Environmental safety and employee safety apply to all types of businesses, even though smaller companies get smaller fines for some of the violations. For the aviation industry, enforcing regulations is the job of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). While these two agencies always appear to work in cohesion, they have distinct areas of interest.
The authority of OSHA is limited to the workplace. The laws which created OSHA requires that all employees at the workplace are free from perils which can cause them physical harm or even death to the employee. For that reason, OSHA ensures that there are mandatory health standards and safety for all the employees enforcing these regulations through investigations and inspections. Regarding the aviation industry, OSHA has a general duty clause which covers all the policies and regulations. OSHA's standards are noticeable under the safety program of an airbase. For example, when working for a flight line, protective equipment such as safety glasses, steel toe boots, hearing items and other protective items are provided according to the safety standards of OSHA (Murphy, 2004). The agency also ensures that the periodic hearing testing for the employees who work in high noise environment is frequently done.
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OSHA also sets other additional guidelines which can determine methods that can be used to handle hazardous chemicals such as deicing fuels, jet fuel, battery disposal and maintenance and the hydraulic fluids. The employees get trained on how to handle the dangerous chemicals and the appropriate use of such substances. The material safety data sheet is also required to be accessible at all sites. This sheet lists all the compounds used in a site, their composition as well as how these chemicals should be handled in case they get ingested or when they come in contact with the skin. OSHA policies indicate that chemicals should be appropriately stored and labeled correctly.
The regulations directly impact on the ground safety operations. The rules ensure that all the workers are notified of the risks involved and the steps that one can take to deal with the negative consequences at the workplace (Murphy, 2004). Typically, if there are injuries or hazards in the workplace, an employer is obliged to fix the problems expeditiously. According to OSHA policies, every employer should furnish the employment and place of work free from hazards which can cause any harm or even death to the employees. An example of a regulation affecting aviation ground operations can be an application of sound protection at the precise decibel rating mimicking standards set by OSHA. If these regulations are not implemented such as the personal protective equipment is not used, compensations and fines can be charged to the employers.
EPA, on the other hand, concerns itself with pollution which threatens public health, with a focus on water and air pollution. Unlike OSHA which focuses on the well-being of the employees alone, EPA concentrates on the public interest. The mission statement of the agency indicates that all Americans should be protected from any major risks to human health, where they learn, live or work supply (Cusick, Cortes & Rodrigues, 2017). The agency ensures that these regulations are enforced through investigations, inspections, and legal actions whenever necessary. Since the potential dangers to human health are serious, EPA regulation on pollution applies to all businesses irrespective of the size.
An example of EPA regulation which potentially affects aviation ground operations is the Resource Conservation Recovery Act (Cusick, Cortes & Rodrigues, 2017). This act places responsibility on the airlines for the disposal and control of toxic substances such as oils, hydraulic fuel, and any other perilous substance which may be used in daily operations supply (Cusick, Cortes & Rodrigues, 2017). The airlines would otherwise be liable from the purchase date of the element up to the final disposal. If the substances which are hazardous are improperly disposed of, the responsible airline would then be required to pay huge fines for the decontamination of the affected areas.
Contrary to the responsibilities of OSHA, EPA has oversight and final authority at the regional and federal level of monitoring and enforcing activities which ensure that the environmental programs in the aviation industry are delegated. EPA maintains enforcement of major environmental statutes. EPA retains primacy for the many environmental laws which are of great significance to the aviation industry. This is contrary to OSHA agency which only has authority over the employees at the workplace and cannot extend their jurisdiction to another workplace. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act impact directly on aviation when it comes to EPA.
Many areas of aviation are categorized into aircraft painting and cleaning, leaking acids from the batteries of aircraft, leaks, and spills from storage tanks and fuel systems as well as glycol used for deicing and others supply (Cusick, Cortes & Rodrigues, 2017). In 2007 for example, EPA issued a cleanup order for McGuire AFB. Waste was found to have been disposed improperly at the dumpsites, and the fuel system hydrant was also located to be leaking into the underground water supply (Cusick, Cortes & Rodrigues, 2017). Even though the issue would not have escalated to that point, the daily operations of the airbase were directly impacted by the EPA order. Following that order, an aircraft which had been servicing tasks was drawn out longer than it was previously which eventually affected the turnaround times of the plane.
EPA and OSHA sometimes may be having overlapping authority. For instance, EPA may trace chemical spill back to a company and in the process discover that the chemical spill is exposing the employees to the hazardous environment. Similarly, an OSHA complainant may find that the misuse of chemicals at their workplace may present an improper disposal procedure which can, in turn, be dangerous to the public. In the aviation industry, the EPA may, for instance, reveal that pollution coming from an airbase is exposing workers to the hazardous environment. Likewise, OSHA complaint may discover that pollution in the airport is not only affecting the workers within but is also affecting the general public.
References
Cusick, S. K., Cortes, A. I., & Rodrigues, C. C. (2017). Commercial Aviation Safety . McGraw Hill Professional.
Murphy, R. (2004). OSHA, AIR21 and Whistleblower Protection for Aviation Workers. Administrative Law Review , 901-925.
