What Distinguishes EWMI?

EWMI is much more than a janitorial company or in-house cleaning team. As a professional environmental management firm, EWMI brings the highest level of safety, professionalism, and service to every job. Our Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA)-certified team has worked on HAZMAT sites and projects for over 25 years.

EWMI’s entire Field Team is OSHA 40-hour trained and certified. We have an impressive $25 million umbrella insurance program, a PEMA-certified team, an A-901 license, and are licensed medical waste transporters. Can you say that about your janitorial or internal cleaning team?

What does EWMI Do?

EWMI can perform either fogging or hand-wiping to disinfect your facility. Our team utilizes DZ-7, a pH neutral, phosphate-free, quaternary ammonium formulation designed to provide effective cleaning, deodorizing, and disinfection for any facility.

After disinfection is completed, workers may return to their job immediately with no wait time.

EWMI / RRI meets or exceeds all procedures developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, and other federal and international agencies for COVID-19 preparedness, mitigation, and disinfection.

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In a critical situation, when time and safety are imperative, EWMI will be there with a fast, efficient, and complete solution. Trust the experts. Contact EWMI 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling 484-275-6900 or emailing info@ewmi.com. 

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The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) sets the standard for Hazardous Materials Teams that provide emergency services to counties within the State. As Carbon County’s Hazmat Team, Rapid Response / EWMI undergo the recertification process once every four years. The PEMA recertification process involves a full scale, level A hazmat exercise.

The exercise is evaluated by representatives of several State agencies including PEMA, the PA Department of Environmental Protection, the PA Department of Health and the Office of the State Fire Commissioner. The exercise is also witnessed by the Carbon County EMA Director (CCEMA).

We sat down with Ryan Shelly, RRI’s Response Manager, to learn more about the exercise and the PEMA recertification process.

RRI Hazmat Exercise: Background

In the exercise, a local water authority representative heard a hissing sound coming from a building containing two chlorine cylinders during a routine inspection. The worker, who was positioned upwind and could not smell anything, stopped before entering the building and called 911 to report the possible release of chlorine. “Hopefully this is the way that the worker would respond to this type of situation in the real world,” said Shelly. “After 911 was called, RRI was dispatched to the scene for potential chlorine gas leak.”

RRI Hazmat Team Arrives

Once on the scene, the Hazmat Branch Director met with the Incident Commander (played by a member of CCEMA) and the water authority worker to learn more about the situation. “There is an interview process associated with every hazmat response,” said Shelly. “We need to obtain as much information about the incident as we can. We spoke to the worker to determine the layout of the room, including where and how the cylinders were stored, what other chemicals were present in the room, and any other pertinent information. We then created a map that was presented to the Entry Team to ensure an efficient response to the leak.”

As information on the scene is gathered, roles are assigned to team members. These positions fall into the chain of command structure outlined by the National Incident Management System (NIMS). They include the Hazmat Branch Director, Hazmat Safety Officer, Entry Unit Leader, Decontamination Unit Leader, Medical/Rehab Unit Leader and a Technical Specialist.  Each member of the team played an important role in RRI’s response.

The Technical Specialist worked with the Safety Officer to determine the proper response and decontamination methodology. “Together, the team researched multiple sources and reference material on the chemical to figure out the best possible response,” recalled Shelly. “Their findings, along with site conditions including weather and other factors, enable them to make informed decisions on PPE selection, evacuation and isolation considerations, and decontamination methods. They needed to research a minimum of three sources backing their decisions.”

RRI Hazmat Team Enters

Once the Entry Team was fully briefed of the situation and the Decontamination Unit was ready, the team suited up in fully-encapsulating level A hazmat suits and entered the building. A small label that was hidden on one of the chlorine tanks indicated where the leak was located. This forced the team to search for the leak just as they would in a real incident. Based on the location of the leak, the Team determined the best device from the Chlorine ‘A’ Kit. Once the Team successfully stopped the leak and ventilated the room, the crew performed air monitoring and determined all was clear.  The Team then proceeded to the Contamination Reduction Zone (CRZ) to be decontaminated by staff outfitted in Level B PPE. 

RRI Hazmat Passes the Evaluation

At the end of the exercise, the State Evaluation Team met with RRI Senior Leadership to discuss their assessment. “We were told that we performed at a very high level and that PEMA would be recertifying us for another four years,” said Shelly. “It was great to hear all of the positive feedback from all four State Agencies. It really gives the team a sense of pride. We have a great group of guys and everyone involved deserves praise.”

EWMI and RRI are proud of the teamwork, organization, and preparedness that went into making the recertification a success!

