National Academies Press: OpenBook

Review of Closure Plans for the Baseline Incineration Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities (2010)

Chapter: Appendix B: Safety and Environmental Metrics Employed by Private Companies Surveyed for This Report

« Previous: Appendix A: Reprinted 2010 Letter Report
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Safety and Environmental Metrics Employed by Private Companies Surveyed for This Report." National Research Council. 2010. Review of Closure Plans for the Baseline Incineration Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12963.
×

Appendix B
Safety and Environmental Metrics Employed by Private Companies Surveyed for This Report

Table B-1, which compiles the safety and environmental metrics used by the private companies surveyed for this report, is reprinted from the National Research Council report Evaluation of Safety and Environmental Metrics for Potential Application at Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities (The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2009).

TABLE B-1 Safety and Environmental Metrics Employed by Private Companies Surveyed for This Report

Measure

Area

Definition

Type

Comments

Number of recordable injuries (RIs) or illnesses

Personal safety

 

Lagging

Per OSHA requirements

Number of lost workday cases (LWCs)

Personal safety

 

Lagging

Per OSHA requirements

Contractor injury or illness rate

Personal safety

Number of RIs per number of work hours × 200,000

Lagging

RMTC, RWC, and DAWC (all OSHA definitions)

Company injury or illness rate

Personal safety

Number of RIs per number of work hours × 200,000

Lagging

RMTC, RWC, and DAWC (all OSHA definitions)

Near miss

Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety

Number of unsafe conditions or events that almost injured someone but didn’t or almost spilled something but didn’t

Leading

Can identify unsafe conditions, safety incidents that could have been more serious in different circumstances, etc.

Corrective and preventive actions

Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety

Proportion of corrective and preventive actions closed on time to total number of action items

Leading

Percent of action items related to employee health and safety (EH&S) incidents that have been closed by the due date

Behavior-based process (BBP) observation

Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety

Number of observations of behavior as part of a behavior-based safety program

Leading

Total number of observations made of a work group in a given time

Percent safe BBP observations

Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety

Number of safe behaviors/total behaviors

Leading

The percentage of safe behaviors should be less than 100 percent since your program should be looking at behaviors that you want to change and at behaviors that you are getting much better at

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Safety and Environmental Metrics Employed by Private Companies Surveyed for This Report." National Research Council. 2010. Review of Closure Plans for the Baseline Incineration Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12963.
×

Measure

Area

Definition

Type

Comments

BBP observation—analysis to drive behavior change

Personal safety

Number of analyses performed

Leading

Should analyze the antecedents and consequences of an unwanted behavior at least quarterly. Behavior might be improved by adjusting an antecedent.

BBP observation—driving behavior change

Personal safety

Number of critical behaviors that reached habit strength

Leading

Try to drive at least one behavior to habit strength per year by adjusting the antecedents and consequences of that behavior.

Procedure use

Personal/process safety

Number of critical procedures used/number of critical procedure required tasks performed

Leading

Can be daily, weekly, or monthly depending on the size of the organization. Tasks that require a critical procedure are defined by the facility.

Quality of root cause investigation (RCI)

Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety

Number of minimum quality criteria met for the RCIs in a given period

Leading

RCI minimum criteria are defined by the company.

Pretask hazard assessment participation

Personal safety

Number of pretask hazard assessments performed

Leading

Assessment can be conducted per person or per work group, weekly or monthly.

Performance tracking on permits

Personal safety

Number of defects found per permit

Leading

Permit documentation is audited and any mistake or omission is a defect (safe work permit/isolation of energy/confined space entry).

Training timeliness

Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety

Required training completed on time—not overdue

Leading

Overdue EH&S training is a sign of a slipping safety culture and priority.

Compliance task tool

Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety

Number of required compliance tasks overdue/total number of required compliance tasks

Leading

Overdue safety compliance tasks are a sign of slipping safety culture and priority. An example of these tasks is fire extinguisher inspections.

Severity rate

Personal safety

Number of (RMTC × 1) + (RWC × 3) + (DAWC × 9) + (fatalities × 27) per 200,000 work hours

Lagging

Gives a weighted rate

DAWC count

Personal safety

Number of DAWCs

Lagging

 

DAWC rate

Personal safety

Number of DAWC per 200,000 work hours

Lagging

 

Loss of primary containment (LOPC) count

Personal safety

Number of LOPCs

Lagging

For example, leaks, breaks, and spills

Severe LOPC (Categories 1,1A, and 2A)

Personal/environmental/process safety

Number of Category 1, 1A, and 2A LOPCs

Lagging

Category 1 is any loss of primary containment resulting in the release of >5,000 lb flammable chemical. Category 1A is a release causing a DAWC. Category 2A is a spill resulting in a RI.

Category 4 LOPC count

Personal/environmental/process safety

Number of Category 4 LOPCs

Leading

Category 4 is a minor spill of <100 lb that has no measurable impact on people or the environment.

Ratio of Category 4 LOPC to Categories 1, 2, and 3 LOPCs

Personal safety

Ratio of Category 4 LOPCs to all other categories of LOPCs

Leading

Try to achieve a 40:1 ratio in order to find the small spills and fix them before they become larger spills. (Category 2 is a loss of primary containment with a release of >1,000 lb or an RMTC or a RWC (2A). Category 3 is any LOPC that loses >100 lb of chemical or 1,000 lb of dry inert solids).

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Safety and Environmental Metrics Employed by Private Companies Surveyed for This Report." National Research Council. 2010. Review of Closure Plans for the Baseline Incineration Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12963.
×

Measure

Area

Definition

Type

Comments

Number of process safety events

Process safety

Number of events within a specified time period. The severity of events may be low, medium, or high.

