Robert (Rob) Fraley, Senior Regulatory Analyst

Citation News Editor: Where are you from?

Rob: All over…Japan, Taiwan, California, Texas, Florida, Virginia, Maryland

What is your education background?

Bachelor Science in Geology; Defense Language Institute – Monterey- Korean              

When and how did you become a regulatory analyst?

Mere luck

What is your area of expertise/ what are the jurisdictions you cover?

Australia (some call me the King of Australia…get itJ) New Zealand, South Africa, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Minnesota and California and have dabbled in more (Botswana, Germany, Washington, Washington DC, Arizona).

What is a typical day of work like for you? 

Wake up.  Turn computer on.  Have a cup of coffee.  Have another cup of coffee.  Start researching.  Have another cup of coffee.  Keep researching.  Keep researching.  Enter search results.  Have a cup of coffee.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Hiking, Reading, Hanging out with Friends

What is the strangest regulation you’ve come across?

Not sure we can print it but it was regarding the transportation of horse semen in Illinois.

What are your thoughts regarding the effectiveness of cloud-based technology in the EH&S realm?

I think that it is a great trend in other endeavors and feel that it will be great for EHS.

The Good

Rewarding EH&S innovators

The Campbell Institute has announced their plans to reward inventive EH&S thinkers in the 2013 Campbell Institute/Stewardship Action Council Innovation Challenge.

The Campbell Institute partnered with the Stewardship Action Council in an effort to honor organizations for achievements in planning and implementing innovative programs that address specific EHS topics.

According to the Campbell Institute’s website, the Challenge topics will be “Off-the-Job Public/Private Partnerships” and “Zero Waste.” Awards will be given for existing and/or new programs in multiple categories, including "best implementation plan," "best path forward," "best results" and "best overall proposal."

The Innovation Challenge is open to all organizations.  Winners will be recognized and invited to speak at the National Safety Council Congress & Expo.  For more information on the Challenge and entry, visit the Campbell Institute website.

 

The Bad

Fatalities slip through cracks in OSH reporting

EHS Today reported that gaps in Occupation Safety and Health (OSH) reporting have allowed companies who report high fatalities to still end up on a “Most Sustainable” List.

A study released by the Center for Safety and Health Sustainability revealed the worrisome gaps as well as a general lack of transparency in OSH sustainability reporting among organizations rated highly for sustainability performance.

According to the article in EHS Today, five organizations on the Corporate Knights’ 2011 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World reported more than 10 work-related fatalities in a year. One organization alone reported 49 deaths in a year.

Researchers blame the oversights on the difficulty of interpreting corporate OSH performance and a lack of uniformity in data collection and clarity over reporting methods and metrics. 

 

The Non-Compliant

EPA fines Arizona school districts for Asbestos

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has fined six Arizona school districts a combined total of $94,575 for Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) violations.

The inspections were conducted in 2011, and found 25 schools in a state of non-compliance. Inspectors discovered numerous violations, including failing to inspect facilities for asbestos containing materials, failing to re-inspect campuses with known asbestos containing materials and failing to have an Asbestos Management Plan.

More than 15,000 children attend the 25 schools not in compliance with the federal AHERA in these districts.

All of the school districts have since taken steps to comply with the law, with the cost of compliance reducing the penalties in most cases to zero, the EPA said.

The six school districts being fined:

·         St. John's Unified School District in Apache County—fined $14,195, penalty reduced to $824 by the school district's cost  of achieving compliance

·         Florence Unified School District in Pinal County—fined $31,705, no cash payment was due because the documented costs of compliance exceeded the penalty

·         Vernon Elementary School District in Apache County—fined $2,700, no cash payment was due because the documented costs of compliance exceeded the penalty

·         McNary Elementary School District on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation—fined $14,200, no cash payment was due because the documented costs of compliance exceeded the penalty

·         Round Valley Unified School District in Apache County—fined $10,100, no cash payment was due because the documented costs of compliance exceeded the penalty

The Self Assessment Checklist is one of the worksheet options in the Compliance Suite.  It displays applicable regulatory requirements specific to your company or site. 

