New Features Help Bay Area Manufacturers Streamline Visual Emissions Monitoring
With limited staff time, money and internal expertise, regulating air emissions is a pressing concern among manufacturing companies. Mapistry is excited to announce new software features that will help manage and track air quality with greater ease than ever before. This is a particularly pressing need for manufacturing companies with operations in the Bay Area of California due to recent air quality regulatory amendments which go into effect on July 1st, setting stricter standards for controlling sources of particulate matter pollution. To help our clients prepare, this blog will brief you on the Bay Area’s recent air quality amendments and how Mapistry’s new features can help.The Bay Area’s new particulate matter requirements
In June of 2018, the Bay Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) passed a new amendment to Regulation 6 to reduce emissions of particulate matter from various commercial and industrial operations with the goal of improving public health. In addition to rolling out common definitions and testing standards, the passed amendments mandate new reporting requirements that increase the scope and frequency of monitoring activities required for bulk material sites — there are approximately 120 facilities that store and handle bulk materials in the Bay Area. Here’s a breakdown of a couple of these key changes:- Daily visual emissions monitoring
Amendment to rule 6-1 requires that in order to limit the quantity of particulate matter, facilities must “document the sources and operations monitored each workday when active material handling and storage operations occur”. Additionally, daily records of visual emissions monitoring must be kept on site for two years and available upon request.
- New trackout requirements for bulk material sites Amendment to Rule 6-6 works to prevent and reduce trackout, the amendment is described to “limit the quantity of particulate matter in the atmosphere through control of trackout of solid materials onto paved public roads outside the boundaries of Large Bulk Material Sites, Large Construction Sites, and Large Disturbed Surface sites including landfills.” The amendment goes into effect in July, 2019, with a goal of reducing the amount of trackout leading to public roadways and requires facilities to clean up significant trackout within 4 hours. Similar to Rule 6-1, Rule 6-6 will require facilities to monitor the extent of trackout visually twice a day. Of course, records must be maintained on site for two years.
Automating and streamline air compliance
To help satisfy the new visual emissions and trackout monitoring required in California by Rule 6-1, Rule 6-6 and others, industrial facilities can now utilize Mapistry’s mobile app to conduct monitoring in the field and have all the data flow seamlessly back into the Mapistry platform — no more paper!
On both the Mapistry App and Platform, users can complete the inspection and also assign and describe corrective actions in real time.
For example, if trackout or visual emissions exceed the allowable limits, site staff can quickly document the situation and assign a corrective action to the necessary party to ensure the situation is addressed. No more emails or phone calls to complete routine tasks! You can also photograph deficiencies and provide a time-stamped photo for both site staff to utilize and a defensible record of site conditions. When a corrective action is assigned, the user will get an email notification from Mapistry, in addition to alerts sent to determined team members when the action has been completed and resolved.
The inspection locations are derived from Mapistry’s proprietary mapping tool that allows for fast updates, and the ability to drill down on specific locations.
The intelligent workflow maximizes efficiency while retaining and organizing documentation in one indexable location. Plus you can manage Stormwater, Spill Prevention and Haz Materials compliance from the same platform.
