U.S. Department of Agriculture Departmental Administration

Hazardous Waste Management Checklist

This checklist is for the evaluation of policies, management systems, and practices for hazardous and solid waste and related programs within the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

• Introduction

  Checklist - Management Systems and Practices

  Checklist - Technical Compliance

  Appendix of Technical Terms

Introduction

1. Purpose

This checklist is intended primarily to support USDA offices and agencies in meeting their management responsibilities for routine oversight and periodic evaluation in the subject environmental areas. While it is intended for use at all organizational levels, it is not sufficiently detailed to serve as a stand-alone inspection or audit checklist, as a substitute for legal advice on points of law, or as a replacement for an environmental audit program, although it may identify the need for such an audit program. This checklist can help managers and supervisors identify applicable requirements and design and implement management systems and compliance programs. It can also guide review of these systems and programs and help managers protect their agency, facilities, and themselves from liability and claims.

2. Need

Criminal penalties can result from failure to comply with the requirements of applicable environmental laws. Individuals can be prosecuted, fined, and held personally liable for their actions. Agencies are actually prohibited from defending their employees in such cases, because criminal violations of environmental laws are outside every employee's scope of duties. Such employees are treated no differently than any other Federal employee charged with a criminal offense. In addition, agencies may not pay the attorneys fees or other legal expenses of employees prosecuted for environmental crimes.

Failure to comply with applicable environmental laws can also result in significant civil liabilities for the employee's agency and the United States. Damaged or destroyed facilities, illness or death among employees or the public, and harm to the environment can result from improper use, handling, storage, and disposal of hazardous materials, wastes, and other chemical, biological, or radioactive materials. Consequently, failure to comply with environmental laws may result in adverse personnel actions taken by agencies against the responsible employees.

Recent OIG audits have found varying degrees of compliance within USDA, and the audit reports have recommended improving oversight of environmental programs, operations, and facilities. The types of oversight, reviews, inspections, and audits facilitated by this checklist are needed to assist in meeting Federal requirements and Departmental policies on environmental pollution prevention, control, and abatement.

3. Scope

This checklist is a tool for taking a quick look at the existence and effectiveness of USDA office and agency programs and efforts to implement and comply with:

A. The Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as further amended by the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 (HSWA) and the Federal Facility Compliance Act of 1992 (collectively referred to as "RCRA"), and the RCRA implementing regulations, which are codified as Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR), Parts:

257 and 258 for nonhazardous solid wastes,
260-279 for hazardous wastes and used oil, and
280 for underground storage tanks;

B. The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and its implementing regulations, which are codified as 40 CFR 302, 355, 370, and 372;

C. The Oil Pollution Act (OPA), Executive Order 12777, related parts of the Clean Water Act, and their implementing regulations, which are codified in several parts of 40 CFR, principally 40 CFR 112;

D. The Pollution Prevention Act (PPA);

E. Executive Order 12088 (E.O. 12088), Federal Compliance with Pollution Control Standards;

F. E.O. 12856, Federal Compliance with Right-to-Know Laws and Pollution Prevention Requirements; and

G. FEDPLAN (formerly OMB Circular A-106).

This checklist does not cover the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). USDA has developed a separate checklist for CERCLA provisions. Furthermore, the checklist does not specifically describe other Federal requirements or State and local requirements that Executive Orders and complete or partial waivers of sovereign immunity have made applicable in virtually all cases.

4. Objectives

The objectives of this checklist are to:

A. Provide a uniform framework for staff assistance visits, program monitoring activities, inspections, evaluations, and other reviews of USDA office and agency programs, facilities, and activities;

B. Focus management time and attention on these programs;

C. Facilitate examination of the status, functional effectiveness, and integration of these programs into overall management systems;

D. Identify compliance problems and their possible causes;

E. Provide documentation with which to identify and provide resources to address deficiencies;

F. Establish standardized minimum program components;

G. Recognize outstanding programs, procedures, efforts, and accomplishments and make them available throughout USDA and Government; and

H. Identify improvements and replacements for program components and procedures deemed unnecessary, outdated, or inefficient, all of this within the scope of the subject program areas.

5. Structure of this Checklist

This checklist is divided into management and technical sections. The first is used to examine the nature and adequacy of management systems. It addresses specific aspects of those systems, such as policies, procedures, training, oversight, and evaluation. It is intended to help managers ensure regulatory compliance and to start thinking "beyond compliance."

The technical section helps assess the degree to which facilities, operations, and activities are complying with applicable requirements. The parts of this section generally correspond to specific program areas (e.g., underground storage tanks and hazardous waste management). The technical section attempts to strike a useful balance between technical detail and general principles.

6. Summary

This checklist seeks to identify and document, preferably through cooperative effort among the various levels within USDA, the existence and functional adequacy of specific environmental management and technical programs. Where weaknesses exist, report preparers will recommend corrective measures. Where they do not, outstanding efforts or accomplishments will be noted. In both cases, documentation of oversight will be created.

This checklist should serve as an educational tool, helping managers, supervisors, and employees gain a common understanding of acceptable programs within the scope of this checklist. When used, it should help in preparing annual budget requests and other reports. When followed by the necessary corrective measures, use of this checklist should help assure that USDA, its agencies, facilities, and employees are identifying and addressing the environmental requirements, administrative procedures, and compliance problems that could be cited during inspections by Federal or State regulatory agencies.

7. Instructions for Completing the Checklist

In the management section, ten management areas are identified. Under each, several "benchmarks" of good management practice are provided. For each "benchmark," indicate whether that practice is followed at that organizational level (e.g., agency, office, facility, unit, manager, or supervisor) by entering "Y" (for "yes") or "N" (for "no") on the line preceding the statement. In determining the proper response, consider all relevant documentation, information, and verbal responses provided by the facility or unit being reviewed, as well as the guidelines in the appendix. Space has been provided for descriptions and examples.

In the technical section, indicate whether each numbered statement describes one or more conditions, facilities, units, operations, activities, or problems present at, applicable to, controlled by, subject to, or characteristic of the organizational entity, facility, activity, or operation being reviewed by entering "Y" (for yes) or "N" (for no) on the line preceding the statement. In determining the proper response, consider all relevant documentation, information, and verbal responses provided by the facility or unit being reviewed, as well as the regulatory references, definitions, and interpretations contained in the Appendix. If the response is "yes," complete any lettered statements by entering a "yes" or "no," or providing the indicated information.

In both cases, important or relevant documentation used in selecting the response should be noted.

[Disclaimer: The policies and procedures described in this document are intended solely for the guidance of employees of USDA offices and agencies. They are not intended and cannot be relied upon to create any rights, substantive or procedural, enforceable by any party in litigation with the United States.]

Checklist - Management Systems and Practices

The USDA Hazardous Waste Management CHECKLIST for the evaluation of 'management systems and practices' is available to be downloaded.

It is saved as a WordPerfect v.6.1 file using the data compression utility PKZIP from PKWARE, Inc.

Checklist - Technical Compliance

The USDA Hazardous Waste Management CHECKLIST for the evaluation of 'technical compliance' is available to be downloaded.

It is saved as a WordPerfect v.6.1 file using the data compression utility PKZIP from PKWARE, Inc.

Appendix of Technical Terms

The USDA Hazardous Waste Management APPENDIX of terms used in the evaluation of 'technical compliance' is available to be downloaded.

It is saved as a WordPerfect v.6.1 file using the data compression utility PKZIP from PKWARE, Inc.