By Steve Louis You know the drill. A recession comes out of nowhere and in order to survive, businesses are forced to slash expenses, with layoffs being the first of many painful budget cuts. Now all of a sudden the firm is understaffed which forces the remaining employees to perform dual roles, causing them to…
One of the sermons at church recently caught my attention, as they often do. This was unusual because it was a Sunday when there was no kids’ service and Kyle was helping with the AV. This left me to contend with our three children during service which means I’m usually not able to listen well. …
It can be very frustrating as a Quality Manager, or even a member of a Quality Department in a company that has recently decided to, loosely put “take quality seriously”, it can often be very frustrating. This is especially the case if you personally have already been sold on the quality culture and its importance,…
In March, we aired an episode with our first guest, Mo Aziz, discussing the ITC “Intercontinental Terminals Company” Chemical Plant fire. The fire burned for days and reignited after it was extinguished. Most of Houston wondered what, if anything, would be the penalty for ITC. Based on history, these plants aren’t often penalized effectively enough to encourage them to up their game when it comes to safety and prevention. When a problem repeats itself, it’s time to start looking at better processes.
ITC has had numerous encounters with Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). This particular plant fire was really unable to sneak on by Houston as you could see the plume for miles and miles outside of and around Houston. Allergy and asthma flare ups were experienced by many. There were shelters in place for Deer Park, rendering many unable to go to work. Then, there was a breach of a containment wall. Large amounts of toxic chemicals discharged into Tucker Bayou. Air and water quality were a major concern.
It has now been announced that ITC will be charged by Harris County’s District Attorney’s office with 5 misdemeanor counts of water pollution. When I first read this, I was shocked. I thought to myself, “Misdemeanor only?” As I continued to read, I realized what a big deal this was. Previously and often, plants are charged civilly only or incur minor fines from TCEQ. In this case, the DA is charging ITC with criminal charges. Wow!
A spokesperson from the DA’s office has also stated that “This the beginning of our review, not the end,” indicating there are likely more Criminal Charges coming. The current charges are for the 5 days the law was violated and carry a fine up to $100,000 per day.
I looked into whether or not TCEQ has fined ITC and what those fines were if it had. From what I’ve read, TCEQ can attempt to enforce action against a company, but it seemingly goes ignored. When the companies refuse to pay, TCEQ turns it over to the state attorney general’s office. In this most recent case with ITC, the Texas Attorney General filed suit against ITC before the fire was even put out stating that ITC “…has a history of environmental violations.”
I will say there are many arguments by different groups and parties as to why the AG filed (not good reasons according to them) and favor the DA’s Criminal Charges. Many are wondering if the AG will supersede the DA. I’m not going to delve into all of that. I’ve attached links to the articles for you to read if you are so inclined.
For our purpose, quality matters. ITC didn’t have proper processes in place, neither to prevent nor quickly remedy the situation. Whether the AG, DA, or TCEQ wins, I just hope that it’s enough for the chemical plants to take notice and enforce a better quality program to protect its civilian neighbors.
In March, we released our first five episodes of our #QualityMatters podcast. One of those episodes was on a botched police raid in Houston and we addressed possible processes they could put in place to prevent further instances. During the podcast, I mentioned there was talk of reviewing and/or dismissing any cases that the officer…
Our most recent #QualityMatters podcast discussed Big Data and it’s use in the healthcare field. Quality should be a way of doing business. In healthcare, all records are digitized. The idea is that we can take that information, make it anonymous, and analyze it for doctors to better understand how patients might react to procedures…
The Quality Policy & Objectives truly are key to your organization. They are the foundation of the context of your organization. They are also very important to defining and developing your QMS. Below you can see exactly what the ISO 9001:2015 standard requires for the Quality Policy, I will address the Quality Objectives later. 5.2…
For those that don’t know me, I’m Kyle Chambers, Founder of Texas Quality Assurance. I’ve lived my entire life in Texas, raised in the small town of Italy Texas, pronounced “It-Ly” for those of you that don’t know. My degree is in Management Information Systems, I got my CompTIA A+ certification in the 8th grade,…
In the past few years we have developed a quality management system from the ground up in Share Point. At first we made the mistake of only mildly using the power of SharePoint. We managed our Nonconformance Reports (NCR’s) and Corrective Action Reports (CAR’s) by hand. Papers changed hands 3 and 4 times. It was a…