driver of the Canadian economy. The tar ponds in Sydney are the historical result of pollutants released during a century of steel making.

Operating from 1901 until 2002, the Sydney steel mill and coke ovens contaminated nearly a million tonnes of soil and sediment on the 100 hectare site and nearby Muggah’s Creek. The pollutants released from the steel plant into soil and sediments over its 100 years of operation were a mixed brew of heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and other toxins, including PCBs. Back in 2004, the cleanup of the site and the nearby creek was estimated to be $400 million; it was assumed it would take 10 years. The federal and Nova Scotia governments agreed to share the cost of cleanup, as the original owner abandoned the plant in 1968 and it was taken over by the province.

THE PLAN & APPROVAL This was never anything less than a megaproject.

Back in the early 2000s, no fewer than10 cleanup plans were under consideration. Over one thousand public meetings and one plebiscite were held to discuss the remediation options. The winning cleanup solution (chosen by Sydney residents in the plebiscite) was for the digging up of all contaminated sediment and soil, followed by with incineration off-site.

The first plan failed. An incinerator, a fluidized bed model, started operation in 1994. The pipeline system that was to feed the incinerator could not handle the thick sediment from Muggah’s creek. It also could not burn the PCB-laden sediments that were discovered. The incinerator was shut down in 1995.

A joint federal-provincial full panel environmental assessment (the most rigorous form of EA possible) was ordered by feds in 2005. The cleanup solution chosen — as a result of the EA — was solidification/stabilization (S/S).

The full EA panel concluded S/S was a practical alternative with a proven track record. (S/S is a fairly common remediation solution in the environmental cleanup industry.)

by John Nicholson

“There is no physical cleanup work left to do on the tar ponds project.”

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In-situ solidification/stabilization (S/S) remediated soil along shoreline of Muggah’s Creek.

However, at the time of the EA decision, S/S was seen by some advocates as no solution at all, or a temporary one at best (with contaminates eventually leaking from the site in the future, the critics said).

Despite the objections, by 2007 the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency (the entity responsible for overseeing the cleanup) was given the go-ahead to fully remediate the site using S/S as the primary cleanup technology.

Clean-up activities were directly contracted by the STPA under the oversight of consulting engineering firm AECOM (which was responsible for project manage-

ment, design, remediation, and regulatory compliance) and CBCL (additional consulting).

THE CLEANUP Solidification and stabilization actually describe two distinct but interrelated mechanisms that immobilize contaminants.

Solidification changes the physical properties of the contaminated material to increase its compressive strength and enable it to support more weight. It also decreases its permeability (to reduce water infiltration) and it encapsulates the hazardous constituents contained in the sediments.

Stabilization changes the chemistry of the hazardous constituents themselves, making them less mobile, less soluble or less toxic.

The cleanup of the 100 hectare area of contamination was in four main locations: (1) the north and south tar ponds; (2) the former coke ovens property; (3) an old dump uphill from the coke ovens, and, (4) a stream that carried contaminants from the coke ovens to the tar ponds.

Plans are well underway for the development of the former tar ponds site as a park that will include walking and biking trails. Planned winter activities for the site include a pond-like skating area and a toboggan hill. Art work, artifacts, relics from the past will be located throughout the site for discovery, education (and memories).

Coke Ovens Pumping System.

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REMEDIATION

Coke Ovens Pumping System.

New bridge over remediated Muggah’s Creek.

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

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Remediated Muggah’s Creek running into Sydney Harbour.

Battery Point Coffer Dam.

SUCCESS In a 2010 technical report, it was estimated that remediation activities would take approximately eight years. As of March 2012, $207.5 million of the project’s $400 million budget had been spent, with over half that amount being spent in Cape Breton.

Bruce Noble, project manager on the project for AECOM, confirmed that there is no physical cleanup work left to do on the tar ponds project.

“All the solidification/stabilization work was completed early this year,” Noble says.

As for concerns about the success of the S/S tech-

nology used to remediate the majority of the site, it can be summed up in the statement of Donnie Burke, the project manager of the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency and long-time Cape Breton resident. When asked if kids would be able to toboggan on one of the hills of the remediated site, Burke responded, “Absolutely! If possible, my kids will be the first ones through the gate.”