The Checklist information is generated from individual reviews and exported as a document or spreadsheet that contains the Detailed Requirements and areas for progress reporting.

It is recommended that you complete your review before generating the Self Assessment Checklist so that it includes all applicable requirements. 

The 10 Steps to Create a Self Assessment Checklist: 

1.    Navigate to your list of Active Reviews

 

2.    To the right of the review you would like to generate the Checklist for, click on the icon in the “Worksheets” column—this will take you to the “Worksheets” page

 

  

 

3.    Select “Self Assessment Checklist”

 

  

 

4.    Choose the Type of checklist

 

a.    Self Assessment Checklist: A document with applicable Detailed Requirements and an area for progress reporting  **Selected for this example 

 

b.    Self Assessment Checklist – Short Form: An Excel spreadsheet with applicable Detailed Requirements and an area for progress reporting

 

5.    Choose the operations to be included by including a checkmark in the box (Default: all checked)

 

6.    Click “Generate Worksheet”

 

 

 

7.    From the pop-up screen, you can choose to go to the worksheet queue or stay on the page

 

8.    If you stayed on the page, you can navigate to the worksheets queue by clicking “Worksheets Queue” near the top right corner

 

9.    Click on the title of the worksheet you generated

 

 

10.Click “Open” in the File Download pop-up screen—the Checklist should contain all applicable Detailed Requirements, generated from your completed review

 

Example of a Self Assessment Checklist:

 

 

Example of a Self Assessment Checklist - Short Form:

 

You can print or save this document.  Because the content is exported from the tool, it will not reflect any future changes made to regulatory requirements. 

To ensure that your Checklist is current, create a new each time a review has been updated.  You can keep track of your worksheets in the Worksheets Queue by the “Date Created,” or archive older versions by clicking the icon in the column on the far right to remove them from you Active worksheets queue.

A tool for excluding requirements from the system by exporting then importing a spreadsheet of desired changes, found in “Settings”

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Instructions:                                                                              

1.   Set up permissions to use this function (for the Company Administrator)

a)    To set up permission for the entire company:

·         In the Compliance Suite, go to Settings, then “Manage Roles”

·         Choose the role you wish to give “Excluded Requirements” access

·         Check off the appropriate permissions under the sections “Operational Templates” and “Entire Company Excluded Requirements”  

b)   To set up permissions for an individual template:

·         Go to Settings then “Manage Operations Templates”

·         Either select an existing template (changes will apply to all reviews using this template) or create a new one (note: you cannot assign a new template to an existing review)

v  If creating a new template, make sure to include all applicable operations in the “Operations” tab

·         Under the “Excluded Requirements Access” tab, you will see the box with a list of roles.  You can assign permissions here (the ability to View, Export and/or Import excluded requirements)

·         Click “Save” when finished

·         Changes will apply to reviews with this template in place

 

 

 

2.   Exclude Requirements

·         Go to Settings, Excluded Requirements

·         Choose the Operation Template attached to the review from which you want to exclude requirements, or choose “Entire  Company” for changes to apply company-wide

·         Choose the Country, Region and (if applicable) the Supplemental Region

·         Click “Export Requirements” to export a spreadsheet of requirements for the selected region

 

 

3.   Mark desired changes in the spreadsheet

·        Place an “X” in the “Excluded” column of the spreadsheet to exclude any requirement that does NOT apply to the site (see Summary and Guide Notes columns for reference)

·         Add rationale if/when necessary

·         Save the spreadsheet to your computer and return to the Compliance Suite window

 

4.   Import Requirements

·         Click “Import Requirements,” “Browse” to find your saved spreadsheet

a)    If “Require Rationale” box is checked you must have the rationale column of the spreadsheet filled out for importing to work

b)   An unchecked “Require Rationale” box does not require the rationale column to be filled

·         Click “Import Requirements” in the small box when ready to upload the spreadsheet

·         You can see Excluded and Included Requirements on this page by selecting either option in the small box near “Search Table Contents”

 

 

 

 5.   Apply the changes

Any changes you make in this feature (company-wide or to an individual Operations Template) will automatically apply to all new reviews you create. 

