Compliance Audit of Clinical Waste Incinerator

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Dec
17

Director Rob Holmes acted as the lead auditor in a WISenvironmental team commissioned by Veolia Environmental Services in the last quarter of 2010 to carry out an audit of the clinical waste incineration operations at the Tyseley Energy-from-Waste facility at Tyseley, Birmingham. The audit followed the much delayed publication in July 2010 of Environment Agency guidance EPR5.07 Clinical Waste in the ‘How to Comply with your Environmental Permit’ series and followed on from the need of VES to determine the level of compliance of current activities in relation to the ‘appropriate measures’ identified in the new guidance. WISenvironmental audited and reported on the following activities:

• Measures undertaken pre-acceptance and upon delivery of the waste to the site;
• Measures for waste storage and handling; and
• Measures for the control of emissions to air, surface water and sewer

The audit was carried out during a four-day period of assessment during which, by processes of observation, examination of documents and from interviews, two senior auditors collected the information necessary through to verify that operational controls conformed with permit and ‘appropriate measures’ requirements or to identify ‘findings’ where operational controls were not in conformity. A plan to address the findings and to implement corrective actions has been drawn up on site.

Expert Witness Engagement

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Dec
17

Director Rob Holmes has been engaged as an exert witness by the Dublin law firm A L Goodbody in support of a civil action scheduled to be heard in the Dublin High Court in Spring 2011. This is being taken by the law firm’s Dutch client who is suing for damages resulting from the alleged misclassification and mismanagement of hazardous waste exported from a pharmaceuticals manufacturing facility in Ireland to an allegedly inappropriate and inadequately permitted treatment facility in Belgium under Transfrontier Shipment regulations. Process residues from the treatment facility were supplied to the animal feed chain. The matter came to light when Dutch pig farmers complained to their regulators of health problems in their animals and the identification of contaminants allegedly from the treatment facility in pig feed in mid-2002. The action is being taken against the waste producer and their waste brokers at the time of the incident.