HMM

John Nicholson, M.Sc., P.Eng., is a consultant based in Toronto, Ontario.

Contact John at john.nicholson@ebccanada.com

1-877-877-1862

• Soil Gas Implants • Biodegradable Bailers • Direct Push and SONIC Innovative subsurface technology 26 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2013

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HAZMAT: RADON

A radon measurement is usually carried out by placing two small detectors in the home for three months; one in the bedroom and the other in the living room (the places where people spend most of their time.)

RADON The invisible killer

R

adon, a radioactive, colourless and odourless gas, is now the number one cause of lung cancer among non-smokers and the second leading cause of lung cancer overall, according to the US EPA. A potent threat, radon accounts for about 21,000 lung cancer deaths annually (approximately 2,900 of them among people who have never smoked). By comparison, second-hand smoke, the third leading cause of lung cancer, is responsible for an estimated 3,000 lung cancer deaths every year.

To raise awareness, Health Canada has launched an illness prevention campaign designed to protect the health of Canadians and reduce the treatment burden placed on the health care system.

In keeping pace with other health agencies, Health Canada revised the allowable exposure value for radon in 2007 to 200 Becquerels per cubic metre of air (Bq/ m3) from the previous allowable level of 800 Bq/m3.

Health Canada has estimated that about seven per cent of Canadians are living in homes above the radon guideline of 200 Bq/m3, which equates to almost 2.4 million Canadians at risk of being overexposed to radon.

Once the radon has entered the building it can easily be inhaled deeply into the lungs. Consequently building occupants receive an internal dose of radiation, thereby increasing their risk of lung cancer.

TESTING

Radon is a naturally occurring gas created from the radioactive decay of uranium, which makes up large amount of the earth’s crust and soils. Stack effect (the same force that draws hot smoke up a chimney) draws radon gas through the pore spaces in soil and rock and into buildings.

Experts have shown that predicting a building’s indoor radon concentration based purely on geographic location is inaccurate and unsafe. The only way to know what the radon concentrations in a building are is to test it.

Air testing is easily done by deploying a small sampling detector in the lowest lived-in level of the building (defined as an area occupied for four hours or more) and leaving for 24 hours to one year. Health Canada recommends sample durations of three to 12 months (and never less than one month). Long sample durations compensate for fluctuations in radon concentrations and other inherent variables, providing a more representative exposure value than short duration samples.

Health Canada concludes that tests of less than two days in duration should not be used to determine mitigation requirements, and should ultimately be followed up with a long-term test. (Short-term tests are used to determine if mitigation measures have been successful.)

Once sampling is complete, the results are simply compared as a pass or fail to the 200 Bq/m3 criteria. If the building has elevated radon concentrations, mitigation measures should be implemented within a reasonable time frame.

MITIGATION

There are several ways to mitigate radon levels in a building. The most effective and perhaps preferred method of mitigation is sub-slab depressurization (SSD). A typical SSD system involves coring holes through the basement floor slab and installing draw piping and an air tight in-line fan that exhausts to outdoors. A small fan generates a slight negative air pressure relative to the building interior under the floor slab; this prevents the radon from entering the building and vents it outdoors for dissipation, where it’s diluted to an acceptable level.

Radon measurement specialists and mitigation contractors must meet an acceptable level of expertise to be granted proficiency status. The National Environmental Health Association/National Radon Proficiency Program (USA) (NEHA/NRPP), and the National Radon Safety Board/Canadian National Environmental Health Association (NRSB/C-NRPP)

Health Canada recommended remedial action timelines

Radon Concentration

Recommended Remedial Action Time

> 600 Bq/m

In less than 1 year

200 Bq/m to 600 Bq/m

In less than 2 years

< 200 Bq/m3

No Action Required

3

3

3

by Bruce Decker

“Radon is now the number one cause of lung cancer among non-smokers.”

