Shamrock and the Communities We Call Home 11 Jul 2022 5:56 AM (3 years ago)
At Shamrock, we pride ourselves on being the right people with the right resources in the right places. We have the largest network of Centralized Waste Treatment (CWT) plants in the Southeast, with operating locations in Greensboro, Browns Summit and New Bern, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; and Lakeland and Tampa, Florida. An integrated, one-stop-shop staffed by hands-on experts, we ensure compliance with local, state and federal regulations. And at Shamrock, we actively support the communities we call home. Keep reading to learn fun facts that make our operational regions and industries within that we serve so interesting.
Greensboro, McLeansville and Browns Summit, North Carolina
Greensboro and Browns Summit are located in central North Carolina in an area known as the Piedmont Triad, named for the three largest cities in the region: Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem. With over 12,000 miles of highways and roads, the Piedmont Triad is a hub for commerce exactly halfway between New York and Florida. Historically, the Piedmont Triad’s economy has been dependent on tobacco, textiles and furniture. But with the emergence of new industries, including distribution, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and logistics, we’re thrilled to call the Piedmont Triad home to Shamrock’s headquarters.
North Carolina, as a state, is also home to a variety of industries and professionals, including the utility industry and eight active military bases. Shamrock is proud to serve the 2nd– and 5th-largest utility companies, both of which call the Southeast home. Our Greensboro and Browns Summit offices and headquarters are strategically positioned to be convenient to our range of clients (including utility companies and military bases) across the state of North Carolina.
New Bern, North Carolina
Founded in 1710, New Bern is one of the oldest cities in North Carolina and home to the state’s first capital, Tryon Palace. New Bern is also home to one of the world’s favorite soft drinks: Pepsi, invented and first served in New Bern in 1898. The city is situated on the confluence of the Trent and Neuse Rivers, making New Bern a transportation and trading hub both historically and presently. Only an hour’s drive to North Carolina’s Crystal Coast beaches, Shamrock’s location in New Bern is an exciting place to be.
The region is home to the world’s largest integrated phosphate mining and chemical plants in the USA, as well as military facilities, pulp and paper processing, farming and specialty manufacturers.
Richmond, Virginia
The capital of Virginia, Richmond is one of the oldest cities in the United States. Patrick Henry famously declared “give me liberty or give me death” at Richmond’s St. John’s Church in 1775, igniting the Revolutionary War. Just over 100 miles from Washington, D.C., Richmond is split in half by the James River and only an hour’s drive from Newport News and Norfolk on the Chesapeake Bay. In recent years, Richmond’s food scene has made its way onto the national stage, making Shamrock’s Richmond location delicious and fun.
Shamrock serves a variety of industries in the Richmond area, including the utilities, chemical, packaging, poultry and food processing industries.
Lakeland, Florida
Much of Lakeland is built around the 38 lakes in the community, and the historic city is home to Florida Southern University. Located in Polk County, Florida, Lakeland is in the heart of the largest source of the chemical phosphate in the United States.
Shamrock serves a variety of industries in the Lakeland, and central Florida, area, including phosphate mining and fruit, vegetable and livestock agriculture.
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is the third largest city in Florida, and the 48th largest city in the United States. Besides being a business center, Tampa is known historically as the cigar capital of the country, and, as such, is home to the culturally rich Ybor City neighborhood, dating back to the immigration of Cuban and Spanish cigar factory workers.
Tampa is the largest port in the state of Florida and the 22nd largest port in the United States. Shamrock serves a variety of dominant industries in the Tampa region, including agriculture, mining and maritime.
The post Shamrock and the Communities We Call Home appeared first on Shamrock Environmental Corporation.
Hear from Joe Albanese, Director of Software Development and System Integrations, on Industry Changes 20 Jun 2022 5:00 AM (3 years ago)
How long have you been at Shamrock? How long in your current role?
I am currently in my sixth year with Shamrock. I was a contractor for around three months, then I was hired full time for the position I’m in now.
What is the most rewarding part of your job?
First and foremost, helping people work more efficiently. My team has helped people solve a lot of problems and make their work easier by pioneering custom software in-house. It is especially rewarding when the new software I develop gets to be compelling for other employees. For example, we developed software for Shamrock that pulls data from our equipment and vehicles, such as mileage, using telematics, electronic log data (ELDs) or GPS that’s then automatically entered into our fleet maintenance system so that payments can be scheduled. All of that used to be a manual process involving lots of personnel hours going back and forth over the phone.
How would you explain your job to someone outside of your field?
We build systems that help the company operate more efficiently, digitally transform manual processes and integrate systems to operate more seamlessly.
