Springfield electroplater pays $20K hazmat fine

Precision Valley Finishing Inc., a small Main Street business that does electroplating for the machine tool industry, has been fined $20,000 by the state for multiple violations of the state’s laws regarding the handling of hazardous waste.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100622/NEWS02/706229940/1003/NEWS02     # # # # Springfield electroplater pays $20K hazmat fine  •  Rutland Herald  •  By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer - Published: June 22, 2010  • SPRINGFIELD — Precision Valley Finishing Inc., a small Main Street business that does electroplating for the machine tool industry, has been fined $20,000 by the state for multiple violations of the state’s laws regarding the handling of hazardous waste.  •  The fines were part of an agreement called an “assurance of discontinuance” with the Department of Environmental Conservation’s compliance and enforcement division and stemmed from an inspection of the business last September, and a followup inspection in October. It was approved by Vermont Environmental Court.  •  John Zaikowski, attorney for the state, said that Precision Valley Finishing had made several mistakes, and had failed to maintain its records on hazardous materials, and had allowed hazardous materials to evaporate rather than handle and dispose of them properly.  •  Zaikowski said that the firm had been purchased in April 2006 by the current ownership. The prior company, Springfield Electro-Plating, had also been fined for violating state hazardous materials law, but Zaikowski said there was no connection between the old and current ownership.  •  He said the violations had existed for “quite some time,” but as far as the state could determine, there were no known health impacts to the company’s four employees from exposure to the chemicals. He said that one container of hazardous waste had been there “for several years.”  •  Donald Davis, president of Precision Valley Finishing, didn’t return a message asking for comment about the fines.  •  “They have been cooperative,” Zaikowski said,  •  Among the problems detailed in the violations were that the company stored hazardous waste for more than 90 days, that there was no documentation that a contingency plan had been provided to local emergency crews, and that training records were not maintained.  •  In addition, the company had improperly managed satellite accumulation containers and had improperly managed universal waste lamps.  •  A review of the company’s records also revealed several violations of the company’s air pollution control permit, by failing to maintain its operation and maintenance plan, failure to maintain several process records, and inspection and maintenance records.  •  Zaikowski said that the state was required by law to access the potential impacts to human health. He said most of the violations came in the day-to-day management of hazardous waste.  •