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HAZMAT: RADON

Threshold criteria for indoor radon levels and typical outdoor levels

World Health Organization

100 Bq/m3

2.7 pCi/L

U.S. EPA

150 Bq/m3

4.0 pCi/L

Health Canada

200 Bq/m3

5.4 pCi/L

Outdoor Ambient Range

5 to 15 Bq/m3

0.1 to 0.4 pCi/L

Bq/m3 = Becquerel per cubic metre of air (1 becquerel = 1 disintegration per second) – SI Unit pCi/L = Picocurie per litre of air (1 Picocurie = 0.037 disintegrations per second) American Unit

designations prove that an individual possesses the requisite skills and knowledge to conduct radon testing, assessment and mitigation.

The recently completed Radon Potential map of Canada can aid in determining if you reside in a high risk area. A link to purchase this map, along with a list of accredited measurement providers and mitigation contractors, can be found at www.carst.ca It’s clear,

however, that a map can only reveal so much. The only way to know what the radon concentrations in a buildHMM ing are is through testing.

Bruce Decker, C.E.T., ROHT, BSSO, is with Safetech Environmental Ltd. in Kitchener, Ontario. Contact Bruce at bdecker@safetechenv.com

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t o u r s

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HAZMAT: HEALTH AND SAFETY

Biohazards Control of viruses in your workplace

L

by Lynne Bard

“The flu virus is credited with causing hundreds of lost work hours, costing businesses upwards of 10 billion dollars a year.”

urking in the shadows of the shorter and colder days of fall and winter is flu season. Biological hazards known as viruses (small contagious microscopic organisms) hijack your body, invade healthy cells and use them to multiply; eventually they kill healthy cells and making you sick. These microscopic organisms thrive in the dry, cold conditions experienced in Canada.

Viruses such as cold and flu spread easily throughout your workplace when people cough, sneeze and talk: traveling 1.8 meters (6 feet) through the air in droplets, landing on surfaces, entering another person’s body through inhalation or ingestion and, with some viruses, through absorption or injection. It takes anywhere from one to four days before symptoms begin and the dreaded runny nose, cough and sore throat surface.

You are contagious from the time you’re infected, even though symptoms may not be present. You are unknowingly passing on the virus during this time, as well as for up to seven days after you’re sick.

With this in mind, think about your workplace! The virus spreads easily, infecting unsuspecting bystanders, leaving the virus on work surfaces, in lunch rooms, and on everyone who comes in contact with the infected individual.

There is no cure for the common cold virus. Your body’s immune system needs to deal with the virus; taking antibiotics will not cure the cold or flu virus. Certain medicines will help alleviate the symptoms but not cure it. Immunizations will help prevent the strain of flu that it was developed to fight, but it will not prevent all mutations of the flu virus from infecting your body.

The flu virus is credited with causing hundreds of lost work hours, costing businesses upwards of 10 billion dollars a year, with up to 30 per cent of its workforce absent at one time for up to seven days at a time.

Workplaces have a responsibility to identify hazards in the workplace. A hazard is any situation, condition or thing that may be dangerous to the safety or health of workers. Whenever possible, hazards should be eliminated. If this is not possible, hazards must be controlled.

Control means reducing the hazard to levels that do not present a risk to worker health. Controls, in order of preference, include: • Engineering Controls • Administrative Controls • Personal Protective Equipment A virus is a biological hazard that infects other workers.

Biological hazards are organisms that present a health hazard. Exposure to a biological hazard in the workplace

A flu virus.

may result in a significant impact on the workforce unless preventative measures are taken to address its spread. The cold and flu are just two common biological hazards that a workplace needs to address by implementing preventative measures. Although you will not totally eliminate the virus, you can greatly reduce the effects and spread of a biological hazard through the following administrative controls: • Education: signs for hand washing in the kitchen and washrooms plus education sessions on boosting immunity through proper sleep, fitness and supplements.

• Hygiene: clean surfaces daily (disinfect with wipes).

• Vaccinations: contribute to 80 per cent prevention of flu virus in healthy adults. Hold a vaccination clinic in your workplace or post vaccination times for public health and allowing staff the time to attend these community vaccination clinics.

• Boost Immunity.

• Encourage Exercise: through a fitness plan; exercise in 30-50 per cent of adults reduces respiratory infections.

• Educate on Supplements: taking supplements such as zinc within 24 hours of first symptoms reduces the severity of a virus infection.

