Industrial Emissions Monitoring Case Study
Project: Industrial emissions monitoring
Client: Oxley Developments Ltd.
The Challenge
Following a change in the solvents used in its manufacturing processes, Oxley Developments Limited required a reassessment of personal exposure to operatives and, with respect to their ISO14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) accreditation, the likelihood of any environmental impacts.
The Solution
A programme of monitoring was conducted to quantify workplace exposure to solvent vapours and emissions rates from the processes. Workplace exposure limits were found to be high for some activities and low for others. Remedial action and the use of personal protective equipment was recommended for the high exposure operations. Following the implimentation of remedial measures exposure was reassessed and found to be reduced below the workplace exposure limits but remained at a level where a programme of continued assessment and lowering of exposure levels was recommended.
Emissions to the atmosphere from the monitored processes were considered to be high to moderate. WSC recommended that an H1 screening assessment, consistent with the approaches described within EA Horizontal Guidance IPPC H1 (Environmental Assessment and Appraisal of BAT, 2002). It was felt that this would provide a quantitative assessment of the impact of solvent emissions from the site as a whole and demonstrate an improvement to the companies EMS. In addition, despite the company not being regulated by IPPC it was felt that this would be an opportunity to pre-empt any changes to their regulatory status.
The Benefits
- Environmental and worker impacts are minimised
- Problems are identified in a timely manner to allow for logistical and financial planning of remedial work prior to further regulation