What’s your favorite thing about Shamrock?
In addition to leading Shamrock’s technology development efforts, I am able to find time to do hands-on software development, in particular native iOS mobile app development.
What kind of technology does Shamrock use on a daily basis?
We use a Microsoft development stack for most of our applications, and Apple’s native iOS development platform for mobile apps. We also use a combination of on-site servers as well as Microsoft Cloud servers and applications. We have three different systems we use to pull data from our fleet, including ELDs, telematics on heavy equipment like bull dozers, and GPS systems on service trucks. At any given time, we know the mileage and location of every vehicle in our fleet. In fact, our system can even be used to detect nearby equipment, which is useful for our construction supervisors.
How have you seen technology change since you began your role at Shamrock?
The biggest change I’ve noticed and one that helps us significantly is the integration of different systems with developer application programming interfaces (APIs). When I first came to Shamrock many of our systems couldn’t do that. Now most software companies offer developer APIs so that our applications can communicate with each other and there’s no longer a need for us to manually export and import files between operating systems. Overall, we’ve changed programs to make Shamrock’s operations more efficient, especially by developing our own programs.
How does technology help connect Shamrock’s headquarters with your other locations?
Almost everyone at Shamrock worked remotely during the first year of COVID, except the people out in the field, and we had just fully rolled out a virtual meeting software system. That more than anything is what helps us work across geographies. We also use an internet-based, voiceover IP telephone system. This means I can pick up my phone, dial an extension and be talking to someone in New Bern or Lakeland the same as if they were in the office here with me. The systems we’ve built internally are internet-based, so all the scheduling, invoice processing, contract signing, job costing, etc. is centralized and accessible from anywhere via VPN. It’s as if everyone is here in the office, which was very helpful during the pandemic. Overall, we continue to make advances towards real-time data.
How does Shamrock use technology to support company operations and provide customers with time-sensitive and high-quality service?
We leverage telematics, GPS and ELDs so that we know where our equipment and personnel are at any given time, which is helpful to dispatchers and site supervisors for resource allocation. We are very diligent about on time arrivals because we know exactly where the equipment is and can predict arrival. In fact, we track on time arrivals and send reports to drivers and managers on how they rank comparatively.
Furthermore, over the years we’ve developed sophisticated checks and balances and business intelligence in the system to ensure waste disposal is processed where and how it should be. Shamrock has the state-of-the-art non-hazardous waste tracking, treatment and disposal system. We use technology to run wastewater treatment plants using telematics, monitors and sensors on equipment so that regulations are being met.
Shamrock has also implemented a customer portal, which now allows our customers to access invoices and invoice related documents from anywhere. It used to be a mail-based system, so this has been a huge improvement. We do things that large companies like UPS and FedEx can do, but we are the only company in our size range with these capabilities.
How has the internal development of customized software allowed Shamrock to grow into new geographic markets?
We built our systems to be flexible and extensible so that we’re prepared for almost any use case. And when we do encounter a new use case, we can easily modify the system to accommodate it.
Why does technology make Shamrock a leader in the field?
Having our own systems gives us a level of agility than we would not have with an off-the-shelf system. You might be able to put in a request for a change with a canned system, but it might be six months or more before they make the change, if at all. Having our own systems means that as events, regulations, and emerging contaminant statuses quickly change, we can adapt with them and move just as quickly. And since they’re our systems, everything is our data. Some third-party applications and systems control every piece of data; they might let the user have access to certain parts of it, but with our systems we have access to all data. This gives us the ability to make decisions with sophisticated business intelligence. And because all our systems are so tightly integrated, it reduces errors that could impact customers.
Our technology also allows us to have room for future growth and acquisitions. As Shamrock advances, we’re able to pull other companies we acquire into our programs and have them be a part of our technology management system.
Can you give an example of when work you’ve done has prevented problems or accidents?
We have integrated our ELD system in such a way that we are able to view drivers’ hours. They are limited to the number of hours they can drive per day and per week, and our system is able to pull their active hours into our scheduling program. Then as the dispatcher is scheduling drivers, he has that information right in front of him. Having drivers’ hours so easily available prevents both Shamrock and the drivers from getting in trouble with the state and DOT, as well as ensuring drivers get more than enough rest to avoid falling asleep and causing an accident. This makes everything much more reliable, efficient and safe for customers.
The post Hear from Joe Albanese, Director of Software Development and System Integrations, on Industry Changes appeared first on Shamrock Environmental Corporation.
A Conversation with Jim Hollingsworth, Shamrock’s Director of Health, Safety and Environment 14 Jun 2022 8:12 AM (3 years ago)
How long have you been at Shamrock? How long in your current role?