• Educate on Sleep Deprivation: getting enough sleep to allow our body’s to develop enough infection fighting antibodies is critical to fight off infection or disease.

• Hand Sanitizer: at each workstation, entrance to the building, in board rooms and washrooms with a base of 60-90 per cent alcohol.

Although these measures are not a 100 per cent guarantee that the flu or cold virus will pass you and your co-workers by, it will help to mitigate the damage that an outbreak in your workplace will have on your business, profitability, productivity and most importantly, your people.

HMM

Lynne Bard is President and Senior Consultant of Beyond Rewards Inc. based in Guelph, Ontario. Contact Lynne at info@beyondrewards.ca FALL 2013 HazMat Management 29

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CLEANTECH: INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER

Mercury in Wastewater Zorbtech Environmental Solutions treatment technology

Z

by Don Wilson

“A 250,000 gallon sand filter system would remove 99 per cent of all suspended solids.”

orbtech Environmental Solutions is a small Ontario-based R&D application research company that has developed a technology that can significantly reduce mercury — one of the most dangerous environmental contaminants that also poses a risk to human health.

Zorbtech’s process technology removes 99.99 per cent mercury from wastewater streams. The technology was successfully tested and installed at a wastewater treatment plant located in Ohio in 2012. The site chosen for the demonstration was the wastewater treatment plant operated by the City of Elyria, Ohio. The plant manager agreed to allow the pilot plant to be installed to evaluate the capability of the technology in terms of removing soluble mercury down to the required limits as set out in their permit from the Ohio EPA. The technology process and demonstration results were validated by an independent testing laboratory located in Twinsburg Ohio.

Data from the demonstration at Elyria’s wastewater treatment plant was submitted to the Ohio EPA, which supported Zorbtech in the pilot implementation. The agency indicated that Zorbtech is the only company in North America that has published real-time data illustrating the use of an adsorbent for the reduction of mercury to extremely low levels in an actual operating wastewater treatment facility.

The benefits and the information generated from the modifications to the hardware during this trial allowed the research team to arrive at a set of conclusions that could lead to the design and engineering of a full-scale wastewater treatment process. Not only did the process prove to be effective in terms of reducing the level down to the 1.3ppt (as set out in the GIL regulation) but also demonstrated that the technology is cost effective.

TECHNOLOGY

Reaction tanks used in the pilot plant. The tank with company logo is the sand filter; the smaller tank is where the reaction takes place that removes dissolved mercury.

solidifying the adsorbent (thereby encapsulating the mercury-laden compound).

It was determined that in order for the adsorbent to be highly efficient, a pre-treatment filtration system would be needed in order to remove the suspended solids The pre- treatment system consisted of sand media contained in .5 micron media filter.

The technology can be scaled up to treat any volume of water. In the Elyria wastewater plant, the average daily volume was three million gallons per day. In a full scale operation at this plant, a 250,000 gallon sand filter system would remove 99 per cent of all suspended solids.

The system provides flexibility. Facilities that have only secondary treatment may need to add tertiary treatment to remove as much solids as reasonably possible. The pilot system provides the ability to determine if tertiary treatment is needed.

The Zorbtech process technology is based on the two innovative technologies: (a) development of new dithiocarbamate, which adsorbs mercury onto its surface, and (b) a process whereby the aqueous stream is reacted with dithiocarbamate to adsorb the soluble mercury onto its surface. The method employed to treat wastewater streams using the Zorbtech adsorbent is comprised of three steps: • Removing, where appropriate, all suspended solids from the wastewater stream.

• Reacting the outflow from the above treatment with COSTS the adsorbent in a reaction vessel.

Additional studies are needed to find a true cost per • Removing spent adsorbent from the above vessel, and gallon of treatment using the Diosorb. At the current

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CLEANTECH: INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER

PILOT PLANT DEMONSTRATION RESULTS

DATE

6/29/12

PRE FILTER

POST FILTER

2.25 ng/L

<0.5 ng/L

7/6/12

8.85 ng/L

0.92 ng/L

7/9/12

32.9 ng/L

1.04 ng/L

7/11/12

54.3 ng/L

0.94 ng/L

In this table the first column (left) shows the level of mercury which was contained in the raw water coming from the clarifier. The second table illustrates how the Zorbtech process reduces mercury. The volume of water pumped through the system was 69,000 gallons. The Mercury level never exceeded 1.3 ng/L

estimated cost, exclusive of capital costs, the Diosorb significantly reduces the perceived cost for the reduction of mercury in wastewater. A secondary system such as Elyria’s would benefit greatly having a tertiary treatment system and a final polishing system. As seen by the data, even when the facility had high mercury levels in the secondary system, the tertiary unit and final polishing unit still maintained a consistently low level mercury discharge under the 1.3ng/L limit.

