Environmental Consultancies And Its Attorneys Firms - Essay Example

 Environmental Consultancies And Its Attorneys Firms Introduction Petrochemicals are substances produced from hydrocarbon-based raw materials such as petroleum or natural gas. The business surrounding it is international and involves a lot of profits. A petrochemical plant is a facility where products are manufactured, processed, and packaged. There are many types of petrochemicals and its products. Some of them have industrial uses and others are mainly for consumer use. Substances produced in the plants include toluene, methanol, and propylene directly from feedstocks. Other intermediate petrochemicals are produced after primary petrochemicals are transformed to more forms that are complicated. Such products include vinyl chloride for PVC and styrene for rubber and plastic. Petrochemical plant emissions have always been a threat to the environment. Several types of research have been conducted in the past to discuss the threats imposed by this industry for our health and safety (Lynn, 2012). One such recent study such as International Agency for Research on Cancer claimed that employees exposed to formaldehyde have suggested a contact between formaldehyde exposure and several cancers, like nasopharyngeal cancer and even suggests life-threatening diseases to be a byproduct of the emission of such hazardous chemicals from plants. To cater to such conditions, environmental laws and regulations have procedures based on compliance and enforcement regulations to ensure businesses, industry, and governments comply with the law. Regulations and Enforcement Agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Agency, always do follow-ups and back up the production line for many Petrochemical companies. Why do the EPA and OSHA do that? What is the best way of dealing with them? EPA EPA primarily covers Legislations for pollution in the air, water, land, management of hazardous waste and protection of endangered species. EPA provides public awareness campaigns through road shows, the media, and influential leaders as management, at such monumental level it is not possible without individual participation (Simonsen, 2010). Therefore, it has come up with strict policies imposed on companies that pollute the environment. For air, a limit is imposed on the exposure of certain air pollutants in all areas. EPA can also ban a certain air pollutant from emission like from chemical plants, mills, and utilities. By limiting the exposure to dangerous air pollutants, EPA helps keep the air clean and livable for all creatures and human beings. EPA takes responsibility for cleaning up land or underground waste that has a threat to the environment. Their well-trained health workers, who carry out frequent inspections and risk assessments, do this. Mostly land is cleaned in industrial areas whereas wastes are dumped, and they pose threats to living beings in that vicinity. In order to keep the land free of dangerous chemicals, and provide a healthy diet, pesticides are registered, and tolerance of each pesticide is set for usage. To monitor toxic substances in the environment, EPA conducts tests and gathers relevant data for future analysis other than controlling its exposure. The EPA also regulates waste disposal and recycling of it. Water is treated for safe and healthy usage and water waste management is also conducted to ensure it remains pollution free. EPA has also set regulations to manage waste or release of hazardous material by accident in emergency conditions. EPA deals with another category termed cross-cutting issues. It covers several aspects ranging from environmental justice to climatic change. To make sure the above-mentioned regulations are followed, EPA follows a compliance process. The compliance department assists local bodies by providing tools and training to combat unexpected situations. They also impose penalties on businesses, which fail to comply with the environmental safety regulations. During their audit procedure, they also reduce or eliminate penalties on companies that take measures to stop pollution. To detect acts of environment pollution, gathering evidence and running them through tests to prepare a case against criminals (EPA) EPA is assisted by a criminal enforcement agency. OSHA OSHA, on the other hand, is more concerned with the safety of the worker rather than his/her working environment. However, the Occupational safety and health association is connected with the EPA. If there were an incident that the EPA reported, the OSHA would intervene and check up with the employee and the workers because they are also at risk. In general, the OSH Act (1970) covers all employers and their employees in all U.S.A states. Coverage is provided either directly by the federal Occupational Safety or by Health Administration or an OSHA-approved state job safety and health plan. Postal Service is also covered. The Act defines an employer as any "person engaged in a business affecting commerce who has employees, but does not include the non-citizens or any other state or political subdivision of a county." Therefore, the Act applies to employers and employees in such varied fields as manufacturing, construction, agriculture, law and medicine, charity and disaster relief, organized labor, and private education. The Act establishes a separate program for the federal government employees and extends coverage to state and local government employees only through the states with OSHA-approved plans. It has two regulatory functions: conducting inspections to ensure that employers are provided with safe workplaces and setting standards of the work environment. OSHA standards may require that employers adopt certain practices, means, methods, or processes reasonably necessary and appropriate to protect workers on the job. Employers must become familiar with the standards applicable to their establishments and eliminate hazards. The general duty clause [Section 5(a) (1)] states that each employer "shall furnish... A place of employment which is free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.". This includes wearing of protective equipment at work like gloves when dealing with chemical compounds. Case study One of the famous cases, where a petrochemical