why pay twice? the importance of holding your ldar contractor accountable

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Why Pay Twice?The importance of holding your LDAR contractor Accountable

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Brian Whitley

• I, Brian Whitley, have over 20 years of experience in LDAR and BWON related affairs. I am currently the Director of Operations for EMSI and also act as an expert consultant for the Department of Justice. My efforts in the environmental industry have me consulting across the United States. My most recent work includes a state of the art compliance strategy for China, concerning efficient ways to clean up their air quality. I have also developed a management system that can instantly increase your time management and awareness of your facilities overall compliance status.

Why Pay Twice?The importance of holding your LDAR contractor accountable

• Evolution of LDAR– Paper logs

– 10,000 PPM leak definitions– Drill and Tap– “Cold Turkey” changes

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• Evolution of LDAR– Limited MOC Program

– Moonlight MOCs– 180 day implementation times

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• Evolution of LDAR– Audits of the 90s– Lack of QA/QC after T/A– Skip periods– Audits of the late 90s and early 2000s

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• Consent Decrees– The 1st consent decrees (CD) emphasized

accountability– WHAT LEVELS?

– DOR responsible person

– Trainer

– Time stamps

– Submittal of electronic data

– Monitoring accuracy

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• Consent Decrees– The 1st consent decrees emphasized

accountability– WHY?

– Ignorance is not the answer

– We are our brothers keeper

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• Consent Decrees– The 1st consent decrees emphasized


– Overall lack of responsibility in the state of the LDAR programs

– Everyone doing as they are told and not asking questions– HES professionals are wearing multiple hats and leave the

guidance of the program up to a technician level LDAR individual

– Not the plan but it is the reality. How?

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• Consent Decrees– The 1st consent decree emphasized


– Then you receive an audit or hire a new professional that starts to ask questions and BOOM!!! The program goes up in smoke.– Title V deviations

– NOVs

– CD

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• Consent Decrees– The 2nd consent decrees demanded

accountability– Annual audits

– Signed statements of calibration and work product from the technician

– Mandatory replacement over 250 PPM

– Increases penalties of violations

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• Is there a better way?– The marriage between you and your contractor is

based on what?– Price?

– Lack of choice? (Minimal contractors in your region)

– Convenience? (You wear too many hats to worry about LDAR)– Out of site, out of mind– No news is good news

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• Is there a better way?– Is there a such thing as the “perfect marriage

” between you and your contractor?– What if?

– The LDAR contractor had regulatory professionals that could help you decide on facility interpretation?

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– The LDAR contractor had its ear to the ground reading through local forums and green room reports, environmental responder, etc. You can take advantage of your contractor looking for lessons already learned.

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– The LDAR contractor has trained professionals that will accept responsibility for their error and pay the penalty that is assessed with it

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” between you and your contractor?– What would be the output of that kind of program?

– What level of vested interest would the participants have?

– Indeed we are our brothers keeper

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• Is there a better way?– Is there a such thing as the “perfect marriage”

between you and your contractor?– What would be the output of that kind of program?

– Would we be more compliant? – If the vendor were responsible for the fine if one of the techs did

not sign the certification statement, would we put extra QA measures in place to protect us?

– In fact, what about all of the responsibilities that are bestowed upon us from the facility? Would you work out a QA/QC plan?

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” between you and your contractor?– What would this structure look like?

– Pertinent parties review the stipulated penalties section of the consent decree together to discuss ownership and liability.

– Failure to preform Method 21– Failure to follow Method 21 as per designed schedule outline in

the CD– Failure to record time stamps – Failure to implement the training program– Failure to QA/QC the data quarterly

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” between you and your contractor? – What would this structure look like?

– Discuss appropriate QA/QC measures for taking ownership of assigned responsibilities

– Monitor the progress of the program monthly

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• Assurance vs. Insurance– Which do you prefer?

– Assurance- A pledge or promise used to give confidence and remove doubt, a positive declaration.

– Insurance- Coverage by contract in which a party agrees to indemnify or reimburse another for a loss that occurs under the terms of the contract.

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• Assurance vs. Insurance– What foundation do you want your LDAR program

built on?– If it were me and I was a facility, I would want both!

– Assure me through a robust QA/QC system, choosing the appropriate KPI’s that my work is getting done correctly.

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• Assurance vs. Insurance– If it were me and I was a facility, I would want

both!– Assure me through proof that the training of the employees in the

field had the backing of the company and the detail that eliminates fines and potential compliance risk.

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both!– Assure me through properly managing your turnover so that I won’t

have an LDAR dynasty in 2014, but with the loss of a few people be in the LDAR poor house in 2015.

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both!– And when all else fails, ensure me that if I have entrusted and

paid you for a responsibility, you will foot the bill and cover the cost of your breakdown in your compliance system.

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why pay twice? the importance of holding your ldar contractor accountable

Documents

ldar contractor accountableis

ldar programseveryone

consent decrees cd

better way

perfect marriage

overall lack of responsibility

work product

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