The inspection
Dangerous waste compliance inspectors arrive unannounced, during standard business hours, to evaluate compliance at the facility during normal operations.
Who should be available for the inspection?
Inspectors will ask for the contact person listed on your notification form or Dangerous Waste Annual Report.
If this person is unavailable, another staff member who is knowledgeable about dangerous waste at the facility will need to act as the backup contact.
The contact person should expect to:
- Explain the facility's processes that generate waste.
- Explain how the facility has designated the wastes generated.
- Explain how the facility's waste is stored and managed.
- Provide documents that are required to be maintained onsite, if requested.
What records will the inspector request?
Inspectors will ask to review records relating to dangerous waste management. The records the business is required to keep depends on the facility's generator category. Some of the records an inspector might ask for are listed below.
What happens during an inspection?
Inspectors will tour the facility to check for compliance against the dangerous waste regulations. The areas that inspectors typically look at are:
- Points of waste generation
- Production areas
- Central accumulation areas
- Satellite accumulation areas
- "Bone yards" or other storage areas
During the inspection pictures may be taken. The photos are to document violations found or examples of proper dangerous waste management. These photos also aid inspectors when writing inspection reports. Talk to your inspectors if you have questions or concerns about pictures being taken at the facility.
After the inspection
Inspectors will write an inspection report. As they do, they may have follow-up questions to clarify observations or information from the inspection.
What's an inspection report?
The inspection report will include:
- A narrative of the inspection
- A list of violations, if any are found during the inspection
- The actions needed to correct any violations found
- Concerns and suggestions
What if my facility has violations?
Once your facility receives the inspection report, you will have 30 days to complete the actions needed to correct any violations found. A completed compliance certificate, included in the report, must be signed and submitted to Ecology with supporting documentation that the violations have been corrected.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Inspections are unannounced.
Visit our Rulemaking Webpage to stay up-to-date on regulatory changes.
You can also subscribe to Shoptalk,our newsletter for hazardous waste generators, or read the latest issues.
We have the authority to inspect facilities that generate dangerous waste. We choose facilities based on many factors:
- Generator status and facility size
- When the facility was last inspected
- History of problems
- Unexplained changes in generator status
- Complaints
- Referrals from other agencies
- Containers not labeled with the hazard (flammable, corrosive, toxic, or reactive) and the words "dangerous waste" or "hazardous waste."
- Failure to designate wastes.
- Improper management of, or failure to label, universal waste.
- Not including an accumulation start date on containers.
- Containers not closed.
Some violations can be resolved during the inspection.
When a site does not respond to an inspection report:
- We will contact the facility representatives after 30 days to discuss the site's compliance status.
- We may return to the site for additional inspections to determine if the site remains out of compliance.
- We will, when warranted, escalate enforcement to protect human health and the environment. Escalated enforcement may include civil administrative orders, civil penalties, and referrals for criminal investigation.
We expect facilities that generate dangerous waste to operate in compliance with the Dangerous Waste Regulations. To ensure compliance we conduct informal enforcement through the inspection process. Informal enforcement is our preferred approach.
We may use formal enforcement if:
- There is an imminent threat to human health or the environment.
- There are repeated non-compliance with regulations.
- A facility refuses to comply through informal enforcement.
Formal enforcement actions may included administrative orders and civil penalties based on the number and severity of violations. Each violation can result in a penalty of up to $10,000 per day. In some cases, we may refer a facility to criminal investigators.