Notes

Outline

City of Gastonia Wastewater Treatment Division Environmental Management System Presented By: Beth Eckert, EMS Coordinator

Overview of the WWTD Two wastewater treatment facilities Each plant houses a wastewater laboratory which performs thousand of tests annually Approximately 11.0 million gallons of wastewater treated daily Pretreatment regulates 23 SIUs; 6 general permits issued Biosolids staff treats and land applies residuals from both treatment plants at ~1958 privately owned acres and on ~600 acres at a  City owned Resource Recovery Farm Division staff = ~51 employees

Approval from Gastonia’s City Council Several members were businessmen, who were familiar with ISO standards, the consistency of application and policy it brings to an organization and recognized the benefit to the City Good environmental stewardship Above and beyond compliance with laws and regulations Proactive - not reactionary Recognized intangibles, such as improved public image

How Would Gastonia Fund Development of an ISO 14001 EMS? Became a pilot program for the NC DPPEA program Each pilot program participant received an average of 8 hours of NCDPPEA Staff time a week for 18 months Received a $5,000 grant to help with associated cost

Who will Develop the EMS? Management selected the following personnel: EMS Coordinator - Division Staff Member EMS Team - Supervisors from each area and Assistant Superintendent of WWTD Ideas and suggestions were sought from all employees NC DPPEA Staff Member - John Burke

External EMS Training EMS Coordinator was trained by an external company on ISO 14001 Funded through grant money supplied by NC DPPEA EMS Internal Auditors were trained through an external company 4 auditors - one from each area of the Division John Burke worked out a coordinated class with other pilot programs to obtain a cheaper price Funded through grant money supplied by NC DPPEA

Internal EMS Training EMS Team was trained on the ISO 14001 standard and EMS awareness by the EMS Coordinator and John Burke Other WWTD Staff were trained on EMS Awareness by the EMS Coordinator and John Burke Division has 3 shifts operating 7 days a week

Initial EMS Development EMS Coordinator and John Burke developed the EMS procedures John had previously worked on a pilot program so we had a starting point for each area of the standard. EMS Coordinator, John Burke, Supervisors and/or Area staff wrote monitoring and measuring, operational controls, and emergency preparedness and response procedures who knows how your operation runs better than the people who run it

Initial EMS Development Time EMS procedures and forms ~5 hours a week for 6 months, from development to approval, for 1 City Staff member and an hour per week for another person for approval time 17 procedures along with all needed forms and EMS policy Monitoring and measuring, operational controls, and emergency preparedness and response procedures A total of 120 procedures have been developed to address these areas many of which required the creation of multiple forms an average of 2 - 3 hours per week for 17 months  for 8 City Staff members

Initial EMS Implementation Although our kick-off meeting was in February 1999, implementation did not begin until January 2000 Which included training of all Division Staff members on EMS policy, corrective and preventative action program, communications, document control, legal requirements, etc…  and implementation of these programs Training of Division staff - average of 8 hours per week for a month

Time Consuming Steps of EMS Implementation Policy Development - 3 staff members 4 meetings of 1 1/2 hours each Initial aspect and impact analysis and ranking - 6 staff members 3 hours per week for 3 months Procedure training - ~ 32 hours Document Control - 2 staff members ~4 hours per week. C/PAR meeting 8 staff members 1 1/2 hours a month Management Review Board Meeting 1 1/2 hours a quarter Area  procedure training - 8 staff members ~1 1/2 hours per week for 17 months

Average Time Spent on EMS Related Tasks Now Most employees spend an average of 1 hour / month either being trained, doing training, updating procedures, or writing c/pars Supervisors spend an average of 5-6 hours per month writing or responding to c/pars, c/par meetings, updating procedures, training, MRB meetings, audits, etc… EMS Coordinator - 100% of time maintaining WWTD EMS and expanding the EMS into the Field Operations group

Benefits of the EMS

Benefits of the EMS Enhanced cooperation among staff Consistency Training program with a tracking system Document control program Centralized list of Legal and Other Requirements Prioritization of efforts based on our assessment Checking and Reviewing Process Additional Benefit - EPA accepted the EMS documentation and/or descriptions as the WWTD’s portion of the MOM program

Enhanced Cooperation within the Division and with Other Departments Inter-Departmental Cooperation Agreement City is committed to the implementation of the EMS and works to together to ensure the requirements are met which by design of the EMS ensures that all requirements the day to day operations are performed Improved Communication through programs such as the C/PAR and Management Review Programs

Consistency within the Organization Documented procedures enhanced the existing on the job training process by new employees having a point of reference other than personnel Also, new employees are trained the same way by each staff member Consistency despite turnover

Improved Training Program City Staff have always received training on how to perform their jobs. However, retraining was not always effectively done staff were typically missed during this process no documentation of who received training and who didn’t no signing off by staff to ensure that they understood the training no evaluation of the staff member by supervisors to ensure they are performing the task per the procedure All of these have been added to our training program through the EMS

Training Matrix

Document Control Foreign Concept? Every memo, procedure, and/or permit had many versions with no way for the average person to know which is current and which is not Now our documents are controlled by green paper, blue signatures and a read only drive accessible to everyone in the Division A listing of where these controlled copies are located is incorporated into a document control matrix Controlled copies are updated upon the document being modified

Document Control Matrix

Centralized listing of legal and Other Requirements

Prioritization of Efforts We have been able to systematically review our activities and determine what is significant to our organization and put programs in place to address these issue Through procedures or objectives and target - either way we are addressing what is important to us as a City, which includes input from citizens

Ranking of Significant Environmental Aspects and Impacts

Checking and Reviewing Process Corrective/Preventative Action Program has improved the communication from Trades Helper to Director of Public works Auditing program - internal check to ensure that everyone is doing what we said we were going to do including management Management Review Board - a chance for each area to personally inform the Director of Public Works and the Superintendent about the status of there area - Good and Bad

Corrective/Preventative Action Reports All employees are encouraged to complete C/PARs, as the result of: system failure procedure deviation recommendation for improvement, etc... C/PARs are reviewed by the management review board C/PARS remain open until it is determined by the Superintendent that sufficient action was taken and completed

Internal EMS Audit Program 4 Auditors - one from each area Each area of the Division including management is audited semi-annually Non-conformances are caught internally so that they are not pointed out by an external auditor

Management Review Board Quarterly review of: Status of the EMS procedures and training Results of the monitoring and measuring actions of aspects and impacts Progress on objectives and targets Audit results Assesses the continuing suitability and adequacy of the EMS

Intangible Benefits of the EMS Public awareness of the City's commitment to environmental excellence Improved relationships with State authorities

Certification? The WWTD obtained third party certification as of June 15, 2001. Why? Relatively inexpensive - ~$7,475 for initial registration and $1,300 for six months surveillance  Recognition by a Third Party of the City’s efforts Potential for Regulatory Relief? Knowing that a third party is going to be looking over your shoulder ensures that Staff does not get slack with regards to the EMS program

Summary The City of Gastonia has put a lot of hard work into the EMS Program, but feels that the benefits to the future of the organization far outweigh the efforts expended. So much so that the City is currently expanding the EMS into our Field Operations area which encompasses the water distribution and sewer collection, facility maintenance, and customer service groups