Compliance
As part of the Environmental Excellence Awards application, Practice Greenhealth wants to know whether your organization has any current US EPA compliance violations. Applicants with significant violations of environmental regulations are not eligible for an Award. The credibility of the Practice Greenhealth Awards program is dependent upon not recognizing organizations with serious, unresolved environmental compliance violations, even when they have done great work in other areas.
Many applicants assume that if they are not personally aware of any violations, their organization probably doesn’t have any, but this is not always true. In past years, some really great applications had to be turned down due to outstanding or significant environmental compliance violations.
Practice Greenhealth conducts a compliance screen on all Award applicants, but we also request that you spend some time as part of your Award application process finding out if your organization has environmental compliance issues. If you find violations on record, please contact us with details so we can help you evaluate their significance or likelihood of creating a barrier to receiving an Award. Not all problems prevent your organization from winning an Award.
Determining your compliance status
One step you can take to determine your compliance is to ask around. Environmental compliance may be overseen by several departments, so you will need to reach out to Environmental Health & Safety, Environmental Services, Risk Management, Legal, Facilities Management, Engineering, Regulatory Affairs, and Plant Operations. Check with these departments to get any pertinent information, including:
- When was the most recent violation?
- What was the nature of any violation(s)?
- What steps were put in place to remedy any violation(s)?
- Is your facility back in compliance?
- Was there any real environmental damage done?
- Was there the possibility of environmental damage?
- Was a fine assessed for the violation(s)?
- When did the facility report to the regulatory body about this remedy?
- Has the facility fulfilled its obligations regarding this violation?
Additionally, you can use the EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) tool to view your compliance history. Follow these simple directions:
- Go to http://www.epa-echo.gov/echo/
- In the blue area on the left hand side of the homepage, click on All Data Search. This will take you to a second screen. You can fill in identification in Facility Characteristics and/or Geographic Location to find your facility. Please be aware that you might have to “play with this a bit” to find your facility. The facility name listed in ECHO may not be what you typically use for your facility. Most hospitals are inECHO, so if you don’t find it at first, keep trying.
- Or you can try searching ECHO In My Community on the homepage by entering your zip code or address.
- Either way, find your organization in the Search Results list and click on the link to get a Detailed Facility Report
- As you review the data in the Detailed Facility Report, first check the address to make sure you have the correct facility, then scroll down to the Three Year Compliance Status by Quarter.
- Use the Data Dictionary to determine what the fields mean. For example, Under AIRCompliance Status, you will find that the code C-INSP means the facility is “in compliance, based on inspection”
What to do if you have a violation
If your organization has a violation in the calendar year of the Award (E.G. compliance for the entire year 2010 is considered for the 2011 Awards), ask around at your facility to find out the details of the violation, then please check with Practice Greenhealth to determine if you are still eligible for an Award. Practice Greenhealth will consider the gravity, date of occurrence, and resolution status of any violations and may still choose to consider an Award.
Please contact Lin Hill, Awards Coordinator, at 866-998-9973 with any questions about compliance violations and Practice Greenhealth awards eligibility.