The estimated cost per gallon ranges from $0.05 to $0.005 depending on the flow rate. A plant with a tertiary system would only need a polishing unit to remove the dissolved mercury, which would reduce resin costs further and thus cost per gallon.

HMM

Don Wilson is President & CEO of Zorbtech Environmental Solutions in Orillia, Ontario.

Contact Don at wolfman43@gmail.com

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FALL 2013 HazMat Management 33

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HAZMAT: SPOTLIGHT

Nothing “Goofy” about a spill! This year’s AHMP conference featured a real-time simulated chemical cleanup at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

HazMat’s Big Organization A look at the Alliance of Hazardous Materials Professionals (AHMP)

A

by Guy Crittenden

“AHMP has more than 3,500 member EH&S and emergency experts.”

ccording to the US Department of Transpor­ tation (DOT), more than 15,400 hazardous materials accidents occurred across the United States last year. Some of the first responders on the front lines of these emergencies were members of the Alliance of Hazardous Materials Professionals (AHMP). As the only national organization devoted to the professional advancement of the hazardous materials management field, AHMP (AHMPnet.org) has more than 3,500 members representing the nation’s leading experts in environmental, health, safety and security management.

With its headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, AHMP members are distributed across 48 chapters in 37 states, the District of Columbia, and an international chapter in Bangalore, India.

For more than 25 years, AHMP has worked to foster a community of EHS&S professionals and advocate for the Certified Hazardous Material Manager® (CHMM®) credential, among other EHS&S credentials and the standards they represent. Throughout the year, AHMP offers ongoing education, training and certification prep­ aration opportunities online and in person that help its

members enhance their careers and keep abreast of the latest technology, products and services to prepare for their next emergency response.

NATIONAL CONFERENCE Each year culminates with AHMP’s National Conference, bringing more than 500 members together for several days of training and networking with leading EHS&S experts. This year, AHMP members met in Orlando, Florida from September 15­18, 2013 for AHMP’s 26th National Conference, enjoying interactive education sessions and training during a real­world emergency response scenario at Walt Disney World.

Kicking­off this year’s meeting with a keynote address was Dr. John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the US Department of Health and Human Services and Administrator of the World Trade Center Health Program.

A regular conference highlight, this year’s emergency response scenario put first responder knowledge and train­ ing to the test in real­time during a chemical cleanup at Walt Disney World. Alongside Reedy Creek Emergency

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HAZMAT : SPOTLIGHT

Services, Disney’s local fire department, first respond­ ers conducted a full­scale demonstration in response to the simulated incident without any prior knowledge of the emergency. (Past emergency response scenarios have simulated a chemical spill on the Alaskan railroad, a dirty bomb at Universal Studios, and a contaminated waterway on the University of Texas­Austin campus.)

SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS As a community of environmental professionals, AHMP envisions a world where the natural environment is unburdened by pollution, and has launched several initia­ tives to work toward that goal. For example, AHMP’s “Going Green Initiative” was established to help elim­ inate negative environmental impacts from the annual conference. The initiative works to minimize the use of paper and harmful inks, promote the use of recycled paper and two­sided document printing, and use recycled and organic materials when possible.

In addition, AHMP introduced a Community Service Project during its annual meeting in 2011, offering members the opportunity to give back to the commun­ ity hosting the conference and work with organizations protecting the local environment.

This year’s third annual community service project supported Orlando nonprofit Clean the World that col­ lects and recycles soap and shampoo products discarded by the hospitality industry and distributes them to impover­ ished communities worldwide. In one morning, AHMP members built 500 hygiene kits to support the mission of Clean the World and also help victims of the Oklahoma tornadoes through a donation to the American Red Cross.

