Training

Training

Training employees on strategies to prevent pollution and waste can minimize a significant amount of waste.

To address the more than 50 reportable and non-reportable spills that occurred annually, the Environment Division of the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Hawaii instituted a spill prevention awareness program, as well as instituting many best management practices. The facility took a strategic approach by first reviewing the spill data over a three-year period to conduct a root cause analysis. The results indicated that either rupture of hoses or poor work practices caused most spills. To address the poor work practices, personnel were trained on the basics of best management practices at waterfront production meetings, Hazardous Waste/Materials Coordinator meetings, and contractor briefings. Prior to any major maintenance work, personnel are required to attend an environmental briefing, which emphasizes spill prevention procedures such as collection tank connections and tank watch requirements. Supervisors are required to take an interactive computer-based environmental training program emphasizing spill prevention techniques. Training included such best management practices as:

Equipment operators are required to perform a pre-operating inspection (which includes checking for the integrity of hoses, oil leaks, etc.) and document the results on the Operators' Daily Checklist prior to utilizing the equipment.
Equipment rental companies must perform an inspection of the equipment and provide a copy of the inspection to the ordering shop/project.
All man-lifts and forklifts are required to be parked over an impermeable surface such as herculite or heavy plastic sheets when not in use.
Tanks were modified to eliminate ropes used to secure hoses and instead connections were made by welding a 3" pipe to the top center of the collection tank rising approximately 6". The pipe then bends and comes out towards the end of the tank where a 3" hose is hooked up. The hose is secured to the collection tank with a special cam lock fitting.
To avoid tank overflows, a tank watch is posted during oily wastewater and waste oil transfer operations.
New double walled portable collection tanks equipped with overflow indicators replaced single wall collection tanks.
Storm or pier drains that could be reached if there is a leak or spill are covered or plugged temporarily during pumping evolutions.
Portable spill berms are used to enclose oily water/waste oil and acid flush containing tanks and tank trucks.

Since the implementation of the awareness and training initiatives, spills have decreased at Pearl Harbor from 79 in 1998 to 7 in 2003. For more information, contact Clark Hataishi at (808) 473-8000 ext. 4461.

The US Coast Guard's Civil Engineering Unit Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, also revised its training program to improve employee awareness about spill and pollution prevention. The effectiveness of the old face-to-face training program was inhibited by the continual need to retrain employees who switched jobs. Basic pollution prevention training is standardized and will be computer based in the near future. Person-to-person training will still be used in the more in-depth, specialized training. For more information, contact Craig Edmunds at (207) 767-0368, cedmunds@gruportme.uscg.mil.

Fort Campbell, Kentucky regularly trains personnel, students, and civilians in waste minimization programs. The installation's Pollution Prevention Operation Center offers training in areas including antifreeze and Freon reclamation and hazardous waste storage methods. In addition, the base developed the "Fort Campbell Environmental Quality Officer's Online Handbook," a 100-page Internet site that features step-by-step guidance on proper handling, storage, and disposal instructions and easy retrieval of vital environmental guidance. For more information, contact Mike Davis at (270) 798-9767, davism@emh2.campell.army.mil.