Both lagging and leading

For near misses, it’s a leading indicator.

Number of fatality potential events

Personal/transportation/process safety

Number of such events within a specified time period

Lagging

Measure progress in addressing high-potential events.

Motor vehicle accident (MVA) count

Transportation

Number of MVAs

Lagging

An MVA is a motor vehicle accident resulting in personal injury or at least $500 in damage.

MVA rate

Transportation

Number of MVAs per million miles driven

Lagging

Includes all miles driven from company owned, leased, or rented vehicles and miles driven on company business from personal vehicles

Number of preventable accidents or number of preventable accidents per unit time or distance

Transportation

Number of preventable product-carrying vehicle accidents or a rate based on this number

Lagging

 

Number of high-severity accidents or number of high-severity accidents per unit time or distance

Transportation

Number of high-severity product-carrying vehicle accidents or a rate based on this number

Lagging

 

Number of rollovers/rollover rate

Transportation

Number of product-carrying vehicle rollovers or a rate based on this number

Lagging

 

Energy intensity

Environmental

British thermal units per pound production

Lagging

 

Greenhouse gas (GHG) energy efficiency

Environmental

Quantity of carbon dioxide (CO2) generated per unit of production

Lagging

 

Wastewater intensity

Environmental

Pounds of wastewater per pound of production

Lagging

Water that is treated at a wastewater treatment facility

Waste intensity

Environmental

Pounds of waste per pound of production

Lagging

Material that receives end-of-pipe treatment; report as the bulk amount prior to treatment.

Total waste weight

Environmental

Weight by type and disposal method

Lagging

 

Chemical emissions

Environmental

Chemical emissions (tons)

Lagging

Material that is released to the environment that does not receive end-of-pipe treatment (not including water). Chemical emissions exclude conventional emissions such as combustion products (nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, CO2, and particulates), methane, and hydrogen. Also excluded are the “normally excluded as an emission” compounds from GEI such as nitrogen, oxygen, water, aluminum, and salts (chlorides, sulfates, hydroxides, oxides, hypochlorite, and carbonates).

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Safety and Environmental Metrics Employed by Private Companies Surveyed for This Report." National Research Council. 2010. Review of Closure Plans for the Baseline Incineration Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12963.
×

Measure

Area

Definition

Type

Comments

Priority compound emissions

Environmental

Priority compounds (tons)

Lagging

A list of priority chemicals that include persistent bioaccumulative and toxic compounds; selected known human carcinogens; selected ozone depletors; and high-volume toxic compounds

Volatile organic compound emissions

Environmental

Volatile organic compounds (tons)

Lagging

 

Total water use

Environmental

Pounds or gallons water used/time period

Lagging

 

Direct GHG emissions

Environmental

CO2-equivalent metric tons

Lagging

Direct GHG emissions are those that are emitted from a company location. Direct emissions include all GHGs emitted from any on-site fugitive or air point source.

Kyoto GHGs as CO2-equivalent intensity

Environmental

Pounds of CO2-equivalent per pound production

Lagging

 

Assessment compliance performance

Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety

Assigned grade to each area reviewed in assessment

Leading

Commonly understood measure for assessing improvement in performance

Percent of safety alerts completed

Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety

Percent completion by facilities covered by alerts

Leading

Drives implementation of lessons learned from safety incidents

Number of potential environmental noncompliances

Environmental

Internally reported potential environmental noncompliances per month

Leading

Proactive measure of effectiveness of environmental program

Number of significant environmental spills

Environmental

Spills per unit time

Lagging

 

Toxic release inventory on site releases

Environmental

Number of releases per unit time

Lagging

 

NOTE: RCI, root cause investigation; OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Administration; RMTC, reportable medical treatment case; RWC, restricted work case; DAWC, days away from work case; LOPC, loss of primary containment; BBP, behavior-based process; ES&H, employee safety and health; RI, recordable injury; GHG, greenhouse gas; GEI, greenhouse gas emissions.

SOURCE: Data provided by Corning, Dow Chemical, Motorola, and Praxair.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Safety and Environmental Metrics Employed by Private Companies Surveyed for This Report." National Research Council. 2010. Review of Closure Plans for the Baseline Incineration Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12963.
×
Page 80
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Safety and Environmental Metrics Employed by Private Companies Surveyed for This Report." National Research Council. 2010. Review of Closure Plans for the Baseline Incineration Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12963.
×
Page 81
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Safety and Environmental Metrics Employed by Private Companies Surveyed for This Report." National Research Council. 2010. Review of Closure Plans for the Baseline Incineration Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12963.
×
Page 82
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Safety and Environmental Metrics Employed by Private Companies Surveyed for This Report." National Research Council. 2010. Review of Closure Plans for the Baseline Incineration Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12963.
×
Page 83
Next: Appendix C: Discussion of Hydrolysis Reactions of GB, VX, and H »
Review of Closure Plans for the Baseline Incineration Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $39.00 Buy Ebook | $31.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

This book responds to a request by the director of the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) for the National Research Council to examine and evaluate the ongoing planning for closure of the four currently operational baseline incineration chemical agent disposal facilities and the closure of a related testing facility. The book evaluates the closure planning process as well as some aspects of closure operations that are taking place while the facilities are still disposing of agent. These facilities are located in Anniston, Alabama; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Tooele, Utah; and Umatilla, Oregon. They are designated by the acronyms ANCDF, PBCDF, TOCDF, and UMCDF, respectively. Although the facilities all use the same technology and are in many ways identical, each has a particular set of challenges.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!