Previous reviews with an older set of exclusions will need to be versioned for changes to apply.  To apply the changes to an existing review:

·         Go to your list of reviews

·         Next the review that has been modified, click on the red circle with “!”

·         Icons will indicate whether there has been an inclusion or exclusion of requirements

·         Complete the normal update process to apply changes

 

 

The Content Schedule is a global option on the toolbar that will allow any customer to see when each jurisdiction was last updated

To view the Content Schedule:

Click on “Content Schedule” near the top of the screen in the Compliance Suite tool

 

This will bring up a list of ALL jurisdictions, organized by the most current updates

 

 

Use the “Search Table Contents” tool to find a specific jurisdiction

 

The icon to the left indicates that the entry has been updated in the last 7 days

 

The following is a basic "How to" for updating a Compliance Suite regulatory review

Step 1:  Changes to regulations (i.e. additions, deletions, or modifications) will be seen upon logging in, indicated by icons to the left of a review. 

Impacting updates are indicated by a red circle with an exclamation point in the middle.  If you hover your cursor over icon, the words “Impacting Update Available” will appear.

   

Click the icon to initiate the update process 

Step 2: Clicking on the icon leads you to the “Requirement Changes” page.  Select the content you wish to view from the pull down menus. 

The first menu provides the following options:

·         Impacting and Non-impacting

·         Impacting only

·         Non Impacting only

The second pull down menu allows you to choose:

·         Do not filter requirements by answer

·         Hide ‘Not Applicable’ requirements

·         Show only ‘Not Applicable’ requirements

There are many different scenarios and outcomes available.  For the purpose of this guidance documents, we will proceed using the following choices:  Impacting only and Hide ‘Not Applicable’ requirements. 

At this screen, the user will see:

 

Hover your cursor over the icons on the left for more information; see deletions, additions and modifications on the right in the “Changed Detailed Requirements” column.

Click “Next” 

Step 3: If regulations were deleted since you first performed the review, you will be taken to the “Deleted Requirements” page.  These are regulations that were deleted. 

1.    You can remove these from the review via the “delete” function

OR

2.    You can keep some of these requirements in the review as Supplemental Requirements (they may represent “Best Practices” or otherwise provide benefits, e.g. perhaps compliance with a company policy)

 

 Make your selections, click “Next”

Step 4: Deleted Detailed Requirements: This is the same as the previous page, only it pertains to Detailed Requirements (the previous page contained High Level Requirements).  

1.    You can remove these from the review via the “delete” function

OR

2.    You can keep some of these requirements in the review as Supplemental Requirements (they may represent “Best Practices” or otherwise provide benefits, e.g. perhaps compliance with a company policy)

 

 

Make your selections, click "Create Version" 

 

Step 5:  A default screen will come up listing three versioning options:

·         Review non-impacting changes

·         Review changes to High Level Requirements answered "No" (in the original review)

·         Review changes to Detailed Requirements answered "No"

 

 

The final choice is the default.  If it is changed, a warning message will appear asking, “Are you sure you want to not review changes to Detailed Requirements answered ‘No?’” 

 

Why the warning?  Perhaps you answered “Yes” to the High Level question, “Do you discharge wastewater?”  Your facility discharges an average of 75,000 gallons per day.

However, you answered “No” to the Detailed Requirement because it only applies to sites that discharge > 100,000 gallons per day.

If the regulatory requirement changes to affect those that discharge > 50,000 gallons per day, then you won’t capture this in your updated review.

Select your preferred Versioning Option(s), click “Create Version” 

Step 6: In the next screens, High-Level Screening (Update Mode) and Detailed Screening (Update Mode), you will need to review the regulatory changes presented.

It works just like the review process—you can answer the questions, or mark them as reviewed.  Features such as the Progress bar are available for use.