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• Know Your Space
• Know Your Hazards
• Train for Success
• Always be Prepared

Following these four rules can help avoid hazards and ensure safety within confined spaces.

What is a Confined Space?

Knowing your space is critical for working safely. Before delving into specific concerns of confined spaces, you must first understand what constitutes a confined space.

According to Occupational Health & Safety Magazine, a confined space is “an area that is large enough and configured such that an employee or person can bodily enter and perform some type of work; has limited or restricted means for entry or exit and is not designed for continuous occupancy”.

Confined spaces can be sewers, manholes, pipelines, wells or trenches – and most require a permit for entry due to the hazards associated with working in a confined space.

What do you Need to Work in a Confined Space?

Knowing the hazards associated with confined space, and what is required to work within them, can keep your team safe. Some confined spaces are “Permit Required”. A Permit-Required Confined Space is a space that meets the requirements of a confined space and has one or more of the following characteristics:

• Contains or has a potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere,
• Contains a material that has the potential for engulfing an entrant,
• Has an internal configuration such that an entrant could be trapped or asphyxiated by inwardly converging walls, or by a floor which slopes downward and tapers to a smaller cross-section, or,
• Contains any other recognized health or safety hazards.

EWMI treats all confined spaces as “Permit Required” to maximize health and safety precautions and practices when entering the space.

Confined spaces exhibit dangerous potential, and Permit-Required Confined Spaces require special safety measures, precautions and consideration prior to entry by the entire team.

How can you Work Safely in Confined Spaces?

Training for success and preparation are the final steps to safeguarding any team working within a confined space. EWMI excels in confined spaces thanks to these considerations.

EWMI works in a variety of confined spaces including but not limited to frac tanks, vertical and horizontal tanks, underground tanks and vaults. EWMI has industry-leading safety protocols; confined space entry is no exception, and our safety measures are best practice in the field.

Regardless of project-specific considerations, the best way to work safe is always being prepared. At EWMI, we research site and space conditions prior to beginning work, ensuring that our Safety team is aware of all potential hazards so that proper mitigation techniques are used.  EWMI completes a Confined Space Entry Permit prior to starting work which includes all pre-entry setup and monitoring.  Proper documentation is prepared including a site-specific health and safety plan and safe work permits.  The team is also armed with pertinent documents including SDS’s and Hazardous Substance Fact Sheets.

Before EWMI’s field team enters a confined space, the Safety Supervisor will perform air monitoring using a four-gas meter, which measures oxygen content, lower explosive limit, hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide to ensure that the space is safe for entry. In addition to this monitoring, EWMI also uses photoionization detectors, colorimetric tubes and other tools depending on site-specific hazards and conditions.  These conditions within the confined space are monitored continuously throughout work, and readings are taken every fifteen minutes and recorded on the permit.

In addition to these conditions during work, EWMI also utilizes a rigorous training regimen to instill safety values and knowledge of hazards prior to working. This training includes recognition of permit-required confined spaces, modes, signs and symptoms associated with the potential hazards in the space, use of confined space entry safety equipment and monitors, proper procedures for safe entry and exit and the ability to recognize and react to emergencies.

By following the rules of knowing your space, knowing your hazards, training for success and always being prepared, you can ensure that your team works safely in any confined space.

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How did EWMI achieve this prestigious honor, and what distinguishes the CRSC award from accolades we’ve received in the past? We sat down with Joe Fittos, EWMI’s Director of Health and Safety, to learn more.

Proactive Safety

Our use of leading rather than lagging indicators was a critical factor in CRSC’s decision to honor EWMI with the Award of Excellence. While many companies simply react to hazards when they arise, EWMI is different – we work to identify potential problems before they cause work delays or incidents on the jobsite.

Using our Blue Card program, which allows employees to commend their peers and voice their safety concerns, the Safety team at EWMI identifies trends on our jobs across the country.

This summer, on a California project, the Safety team noticed several Blue Cards mentioning snakes onsite. “Instead of waiting for a potential recordable injury or issue, we took proactive action,” said Fittos. “We did a stand-down with our crews and educated them on the proper way to deal with snakes, and instructed them to use their Stop Work Authority if a professional needed to be brought in.”

EWMI’s proactive, rather than reactive, safety strategy distinguished us from our competitors in the CRSC award process.

Defining our Metrics

Along with typical safety metrics, CRSC looked at subjective measures of safety companies competing for the award. When measuring vehicle and driver safety, incidents can be overlooked due to a lax definition of “preventable accidents”.

CRSC looked at the total miles driven by EWMI crews without a preventable accident – and asked us to provide our definition of a preventable accident.

Our team was proud to report that we had driven 1,052,741 miles without an accident, along with our stringent definition of a preventable accident.

