Training

At Burris Environmental Solutions, we teach both Classroom or One-on-One to bring your environmental employees up-to-speed on their job responsibilities.

Everyone's time is limited. If the employee cannot immediately use what they have learned at their site, then the training was not worthwhile. Burris Environmental Solutions focuses on teaching the students how to use the relevant regulations to do their job.

Standard Training

Does your facility have all training to meet 40 CFR 265.16 - Personnel Training, hazardous waste training for each person to whom this applies? As the rule states, this training must be provided to the "job title for each position at the facility related to hazardous waste management, and the name of the employee filling each job." Do you know that this might apply to many employees filling environmentally-related roles, such as your facility's:

• Environmental Manager and Staff
• Waste Container and Tank Users
• Waste Container and Tank Labelers
• Waste Container and Tank Inspectors
• Waste Container Movers, including forklift operators
• Satellite Accumulation Area Waste Container Users and
• Emergency Responders unless they receive training pursuant to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations 29 CFR 1910.120(p)(8) and 1910.120(q),

and that the training must be specialized to each of these positions.

Private One-on-One Training

This can be given on any topic should members of your staff lack the knowledge or the specific regulations required to do their jobs.

Specialized Training

Through the years of leading corporate environmental departments, Burris Environmental Solutions has developed specialized training in the following areas:

• How to Take Samples per Regulatory Standards

  Regulatory samples collected for Wastewater, Public Water Supply, Stormwater, Remediation, Spills, and Waste must meet Standard Methods protocols specific to each program in order to be accepted by the regulators. Whether collecting for a TPDES permit or a court case, all samples collected must be per protocol, then preserved, stored, labeled, and transported per the same. If you, or your staff, are collecting samples, you need to feel confident that it is being done correctly.
  
  On many occasions, we have witnessed professional sampling technicians collect samples incorrectly. For example, collectors have been witnessed using an incorrect sampling technique, into incorrect sample containers, packed containers with a lack of preservative, checked into the lab outside of acceptable holding time limits, and released above correct temperature limits or without proper chain-of-custody protocols. Any one of these errors can disqualify your sample from regulatory acceptability. The bottom line is that if the sample has one of the disqualifiers, it is the same as not having collected the sample. Many regulatory samples are disqualified by TCEQ inspectors and in court. Could this be happening at your facility? If your staff does not take the samples directly, are they able to verify that the contracted sampling technician is doing it correctly? This class will teach the proper containers to use, techniques, and preservatives for each program, followed by a hands-on sampling session.

• How to Read and Interpret Sample Data (Includes Understanding QA/QC Data that Might Disqualify Your Samples from Regulatory Acceptability)

  Burris Environmental Solutions established this training while working at a corporate facility and it was realized the staff did not know this information - almost a costly mistake. A contracted consulting company was drawing up a six-figure dollar bid for remediating contaminants identified from sample results - or so it appeared. When the lab's QA/QC results were analyzed, it was realized that two problems had repeatedly occurred. The first problem was that control sample jars identified contamination. The second problem the QA/QC data identified was the sample results which should have been disqualified, per Standard Methods protocols. Once the issues were identified and resampled using a second lab, it was found that the expensive remediation was not necessary. CONCLUSION: The clues were there, one just needed to know how to read them.

• Regulatory Requirements for Satellite Accumulation Areas

  This topic has been frequently requested by the regulated community.

• How to Establish, Correct, and Maintain a Notice of Registration (NOR)

  This topic is always in demand, and is always the first set of violations that a TCEQ inspector will find. Having an NOR that is correct is the first step of an inspection, and the item that will generally set the tone of a site's compliance, or not, for the duration of the inspection. Always keep your NOR correct.

• How to Prepare and Submit Annual Tier II Reports (due March 1 of each year)

  This class is usually taught in December or January in preparation of the submission deadline. This class is usually taught over the internet, for companies that have satellite field locations around the US. This class takes into account the differing state requirements for Tier II submittals.

• Waste Handling and Regulations at Drill Sites

  This class is specifically for employees handling environmental issues at drill pad locations. As drill pad sites fall under the regulatory authority of both the TCEQ and the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC), determining which unused chemicals and/or wastes fall under which agency's jurisdiction can be confusing, and potentially criminal if TCEQ-regulated waste is sent to a RRC-regulated disposal location, or vice versa. Spills at the site are even more confusing as they can be from chemicals or wastes, or leaking equipment and trucks - each of these intermixing TCEQ and RRC regulations. Do you know which ones to apply?

• How to Choose Appropriate Waste Vendors and Perform Background Checks

  This class is especially important for two reasons: money and compliance. Money - This teaches how to choose the correct type of disposal (landfill, incineration, neutralization, recycling, injection, wastewater treatment, etc.), then how to choose the waste vendors who will bring the least liability to your facility (cradle to grave) using background checks. Compliance - sending a particular waste to a disposal location that is not permitted to receive that specific type of waste, is a criminal offense. This class will teach how to conduct an appropriate Waste background check on disposers, using the EPA's/TCEQ's protocol of Major/Moderate/Minor classifications for violations to complete the task, the language essential for contracts with the disposer for liability protection will be covered.

• Environmental Corporate Standards

  Burris Environmental Solutions can establish training to meet the requirements of your company's standards regarding environmental issues. Does your company have standards for proper waste disposal, site environmental compliance, or regulatory training? Are these Standards part of the Corporate Audit Program? We can prepare a training curriculum designed specifically to meet your company's expectations.

• Specialized Curriculum for Specific Needs of Training

  If you have a training need not covered here, Burris Environmental Solutions can create a class for any environmental topic you would specifically like to be taught. After consulting with you concerning on what points you want covered, then again before rolling out the class, we will make sure the curriculum meets your needs before proceeding.

• What's My Job?

  Quite often, the staff handling environmental compliance at your company did not keep required recordkeeping, take required sampling, or apply required regulations. The usual excuse is "No one ever told me (them) to.” We have created personalized and extremely tailored training to each employee's assigned site(s) to cover exactly what their environmental responsibilities are.

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