 

Step 7: Once all of the updates have been reviewed in High-Level Screening (Update Mode) and Detailed Screening (Update Mode)… 

  

Click “Complete Update Process”—the versioning process is complete 

Once you have created a new version of a review, the review is in "Update" mode until you have finished reviewing all of the requirement changes and making the desired updates to your review.

Citation Technologies has a team of highly educated Regulatory Analysts who prepare the content for the company’s EH&S compliance software, the Compliance Suite.

This monthly Q&A series highlights the individual members of this top-notch team.  February’s Analyst of the Month is Patrick Carrube!

Patrick Carrube, Sr. Regulatory Analyst

Citation News Editor: Where are you from?

Patrick: I jokingly refer to my childhood as the “Tale of Two Cities”. I was born in Brooklyn, NY, but the summer I turned 14, my family moved to a small rural town just north of Scranton, PA. I lived in one of the biggest cities in the world, and then in one summer I moved to a town that literally had more cows than people.

It may have been a shock for some kids, but I loved it and even to this day I enjoy many aspects of both city and country living. I still find myself in awe from the immensity of sky scrapers and suspension bridges, but also the calm and quietness of the great outdoors.

What is your education background?

I have a B.S. in Biology from Mansfield University (Mansfield, PA) and a M.S. in Environmental Technology & Management from Arizona State University. I am currently wrapping up my thesis project and would love to continue on to a PhD project, possibly in Sustainability or Environmental Chemistry.

When and how did you become a regulatory analyst?

Like many of the other analysts here at Citation, my career wasn’t a straight shot into Regulatory Analysis.  I actually started my career in the semiconductor industry, working as a R&D Chemist and Technical Engineer. As the group expanded, so did my role.

I found myself heavily involved in the EH&S world and transitioned to Environmental Management. With my technical background and education, it was a relatively easy transition into Regulatory Analysis.

What is your area of expertise and what are the jurisdictions you cover?

My personal areas of expertise would be Hazardous Materials, Hazardous Waste and Waste Management, and Hazardous Communications. Having managed both a research and environmental lab, I am also in tune with the specific HSSE challenges associated with them. My current jurisdictions include: Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Alberta (Canada),  Quebec (Canada), South Australia, and Botswana.

What is a typical day of work like for you?

I usually start my day by performing some basic pre-flight checks – ailerons, rudders, flaps, afterburners, and the like. I make a call to verify open air space and then make sure I top off the fuselage. I’m just kidding of course. One of the things that I think all the analysts enjoy is that each day brings something new. The majority of my time is spent going through regulatory updates, but I also will build-out and cover a new jurisdiction as needed.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I spend a lot of time with my beautiful wife and two wonderful kids. If I’m not with them, you can usually find me in one of three places: the garage, the woods, or on top of my Harley. I enjoy carpentry, metal-work, and antique restoration. I love the outdoors and am an avid outdoorsman and fisherman. 

What is the strangest regulation you’ve come across?

We see plenty of strange regulations as Analysts and I would have to think long and hard to settle on the “strangest” one. However, one of my jurisdictions is Botswana, where many of the regulations are worded as if they were taken out of a Shakespearian novel. One of the most amusingly worded regulations is:

"Every factory shall be kept in a clean state, and free from effluvia arising from any drain, sanitary convenience or nuisance, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing"

It makes me laugh when I see phrases such as “sanitary convenience” and “without prejudice”. You know exactly what they are trying to say, but where else would you hear a phrase like this?

What are your thoughts regarding the effectiveness of cloud-based technology in the EH&S realm?

While I certainly like to “rough it” on camping trips, I will admit to being a “techie” my entire life. I remember when a CD-ROM drive nearly doubled the cost of a PC and I’ve had smart phones since before they were very smart. I see cloud-based technology (CBT) as an immensely valuable tool for HSSE Professionals.

As we have seen in the regulatory world - including federal, state, and local agencies –the transition to electronic reporting is already underway. I believe very strongly that CBT will be the “norm” in the near future for a multitude of reasons – it is convenient, it is user-friendly, and it ties in well with current computer and IT systems already in place.

