This section is designed as a compliance evaluation system for specific federal regulations concerning
Containment, Liquid Handling, Accountability, Waste Management, and Safety Storage of Hazardous Materials.

OSHA Compliance
The citations issued by OSHA compliance officers usually carry a penalty, depending on the severity of the violation. All penalties are assessed on the basis of the gravity of the violation, size of the business, good faith of the employer and the employer's history of previous violations. There are several types of OSHA violations that carry various penalties as follows:

Other-Than-Serious Violations include situations that would affect safety or health, but would "probably not cause death or serious physical harm." OSHA can penalize employers up to $7,000. A group of other-than-serious violations may be treated as one serious violation.

Serious Violations create a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a condition, practice, method, operation or process in a place of employment. OSHA will issue a citation unless the employer did not and could not have known about the violation. Serious violations carry a maximum penalty of $7,000.

Willful Violations show evidence that the employer committed an intentional violation and carry a minimum penalty of $5,000 and a maximum penalty of $70,000.

Criminal/Willful Violations occur when an employer willfully violates any standard and that violation in turn causes death to an employee. If this happens, the employer will be fined, upon conviction, not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than six months, or both. Additional criminal penalties are imposed by the courts, not by OSHA.

Repeated Violations occur when an employer fails to bring a previously cited condition into compliance. OSHA can issue a penalty of up to $70,000 to employers who repeatedly violate the OSHA Act.

Specific standards which were cited by Federal OSHA inspectors during the period October 1997 through September 1998 as they relate to this compliance guide are as follows:

OSHA Standard	Number of Citations	Number of Inspections	Penalty Amount
1910.106	1155	669	$ 803,727
1926.152	267	183	$ 103,119
1910.106	Flammable and Combustible Liquids
1926.152	Flammables and Combustibles - Construction Code

(NOTE: THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE CITATIONS AND PENALTIES ASSESSED BY STATE OSHA REGULATORS.)

OSHA's average penalty for noncompliance is insignificant in comparison to the potential for multi-million dollar litigation concerning an injured or deceased employee.

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EPA Compliance
One of EPA's most important responsibilities is ensuring compliance with federal laws that protect public health and safeguard the environment. Effective deterrence requires inspecting, bringing penalty actions and securing compliance and remediation of harm. However, EPA realizes that achieving compliance also requires the cooperation of thousands of businesses and other regulated entities subject to these requirements.

The EPA encourages regulated entities to voluntarily discover, disclose, correct and prevent violations of federal environmental law. As an incentive, the EPA eliminates or substantially reduces the gravity component of civil penalties and also does not recommend these cases for criminal prosecution.

Repeat violations or those that result in harm or may present endangerment are not considered for relief, and companies are not allowed to gain economic advantage over competitors by delaying their investment in compliance. Corporations remain criminally liable for violations that result from conscious disregard of their legal obligations, and individuals are liable for criminal misconduct.

Penalties
EPA's enforcement program provides a strong incentive for responsible behavior by imposing stiff sanctions for noncompliance.

Section 3008 of RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) provides very serious civil and criminal penalties for violations. If EPA determines that any person is violating "any requirement" of Subtitle C (RCRA permit regulations), it may either issue an administrative order or commence a civil action against the alleged violator in federal district court. An administrative order issued by EPA under 3008 may impose penalties of up to $25,000 per day of noncompliance.

EPA has developed a civil penalty policy that assists the government in calculating the appropriate penalty. The penalty calculation usually consists of three elements: (i) gravity of the infraction (potential for harm); (2) economic benefit from noncompliance (savings); and (3) any reasons, such as good faith or a histogy of compliance or noncompliance, to adjust the penalty up or down.

In addition to civil penalties, 3008(d) establishes criminal penalties for individuals and corporations that knowingly violate any of the RCRA regulations pertaining to storing, treating, transporting, disposing of, or otherwise handling hazardous waste in violation of a permit or regulations issued by EPA.

*A person convicted of any of these violations is subject to a fine of up to $50,000 per day or two years imprisonment, or both. Repeat offenders' penalties are doubled.

*Any person who knowingly violates and "who knows at that time that he thereby places another person in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury" is subject to a fine of $250,000 and imprisonment for up to 15 years, or both. If the violator is an organization, the fine can be up to $1,000,000.

Although these EPA penalties are significant, they pale in comparison to the cost of a major clean-up of a hazardous material spill or the potential for litigation concerning harm to public health.