Blog Posts - Green and Sustainability | Printing Industries Blog

Blog Posts - Green and Sustainability

General

Combustible Dust Hazards: Is Your Facility Compliant with OSHA Standards?

Posted: 12/19/2012

Ms Megan Flynn

The Environmental, Health, and Safety Department at Printing Industries of America offers advice on the control and cleaning of combustible dust, a top priority for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

The control of combustible dust has become a top priority for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and they are focusing on many industries—including printing operations—where combustible dust is generated. Combustible dust can be generated by several activities involved with printing and binding, including cutting paper, perfect binding, finishing operations, material handling activities, deteriorating building materials, and use of offset spray powder.

The generation, handling, and accumulation of combustible dust present both a fire and explosion hazard, and it must be managed to prevent a hazardous situation. In addition, excessive dust can cause problems with product quality and premature wear of motors, especially...

Read More
General

Experience to Solve Your Toughest Challenges

Posted: 10/31/2012

Ms Megan Flynn

Is your operation in compliance with federal, state, and local environmental and safety regulations? Would you be ready if an EPA or OSHA inspector showed up at your door today? An inspection can happen at any time, and if you are not prepared, you could face thousands of dollars in fines for even minor infractions. The best way to solve a compliance issue is before an inspection occurs, and the Environmental, Health, and Safety experts at Printing Industries of America are here to help with all of your regulatory compliance needs.

Our expert staff has the knowledge to provide you with timely and effective solutions for preventing and resolving compliance issues, responding to an enforcement action, or achieving sustainability certification to go beyond compliance. Customer demands for sustainability are increasing, and EHS compliance is a requirement of any credible sustainability program.

Agency penalties for noncompliance can be severe and expensive...

Read More
General

Sustainability Matters. Become SGP-Certified (before your clients demand it).

Posted: 09/04/2012

Ms Megan Flynn

To better serve our members and industry, Printing Industries of America is proud to support Sustainable Green Printing (SGP) Partnership. The SGP Partnership is an industry-specific, voluntary program designed to reduce the environmental impact and increase social responsibility of the print and graphic communications industry. The Partnership certifies printers against specific criteria and requires printers to commit to making continuous improvement in the product, process, and envelope areas of the graphic arts industry.The following is contributed by SGP.

...

Read More
General

Subscribe to the SRA Listserv for Compliance News, Tips for Sustainable Management, and More!

Posted: 08/20/2012

Ms Megan Flynn

Printing is a dynamic industry that creates new experiences, challenges, and issues for those who work in it. For a printing business to remain competitive, it is important to stay informed, especially on sustainable business practices and regulatory compliance topics. Printing Industries of America is happy to provide a resource for its members to stay up to date with the latest in sustainable and regulatory compliance news for the printing community in the form of a listserv.

There are a number of environmental and safety regulations impacting the printing industry, and agencies are continuously issuing new rules and enforcing standards. To avoid the costly risk of being out of compliance, they require constant monitoring and response strategies.

It’s just as vital to stay up to date with sustainability news in the printing community. Customers are becoming more concerned with the environmental impact of products, and companies are finding innovative ways to adopt...

Read More
General

Printing Industries of America asks Printers to Participate in a VOC and HAP Emission Survey for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Posted: 06/12/2012

Ms Megan Flynn

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has asked Printing Industries of America to assist with revising their national annual hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emission factor, which is used to estimate HAP emissions and to determine the need for further regulation of the printing industry. HAP emissions occur from the use of specific chemicals and chemical categories classified as toxic air pollutants, some of which are used in printing.

Recently, Printing Industries assisted EPA with revising the national annual volatile organic compound (VOC) emission factor. Due to this success, EPA has requested that the printing industry provide emission information on HAP emissions, so that the nationwide HAP emission factor can also be updated.

EPA revised their national annual VOC emission factor for the printing industry from 1,482 pounds/employee to 201 pounds/employee. This revision was in part due to a survey of printers in the Salt Lake City area, which received a high...

Read More
General

OSHA Revises Hazard Communication Standards

Posted: 03/29/2012

Kristina Iorio
The following information is contributed by Rick Hartwig and the Environmental, Health, and Safety Affairs Department of Printing Industries of America.

Get ready for changes to your Hazard Communication program! After years of effort, theOccupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) revised its Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) to align with the United Nations' Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). The revision was made to provide for consistency and to allow employees to better understand hazards, which will result in improved compliance, easier program management, and fewer injuries and illnesses.

The changes outlined under the new standard will be phased in over time and will be fully in effect by June 1, 2016. This rule includes three major changes to the current standards:
- Hazard...
Read More
General

Avoid Harsh OSHA Fines

Posted: 05/24/2011

Mr Frederick A. Hartwig

Over the last year or so, OSHA has been under scrutiny from the Department of Labor for not taking enough measures with to enforce current standards and rules, especially toward companies that demonstrate an indifference to meeting compliance. As a result OSHA has implemented several enforcement initiatives that are greatly impacting vast numbers of printers today.

One of the initiatives involves National Emphasis Programs (NEP). These are inspection programs designed to target specific industries and hazards. Applicable to the printing industry are the Amputation NEP, Combustible Dust NEP, and the Injury and Illness RecordkeepingNEP.Under each of these NEPs printing operations and printing equipment have been specifically identified and require OSHA to seek printers in their area for inspections.

Once an inspection occurs, OSHA will attempt to determine whether or not there are violations and whether or not a company is considered a “severe violator,” which is...

Read More
General

Continuous Improvement Videos

Posted: 04/14/2011

Mr Dan Tallarico

The 2011 Continuous Improvement Conference recently came to a close (we'll have a wrap-up of the conference coming soon!), and if you weren't able to attend, don't worry, we have you covered. We recorded a series of videos focusing on the fundamentals of continuous improvement and operational excellence. Embedded below, you'll find videos that answer some of the basic questions like: How to budget for Lean transformation, why Lean, and what metrics need to be measured. Let us know what you think of the videos in the comments below.

...

Read More
Continuous Improvement Videos

Posted: 04/12/2011

Mr Dan Tallarico

The 2011 Continuous Improvement Conference is happening right now in Kansas City, Missouri and if you couldn't make it there year, fear not, there's still learning to be had. We have a series of videos entitled "Ask Ken: Operational Excellence for Printers" that answer some of the fundamental questions about lean and operational excellence such as why use Lean and how to budget for Lean manufacturing. While it's not the same as attending the conference, we hope you find them full of information. We've embeded the videos in this post so you can watch them at your leisure. Let us know what you think in the comments!

...

Read More
General

Safety-- Know It, Live It

Posted: 02/17/2011

Mr Gary Jones

Due to higher-than-average machine related injuries, OSHA has placed the printing industry on its list of high hazard industries for amputations. As a result OSHA has been very aggressive under its National Emphasis Program on the prevention of amputations through inspections of and enforcement on the printing industry.

Safety in the workplace needs to be a top priority in print shops—especially when there’s the risk of serious injury and hefty penalties. We know accidents do happen and to help keep safety at the forefront of people’s minds we’ve developed a series of safety posters.

This set of posters communicates the importance of equipment safety practices as they relate to basic lockout/tagout procedures, machine guarding, and proper use of safety controls. These posters stand out with their bright colors and pictures to remind employees to practice safe techniques. There’s even a QR code on the poster that, when...

Read More