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Rehab the Lab: Implementation Benchmarks 3/23/2004 John Longfellow, Recycling Coordinator Klickitat County Solid Waste The Rehab the Lab grant will expire at the end of June 2004. We need to move forward on this in order to complete our tasks before that date. I have prepared an implementation plan with benchmarks which follows. What is Rehab the Lab? Rehab The Lab is a program targeting school chemistry labs. The purpose of the program is to protect the health and safety of students and staff and to protect the environment from harmful chemical releases. The program provides 100% grant funds to perform audits of school chemistry labs. The primary purpose of this element of the program is to identify expired, dangerous or unwanted quantities of chemicals present in your school chemistry lab. The audit may also include evaluation of your lab's safety and environmental procedures, safety equipment and chemical storage system. The program provides matching grant funds, 25% Local / 75% State, for packing, transportation and treatment/disposal of expired, dangerous or unwanted quantities of chemicals An education element is also funded at 25% Local / 75% State. Who is participating? The program is being offered through a cooperative effort of the Federal EPA, Washington Schools Risk Management Pool and the Department of Ecology. Klickitat County Public Health and Klickitat County Solid Waste are facilitating the program at the county level. All schools in the county have been contacted concerning their interest in participation in the Rehab the Lab program. The following schools have expressed an interest in participating in the program. The list includes all schools in the county with chemistry labs. Bickleton Glenwood Goldendale Klickitat Lyle Trout Lake White Salmon Wishram Status of Grant Application: The Klickitat County Health Department has submitted a grant application for funding to cover the eight schools listed above. The County is providing funds for staff to facilitate a coordinated approach between the schools and Moderate Risk Waste, (MRW) contractors. There are no funds available at the county level that can be used to provide the 25% match. Obligation for the matching funds are the responsibility of the individual schools. Total Grant: $31,600, State Funds: $25,300, Local Match: $6,300. Implementation Benchmarks A. The County has established contact with all high schools in the county and secured a grant from the Department of Ecology. B. Each school will do an inventory of their chemistry lab chemicals before scheduling an audit. The school staff should prepare a list of expired, unwanted or dangerous chemicals marked for ---PAGE BREAK--- disposal. The list should include the name of the chemical, quantity of chemical, size of container and condition of container. This list will be provided to the audit contractor and will be used to prepare an estimated cost of disposal prior to visiting the site for the audit. There are some situations where performing a preliminary inventory may not be a good idea. • If the staff is not comfortable with their level of knowledge about the contents or condition of the chemicals currently in storage. • If there is evidence chemicals in storage may have changed into an unstable or dangerous state. • If you have chemicals in unmarked containers, placed in storage by previously employed staff and have no knowledge of what might be in the containers. • If you have a box or cabinet full of miscellaneous very old containers, where you can not read the labels or inspect the condition of each container without rummaging through the other chemicals. C. John Longfellow will visit each school and take digital photos of the chemical storage areas and the chemical containers. Photos will be provided to the audit contractor. The contractor will use the photos to help them prepare for visits to the schools and to help prepare cost estimates for packing, shipment, treatment and disposal. D. The school inventories and the photos will be forwarded to the contractor who will be performing the audits. E. The Audit contractor will prepare an estimated cost of disposal, based upon the inventory and photos provided, before making arrangements to visit the schools. F. Each school will be given the opportunity to review the estimated cost of disposal before scheduling a lab audit. Each school can decide if they want to schedule the audit and disposal for the same day. If disposal is scheduled for the same day as the audit, it will result in a lower cost. If the school lacks funds to meet the 25% match for disposal, then just the lab audit will be scheduled. Disposal can be arranged for a later date; however the total cost will be somewhat higher, because it will involve a second trip to the site. We should have all reached this benchmark by the end of April 2004. G. The Contractor will then develop a schedule for visiting the various schools, performing audits and, where requested, also disposing of unwanted chemicals. The schedule will be designed to reduce the overall cost of delivering the services requested by scheduling two or three sites per day. This will further reduce the overall cost to the participating schools. H. Contractor will perform audit/disposal visits. School staff should be present during the audit so contractor can provide information and suggestions for updating and improving the safety of your lab and chemical storage procedures. Note: It is unlikely, but still possible, that during an audit the contractor will discover a situation that represents an immediate threat to the health and safety of staff and students. If this happens the situation will need to be dealt with immediately even if the school had previously requested an audit only visit. I. Contractor invoices for audit services will be made directly to the County's Public Health Department. The cost of the audit is covered 100% by the grant. • Contractor will provide a quote for disposal services to schools who requested an audit only visit. Those schools can then schedule a disposal visit when local match funds are available. The cut off date for disposal costs to be covered by the grant is June 30, 2004. • Contractor invoices for disposal will be made directly to the Schools. Schools will be expected to pay for disposal services directly to the contractor. Schools can then submit copies of paid invoices for disposal services to the Public Health Department. The Public Health Department will file a claim with the Department of Ecology for reimbursement ---PAGE BREAK--- equal to 75% of invoiced amount. Schools will then be reimbursed for the 75% provided under terms of the grant. We should all have reached this benchmark by the end of May 2004. J. Schools will pay invoices for shipping and disposal to contractor and supply copies to the County. K. County will submit claims against the grant to the Department of Ecology. We should all reach this benchmark before the end of June 2004. L. County will send reimbursement funds to the schools. I have attached an implementation benchmark table which summarizes where we are now and where we need to go. Please contact me when your school is ready to move on to the next benchmark. John Longfellow Klickitat County Recycling Coordinator [PHONE REDACTED] [EMAIL REDACTED]