This video from PBS News Hour takes a look at Lisa Jackson's career as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency— what the EPA accomplished with Jackson in the lead and President Obama in office.

What are your thoughts on Jackson's career?  What do you think is the biggest priority going forward?

Cloud-Based Compliance Solution Adds Host of New International Countries with Content Now Extending to 100+ Worldwide Jurisdictions

Scottsdale, AZ (January 16, 2013) - Citation Technologies, an industry leader in delivering Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) global compliance solutions, today announced the release of new international regulatory content for Citation's Compliance Suite cloud-based EH&S risk and compliance management solutions. New content for overseas countries including Iraq, Egypt, South Africa, China, Mexico and Singapore now gives multinational enterprise customers using Citation solutions the ability to monitor, manage and maintain compliance in over 100+ worldwide jurisdictions. The new content release, which includes the National Electricity Rules for Australia, offers Health, Safety, Security and Energy (HSSE) professionals around the globe access to one of the industry's most comprehensive databases of full-text regulations, statutes and related EH&S compliance documents available along with expert analysis.

"Citation strives to simplify compliance for companies by giving them the tools and insights to manage compliance across their enterprise right down to the site level," said Mark Hutchinson, senior vice president of global content and product management at Citation Technologies. "We're excited for 2013 and look forward to bringing to market additional solutions to help companies minimize business risk and recognize that compliance can be easily and cost-effectively achieved."

Citation Compliance Suite is an expandable platform that offers everything from regulatory research through task management, data collection, and compliance status reporting to help monitor change, minimize risk, and maximize compliance. Citation Determine uses simple conditions-based questions to allow customers to easily determine a requirement's applicability and build a high-level regulatory register for managing compliance. Citation Build offers the capability to define which of the many listed action items must be accomplished to achieve compliance and allows the user, through our compliance-tasking module, to make that action very specific to the site.

When I think of occupations subject to environmental, health and safety (EH&S) regulations, images of oil drilling, factories and mining come to mind. 

As the Customer Service Account Specialist at Citation Technologies, I don’t typically worry about violating EHS regulations.

That is, until I replaced our printer’s Photoconductor Kit.  

After removing the old kit from the printer, it didn’t seem right to simply toss it in the garbage.  So I did what any sensible person working for an EHS regulatory software company would do—I Googled.

When searching for “how to dispose of a photoconductor kit,” I came across this message:

"Do not dispose of the used photoconductor unit in fire, as it may explode and cause injury.

Dispose of it according to local regulations."

Naturally, I wanted to light it on fire make sure that I was getting rid of the unit in a regulation-abiding manner.

This experience made me realize my job is not exempt from EHS regulations.  Certain policies, a la Disposal of Hazardous Materials, apply to us office workers as much as someone drilling oil, working in a factory or a miner.

In any job, it’s critical to know what regulations apply, and how to comply with them.

In this one instance of changing out printer hardware, a Google search was all I needed to figure out the rules and how to follow them. 

As omniscient as the great and powerful search engine seems, it would be nearly impossible to use for tracking down all of the thousands upon thousands of existing regulations that apply to, say, a mining site in Kentucky.

Let’s take TRC Mining Corp.’s #2 mine in Letcher County, Ky., for example.

On Nov. 27, 2012, Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) conducted an impact inspection at the mine.  The Kentucky site was issued 23 citations, five unwarrantable failure orders, and two failure-to-abate orders for previously issued citations, according to an article from EHS Today.

The five unwarrantable failure orders were issued for failure to follow an approved ventilation plan, failure to properly maintain and repair mine seals and failure to conduct adequate pre-shift examinations.

As a result of non-compliance, the entire underground portion of the mine was closed.  It seems the mining company required more than just rock drills and chipping hammers to operate—they needed a tool for compliance.

Compliance happens by utilizing the right tool—one that makes you aware of applicable regulations and lays out a plan for how to comply.

This could mean using an environmental consultant, regulatory software, or, if you’re up for a challenge/slightly insane, Google.

From the bottom of a mine to an office cubicle, regulations affect all workplaces… 

What tools are you using to achieve compliance?