Chemical companies pay millions, land in hot water with OSHA

November 30th, 2012 by Dakota Software Staff Industry News

The recent news and discussion on corporate sustainability has mostly revolved around how businesses can become more environmentally and socially responsible by pursuing eco-friendly initiatives that boost public perception. Those endeavors are still very much worthwhile, but a somewhat forgotten component of sustainability in the corporate structure is adherence to environmental regulation. Compliance is the foundation of sustainability, and if neglected, it can cost a company serious money and land them in trouble with federal regulators, as two chemical companies recently found.

Bad weedkiller costs company millions in court settlement
An international chemical company was brought to court after Midwestern utilities alleged the company's weedkiller contaminated water supplies. The saga ended with the company reaching a settlement that will cost it $105 million, a law firm representing the water utilities told Environmental Leader.

A court had approved the settlement on behalf of more than 1,000 community water providers after they had detected traces of atrazine in water supplies. Atrazine is a commonly used agricultural herbicide that can negatively impact health. Lawyers told Environmental Leader that the providers spent significant sums of money to rid their systems of the chemical.

Chemical business cited 47 times by OSHA
That's not the only trouble chemical companies have found themselves mired in recently. A stateside chemical business was placed on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Severe Violator Enforcement Program after the company was cited for 47 health and safety violations.

Four of the 47 were "willful" violations that occurred because of an unexpected release of hazardous materials that led to a temporary company shutdown. One such willful violation was the company's refusal to correct deficiencies found in compliance audits. OSHA proposed a fine total of $545,000.

"By disregarding OSHA's common-sense regulations, this employer endangered the health and safety of the facility's workers,” said David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for OSHA. "While I'm grateful that nobody was injured from the incident, I'm alarmed by the egregious nature of the violations we uncovered during our inspection.”

As part of its inclusion in the Severe Violator Enforcement Program, the company will be subject to a line of increasingly rigorous mandated inspections.

The monetary punishments and public scorn associated with noncompliance toward environmental regulations are risks businesses cannot afford to take. Using a qualified service that tracks and measures environmental compliance will help businesses remain compliant in any situation.