If you’re an EH&S or HazMat professional, you should consider joining the AHMP community. AHMP provides EHS&S professionals with a powerful network to help advance their careers through education, train­ ing, certification, and community service. To learn about AHMP membership and the next national con­ ference, visit AHMPnet.org HMM

Guy Crittenden is editor of this magazine. Contact Guy at gcrittenden@hazmatmag.com HMMsept08gm1307 Kilmer.qxd

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HAZMAT: PRODUCTS

MOBILE WASTEWATER & LEACHATE DISPOSAL STATIC PROTECTION During product delivery, tank cleaning or spill recovery operations, merely grounding the transporting vehicle may not be enough. Static electricity can still accumulate to dangerous levels in isolated metal components of commonly used helix-wire transfer hoses. The new OhmGuard® Hose-Continuity Tester from Newson Gale, is designed to continuously ensure that a string of assembled hoses are safely grounded to the transferring vehicle during operations that may produce potentially combustible gas, vapor or dust atmospheres. In practice, the new instrument operates as a simple straight-forward “pass or fail” test.

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READY-TO-SHIP PUMPS SEI Industries Ltd. recently announced a new line-up of standardized off-the-shelf pumps to help support remote site operations in need of a ready inventory. The new standardized pumps meet the most common needs of commercial operations but are still crafted to the same standard as the company’s custom pumps. For the past 30 years, SEI has supported remote operations, emergency management agencies and military forces with a variety of equipment options.

Visit sei-ind.com

The Neptune Evaporator System manufactured by Hot Springs, Arkansas-based Neptune Systems is a new revolutionary and low-cost method for environmentally-sound leachate, storm water, and wastewater disposal in waste management, fracking, water treatment, industrial, and mining applications. Delivering onsite disposal at a cost of less than one cent per gallon, the evaporator converts the liquid stream into an aerosol, which allows the water to evaporate while all contaminants settle back in a narrow alley at the front of the evaporator.

Mounted on a trailer for easy transport onsite or to multiple locations, the evaporator typically processes an average of 4,000 gallons per hour and up to 9,000 gallons/hour in optimum conditions.

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LED LEAK DETECTION KIT Spectronics Corporation has introduced the EK-365 EagleEye™ UV/White Light LED Leak Detection Lamp Kit. It enables maintenance professionals to locate industrial leaks in cramped or hardto-reach areas larger lamps can’t. The kit features a palm-sized, cool-running lamp that is very lightweight. It features two ultra-high intensity UV LEDs for fluorescent leak detection, plus a three-LED white light assembly for illuminating dark work areas. With power comparable to high-intensity 100watt lamps, the unit works with all oil- and water-based fluorescent dyes. It is especially effective with difficultto-fluoresce yellow, white and blue dyes, and it even works in dirty fluids. This versatile lamp can be hand-held or it can be worn on a hard hat or directly on the head for hands-free operation.

In addition to the EagleEye lamp, the EK-365 kit includes a lanyard, an adjustable head strap, three splash guards with integral particulate filters, four rechargeable batteries, a charging cradle with AC and DC cord sets, and UV-absorbing glasses.

All components are packed in a padded carrying case.

Visit spectroline.com

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advertiser index

FALL 2013

ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PG #

ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PG #

Canadian Brownfields Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Italian Trade Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Canadian Waste & Recycling Expo . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Kilmer Brownfield Equity Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Can-Ross Environmental Services Ltd . . . . . . . . . 25

KG Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

CERCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30-31

Lakeland Protective Wear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

ChemiGreen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

MMM Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Danatec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Miller Thomson LLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Dupont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Newalta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

EACO (Environmental Abatement Council of Ontario) . .15

Proactive Environmental Rentals Inc . . . . . . . . . . 15

ERIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Sites & Spills Expo 2014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Groundtech Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Walther Prazision Quick Coupling Systems . . . . 13

Intrinsik Environmental Sciences Inc . . . . . . . . . . 24

XCG Environmental Engineers & Scientists . . . . 37

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HAZMAT: LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

Hazardous Waste and Hotspots

A

by Dianne Saxe & Meredith James

“I cannot think of any reasonable way for waste management professionals to comply with this decision.”

recent court decision has dramatically widened the Province of Ontario’s rules on what constitutes “hazardous waste.” Instead of wastes being characterized by representative samples of an entire load or pile, hotspots can make an entire load “hazardous waste.”

