July 26, 2002: We know you’re tired of compiling mountains of data, completing tedious reports, and attempting to decipher the State’s latest electronic reporting system upgrade. At Dixon Environmental, we can help by customizing the available technology to fit your needs and budget.

Recently, Dixon Environmental assisted a client with completing the semi-annual and annual compliance assurance monitoring requirements of their Title V permit. First, Dixon Environmental organized the Title V permit and incorporated all of the facility’s monitoring, record-keeping and reporting compliance requirements into an easy to understand table that clearly illustrated the relationship between permit requirement, compliance method, and required reporting. This information was used to develop standard operating procedures for record-keeping and reporting, and distributed to environmental, maintenance, and production staff. In addition, this table was used to develop a Microsoft Access database. The database was organized into four (4) major groups:

• Reference information,
• Requirement limits and standards,
• Compliance methods, and
• Reporting requirements.

In addition, Dixon Environmental also has the ability to provide “Smart Environmental Logging Systems”. Through a partnership with a software developer, Dixon Environmental can program and populate a database (MS Access) that instantly monitors your data as it is input. The system will immediately alert the operator to data that is out of compliance, thus enabling a much faster response time.

This system is particularly effective for batch plant operations where the same equipment may have different compliance requirements depending on the product being produced. For example, a facility was required to certify compliance on their control devices every 8 hours. The control devices had multiple batch plants feeding into it, and approximately 30 steps per batch. Therefore, in order to assure compliance for the manufacturing of hundreds of various products at this site, over 11,000 different operating limit comparisons were required.

At the example facility, approximately 50 operators utilize the smart environmental logging system software each day. The operators are required to enter 12 environmental logs for each 8-hour shift each day of the year. To use the smart environmental logging program, the operator opens the software and logs into the application. The software has the typical security designs. Once the smart environmental logging system program is open, the operator must select the appropriate log sheet. After the log sheet is selected, the product being manufactured is declared. Since the permit requires a snapshot of the process once every 8 hours, the operator declares the process step and enters the data for the required parameters.

Since the environmental log program is a “smart” program, the program tells the operator which parameters are required to be entered and which parameters are not required to be entered by the permit. The program also tells the operator the operating range and the permit range for each parameter for each step. If an entry is outside either the operating range or the permit range, the software immediately notifies the operator. The operator can change the entry if the entry is incorrect. Then the operator must confirm that the entry is the final entry to be committed to the environmental log database. If any final data entered is out of the operating or the permit range, the software makes immediate notification to the supervisor by both email and pager.

The purpose of the immediate notification is to fix the problem as soon as it occurs to avoid permit deviations. After the environmental log is complete, it is posted to the Microsoft Access database.

This software has a generic design that can be utilized in virtually any facility. The software is easy to program and is easy to use by the operators. The operators at the example facility have embraced the program. The database has a suite of reports that are provided. This suite of reports satisfies most compliance reporting needs and makes it is easy to determine compliance status for each log entry utilizing these reports. The system can also be enabled for use on the company Intranet.

Want to know more? Want to be on the cutting edge of compliance management? What do you have to lose? A few minutes with Dixon Environmental and we’ll unravel the data management web and lead you to significant savings. Call email info@dixonenvironmental.com today!