company lost millions of dollars due to their negligence to their toxic waste was the Brian Johnson case. The Brian Petrochemical industry was making a vast fortune, and they neglected their duty to the environment. Therefore, in the consequence of their act, 100 people were infected by diseases and other infections caused by them. The jury passed the statement to find the company 50 million dollars for their behavior. It also implemented programs that minimized the production of hazardous gases and upgraded leak detection to reduce emissions from sulfur recovery plants. This case did not just cause the company to lose money; it caused the company to lose public relations, and shareholders were not interested anymore in joining the company. Another case is Chevron's activities at its century-old Richmond refinery situated in California have been the subject of ongoing controversy. The project generated over 11 million pounds of toxic materials and caused more than 304 accidents due to the failure of notifying the public. The Richmond refinery paid $540,000 in 1998 for negligence. In October 2003, the state of New Hampshire sued Chevron and other oil companies for using MTBE, a gasoline additive that the attorney general claimed polluted much of the state's water supply. On October 16, 2003, Chevron U.S.A. settled a charge under the Clean Air Act, which reduced harmful air emissions by about 10,000 tons a year. After violating the Clean Air Act at an offline loading terminal in El Segundo, California, Chevron paid a $6 million penalty as well as $1 million for environmental improvement projects. Who are Environmental Consultancies The Environmental Consultancies and its attorneys firm were formed in 1985 by Ali Al Sulaimani to achieve one goal, for people to live in a healthier, safer, and green environment. Ali Al-Sulaiman was born in 1962 to humble parents. His parents were farmers who lived peacefully in the rural areas of the county. A petrochemical company was built in the area where he lived and hence caused much toxic waste and pollution to the environment. The cause of not handling the toxic waste in a suitable manner, Ali's parents passed away with serious cancer. This incident affected Ali in many ways when he was young. He promised himself to do his level best to ensure that companies such as the one, which was built near their farm never to have a negative effect on the people. The picture below shows Ali Al Sulaimani tossing with President Obama. Environmental Consultancies and its Attorney’s faced many challenges during the past years from lawsuits against companies-due to dumping their toxic wastes materials, including carcinogens to sewage system-to a simple EPA restrictions case. Many industries approach our firm clueless about what EPA means, and how they are supposed to eliminate all their toxic wastes. Having most of our employees graduating from Harvard and Oxford with hazardous and waste management degrees, they are extremely well equipped with solutions and proposals for any industries. As mentioned previously, the roots of the firm were built for people to live in a greener and healthier environment. They were also meant to educate the Petrochemical companies about their waste management procedures and improve it, taking the public perspective on the companies, improving the company's reputation and figuring out cost-effective ways for dumping toxic wastes. Our Solution The firm approaches the problem an industry faces in a professional and systematic procedure; the following are the regular procedures: Study history of the company and its prior’s penalties. Send our expert bio-engineers to assess how extensive the problem is. Attorney's study the legal issues and handle the situation. Take samples from dumping sites and the neighboring housing units. Go through all EPA and OSHA regulations and apply ISO 9001:2001 system. The following figure summarizes how effective the ISO 9001:2001 system could be when implemented: Fig1, ISO9001 practices Figure 1: Shows how employees’ job satisfaction could be made by just implementing four factors: the customer focus, training and education, empowerment and teamwork and continuous improvement and problem prevention. Therefore, by allowing job satisfaction to the workers, the company will have the better quality product and more production for a given period. The above-drawn chart gives some insight of some case studies and cases that the firms endure. Chart 1 clearly shows how productive and effective environmental consultants and its attorneys can have in a company. Its name and skills are beyond excellent, and its clients are always fully satisfied. The firm received many awards, such as Green and Environments reward of the year, Certificate of appreciation from Department health and human services, Certificate of Loyalty and appreciations from NAX, global, and certificate of appreciation from Going Green for volunteer work. Any further questions, Please contact the services administration at 419699322 Email: ECAIA@consultancy.com References EPA (n.d.). Enforcement | Laws, and Regulations | US EPA. US Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/lawsregs/enforcement/ Gang, D. R. (2013). Phytochemicals, Plant Growth, and The Environment. New York, NY: Springer. Lynn, F., & Kartez, J. (2012). The Toxics Release Inventory Environmental Democracy in Action. US Environmental Protection Agency. Simonsen, N. (2010). Environmental Exposure to Emissions from Petrochemical Sites and Lung Cancer: The Lower Mississippi Interagency study Study. Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2010, P 9. Stephenson, J. (2010). Opportunities for Greater Focus, Direction, and Top-Level Commitment to Children’s Health at EPA. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH. FRIDAY, M. (2009). Congressional Record. Employment Law Guide - Occupational Safety and Health. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/osha.htm, 08: 04: 2013 Chevron Corporation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevron_Corporation Buggey, T. (2007, Summer). Storyboard for Ivan's morning routine. Diagram. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 9(3), 151. Retrieved December 14, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database. Read More