This is a particular risk for those handling mixed loads containing spill cleanup materials and other small quantity materials that are supposedly exempt.

In R. v. 349977 Ontario Inc. [Lacombe Waste Services], a clean empty overpack drum, bearing a hazardous waste label, was accidentally put, uncrushed, into a heterogenous waste load sent to a non-hazardous waste landfill.

At the landfill, the label and the drum attracted concern. Someone on site to take routine samples from the monitoring wells was asked to sample the load. He took his sample only from those small parts of the load that he considered suspicious: two distinct “easy-to-scoop” substances that totaled perhaps 80 kg out of the 28,000 kg load. The landfill was subsequently informed that the sample was leachate toxic for perchloroethylene.

Both the sample, and the analysis, fell below all relevant benchmarks for reliable environmental data.

Nevertheless, the court convicted Lacombe of depositing hazardous waste in an unapproved location, contrary to Section 40 of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA).

Lacombe received the minimum fine of $100,000.

The source of the hotspots was unknown: all waste in the load had been shipped to Lacombe certified as nonhazardous, representative samples from every incoming truckload had been screened as non-hazardous, and representative samples of the accumulated waste pile were also non-hazardous. No one suggested that Lacombe itself had added the perchloroethylene to the load.

However, the load did contain spill cleanup materials that had been used by third parties to cleanup unknown substances. Regulation 347 specifically defines as “nonhazardous”: “... the residues or contaminated materials from the clean-up of a spill of less than five kilograms of waste that is a hazardous industrial waste, hazardous waste chemical, ignitable waste, corrosive waste, leachate toxic waste or reactive waste.”

Thus, if an original generator had cleaned up a 5 kg spill of pure perc, they could have lawfully discarded the cleanup materials as non-hazardous waste into a Lacombe non-hazardous bin. A targeted sample containing those cleanup materials would fail a leachate test.

Should that make the whole load “hazardous”?

Lacombe argued forcefully that hazardous wastes

should only be characterized by representative samples of the entire waste, as previous cases have held. Hardy Wong, the original author of Ontario’s hazardous waste regulatory system, gave expert evidence that the hazardous waste rules were not intended to be triggered by hotspots, which are no environmental threat in a landfill.

He pointed to numerous US and Canadian benchmark documents emphasizing the need for representative samples of an entire waste, and that bodies of wastes can and do contain isolated exceedences. The small quantity exemptions in Regulation 347 are clearly intended to allow small amounts of hazardous material in nonhazardous wastes.

Lacombe also argued that the court should not convict on poor quality data that fell below all applicable government and industry standards for obtaining reliable results.

Instead, the court focussed on the mixing rule, the rule intended to prevent hazardous wastes from being deliberately diluted with other wastes.

Judge Alder ruled: “There was nothing in the definition of hazardous waste referring to a load, a percentage of a load, or a part thereof.” The regulations do, however, contain a prohibition on mixing hazardous waste with other materials which she found supported the Crown position that “hazardous waste does not become nonhazardous by virtue of its inclusion into a large load of non-hazardous waste.”

Although the court accepted that a conviction must be based on a representative sample, the sample can be “representative” of whatever part of the full load that someone is “concerned” about.

I cannot think of any reasonable way for waste management professionals to comply with this decision.

Most are required by their approvals to characterize or screen their wastes, if at all, on the basis of representative samples of entire loads, piles or waste streams. By definition, representative samples will not identify small hotspots in heterogeneous loads. How, then, must wastes be sampled? Who decides what is “of interest”? And what fair process is there if convictions can be based on samples that do not meet environment ministry’s own criteria for reliable data?

HMM

Dianne Saxe, Ph.D. in Law, is a leading Canadian environmental lawyer with her own practice in Toronto, Ontario.

Contact Dianne at dsaxe@envirolaw.com Meredith James, B.Sc., J.D., is Associate in the same office. Contact Meredith at meredith@envirolaw.com

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