Facility Evaluation Program

CHWMEG, Inc.'s members, in collaboration with CHWMEG's facility review contractors, have developed a comprehensive facility review protocol, questionnaire, and a sophisticated data management system. These are applied on behalf of CHWMEG, Inc. to the waste and residue management facilities reviewed by its contractors to compile information included in CHWMEG reports. Members use CHWMEG report information to support their company's environmental stewardship and risk management programs. CHWMEG's contractors represent highly capable and respected individuals and organizations.

The CHWMEG, Inc. facility evaluation program considers all aspects of each facility including its history, setting, design, operations, management, and financial strength. The focus in all cases, however, is on environmental risk and the inherently-associated financial risk. The CHWMEG, Inc. evaluation program divides risk into three primary categories: Environmental, Operational, and Financial.

ENVIRONMENTAL RISK includes analyzing the source, pathway, and receptors of all contamination, existing and potential, associated with a facility, as well as its compliance with environmental regulations. A poor compliance record may be an indicator of unacceptable risk.

OPERATIONAL RISK involves evaluating a facility's management proficiency, types of equipment and technology used, training, and maintenance programs, since these all provide insight into the risk associated with facility operations.

FINANCIAL RISK involves considering the financial strength of the facility owners, since CHWMEG, Inc. recognizes that hazardous waste generators do not want to rely on a TSDF that is not financially stable. Financial failure could result in the generators' having to pay for costly closure or post-closure care. Moreover, financial stability may balance the risk scale for a TSDF in a positive way, whereas financial instability may negatively affect the risk scale.

Facility Evaluation Procedure

Elements of the procedure are described below.

FACILITY VISIT -- Field evaluation teams collect, record, and assemble the required data on a facility using the appropriate protocol questionnaire: The pertinent protocol defines and controls the scope of every review. Therefore, with minimal training and guidance, qualified environmental professionals from different consulting firms are able to produce repeatable and consistent facility review results. See the typical report Table of Contents.

RISK ASSESSMENT SYSTEM -- Since qualitative facility comparisons are difficult to make and nearly impossible to reproduce, a Risk Assessment System (RAS) has been developed establishing a method whereby selected qualitative information from the three protocol documents is assigned weighted values based on the facility review team's observations and evaluations. The RAS formula combines these values to generate three scores for each facility: Environmental, Operational, and Financial.

By using three scores, the unique contribution and identity of each element is preserved. CHWMEG, Inc. members may then rate their individual concerns according to three separate but related RAS values. Members can also perform "what if" scenarios on the RAS input when the data are presented in this way.

Facility Review Report Costs

While members active in the facility review program usually pay an average of less than US$850 for a facility review report, costs can be as low as US$750 each. The cost to conduct the reviews ranges between US$1,900 and US$4,500 (depending upon facility complexity and geographic location). The cost of a particular facility review to a CHWMEG, Inc. member depends upon the cost to complete the facility review report and the collective participation in the program by the membership. These figures compare favorably with the cost members would have incurred had they elected to fund the evaluations individually. Several member company representatives have commented that participation in CHWMEG's facility review program has saved their company well over US$1,000,000!