Safety as a Core Cultural Value

EWMI goes above and beyond to keep our crews across the nation safe. “We don’t just talk about safety like it’s some abstract concept,” Fittos said. “It’s not just our Safety team that views safety as our Core value – it’s a value engrained in every person that works for this company. From the moment they walk in the door, they understand that safety is the standard and expectation.”

Another defining factor during the award review process was training, which has instilled a deep-seated safety culture at EWMI.

“There are a lot of companies that will put new employees in front of a computer for a few hours and then throw them into the field,” Fittos explained. “That’s just not how EWMI does things. We have a two- to four-week safety program before anyone goes into the field, depending on the employee’s safety background walking in the door. That training, along with the Blue Card program and mentorship from current employees, ensures that everyone gets home safe.”

Best-in-Class Safety with EWMI

If you want your next job done right, reach out to EWMI. We’re a full-service environmental management partner with a broad range of capabilities and a strong focus on safety. To learn more, reach out to a member of our team – we’d be happy to answer any of your questions!

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At EWMI, safety is our core value. We take pride in our stellar safety record, which includes a 0.0 Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR) in 2018 and a 0.2 average TRIR over the last five years. We’ve also been honored with the Pennsylvania Governor’s Award for Safety Excellence, a highly competitive award that commends comprehensive, exceptional safety programs in the state.

Environmental Waste Minimization, Inc., sets the safety standard for environmental management companies, but our safety strategies can be employed in any industry. Check out these three simple tips to improve the safety strategy at your company for the good of your people, your projects and your reputation.

Empowering Employees with Stop Work Authority

While robust written safety plans lay the groundwork for a safe worksite, they cannot always account for unexpected events in the field. An environment can become hazardous at any moment and employees need to be trained to recognize and react to potential danger.

At EWMI, every employee is issued a “Stop Work Authority” card when they’re brought onto the team. If an employee observes something potentially unsafe at any time on the jobsite, they can utilize their Stop Work Authority card. This allows for immediate work stoppage.

After a Stop Work Authority card is used, the potential hazard is investigated by EWMI’s Safety team. If an issue is discovered, work does not resume until the hazard is mitigated. If the investigation shows that everything on-site was safe, there are no repercussions for the employee who used their Stop Work Authority card.

Stop Work Authority is an important facet of EWMI’s safety strategy because it empowers employees to open a line of communication without fear of repercussions and allows hazards to be resolved before anyone gets hurt. 

Blue Card Program Incentivizes Behavior Based Safety

Behavior Based Safety (BBS) is a hot topic in the field, partially because it is challenging to implement effective BBS safety strategies. At EWMI, our Blue Card program embodies the tenets of Behavior Based Safety by allowing our employees to celebrate safe choices while learning from unsafe decisions.

Any time an employee, on-site contractor, sub-contractor or anyone on a jobsite makes a safe or unsafe decision, employees are encouraged to submit a Blue Card that describes the incident or safe act. 

If the act is unsafe, the employee filling out the Blue Card will note what corrective action was taken. If the Blue Card was for recognition of a safe act, the employee filling out the Blue Card will note the act and recognize the individual.

Both positive and negative Blue Cards are analyzed during EWMI’s state-certified Safety Meetings, allowing for employees to understand and consider their actions.

The Blue Card program is incentivized through a monthly giveaway – anyone that fills out a Blue Card recognizing safe or unsafe actions is entered into a drawing for prizes.

This proactive approach allows employees to recognize their peers for exceptional work and allows them to report anomalies that could potentially turn into incidents – saving employees from injuries down the road.

Training for Success

How can someone know how to be safe if they’re not educated? At EWMI, training and education is a critical factor in our safety success.

Every member of EWMI’s Field crew goes through at least two weeks of training as soon as they join the team. Here are just a few of the training sessions new employees at EWMI receive prior to working in the field:

• 40 hours HAZWOPER training, with annual eight-hour updates,
• Ten- and 30-hour OSHA training,
• CPR/AED First Aid training,
• DOT and RCRA training, and
• Driver training and equipment training.

This training ensures our employees are fully educated on best safety practices and EWMI safety culture prior to stepping into the field.

Information retention in the classroom can be difficult, especially with long days of learning. That’s why EWMI believes in constant re-education, hands-on learning and testing to ensure full information retention.

Hands-on training is also performed in the field to ensure employees are fully educated on any job, piece of equipment, proper body mechanics and potential dangers prior to performing any work.

EWMI’s safety strategy is built on empowering employees, incentivizing Behavior Based Safety and training for success. We’re proud to share our tips for safety strategy success, and are excited to continue improving safety culture at our company.

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