I have been here since 2001, and I have been in the same role the entire time as Director of Health, Safety and Environment.
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
I have the responsibility of defining and promoting the health and safety aspects and benefits of our programs at Shamrock to our employees. I also handle our environmental permitting, such as obtaining, procuring and managing environmental permits, all of which are important to doing business and complying with environmental regulations. In addition to these aspects, I work to ensure compliance with the Department of Transportation’s regulations in safely transporting hazardous waste and materials. The most rewarding part of my job is knowing that at the end of the day, I help prevent and reduce the number of accidents, which in turn helps reduce risks to our employees and the company.
How would you explain your job to someone outside of your field?
My job is to recognize the health, safety and environmental hazards and risks, evaluate those concerns and find controls for those risks. I study rules and regulations that apply to Shamrock’s business and help guide management and employees. I help formulate the means and methods for us to facilitate compliance with rules and regulations, but I am also tasked with communicating the importance and benefit of these regulations to our employees. I educate senior and mid-level managers on what health and safety requirements are, as well as workers as to why certain procedures are so important.
Why is health and safety training and coaching so important?
In order to implement health and safety programs, you have to understand both why they’re in place and how to act upon them. Most importantly, you must have a formal method to communicate the importance of health and safety to employees to maintain consistency. As well as training, you must coach employees to maintain compliance to these procedures. Think about your employees as athletes: you can train an athlete on the rules and regulations of the sport, but you need to watch them play, correct bad behaviors and encourage good ones to get them to the professional level.
What type of health and safety training does Shamrock provide to employees?
At Shamrock, we provide an initial 40-hour OSHA HAZWOPER training (Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response), as well as Department of Transportation HazMat training and EPA RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) training. We also provide used oil, universal waste, job-specific training and other necessary training.
How frequent is the training?
At Shamrock, we provide an initial 40-hour HAZWOPER training, along with annual 8-hour refresher courses. We hold DOT HazMat training every three years, and used oil, universal waste and job-specific training annually.
Why is Shamrock a leader in health and safety training?
Shamrock is a leader in health and safety training because we structure our training towards the needs of and work we do for our customers. At Shamrock, we value the hands-on aspect of training; we use a mix of both self-directed and instructor-led online training, as well as in-person hands-on training. All our trainers have years of experience and education on the subject matter.
What is emergency preparedness?
Emergency preparedness is evaluating the risk of accidental spills, releases or other mishaps; identifying the appropriate responses; verifying the availability of personnel and equipment resources; and contracting with a qualified provider in advance of any such mishap.
How does emergency preparedness give customers peace of mind?
By understanding their risk, being prepared and knowing that they have a trained and qualified contractor available, customers can rest assured that in the event of a mishap they will have a responsive remedy available to them.
Why is Shamrock a leader in emergency preparedness?
Shamrock is a leader in emergency preparedness because of our long-term experience in the industry and the breadth of responses we’ve been called upon to address, including anthrax, hurricane cleanup, tire fires, tank truck rollovers, plant fires, explosions and other workplace disasters. We’ve responded to large oil spill clean ups for pipeline companies in Guilford County, N.C. and Ohio, as well as a coal ash spill for a utility company in North Carolina.
Shamrock is also a United States Coast Guard certified OSRO (Oil Spill Removal Organization) capable of responding to oil spills near waterways. We pioneered the COVID-19 cleaning procedures of industrial facilities in March 2020, designing our program around CDC and OSHA guidelines when COVID complications and long-term effects were still unknown.
What is centralized waste treatment?
Centralized waste treatment (CWT) is a categorial pre-treatment standard under the Clean Water Act of 1972. Shamrock is a permitted CWT facility in Greensboro, N.C., Richmond, V.A., Lakeland, F.L. and Tampa, F.L. CWT facilities accept industrial wastewaters from different industries and treat it in accordance with relevant permitting in an environmentally responsible manner.
At Shamrock, we pretreat the wastewater to meet permit limits, then discharge treated wastewaters to Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW). POTWs complete the final treatment steps to wastewater before it is released to the environment. At Shamrock, we consider ourselves stewards of the environment and a benefit to industry. We treat wastewater to improve it to standards and then discharge it to POTWs and water reclamation facilities where it is then treated for reclamation, makeup water and re-use water for agriculture or other industries. POTWs complete the final treatment steps to wastewater before it is released to the environment, adding additional assurance to our customers.
How does Shamrock’s CWT benefit regulators, industries, communities and customers?
Regulators have the goal of protecting communities, and we have an advanced wastewater treatment system with state-of-the-art equipment and a strong commitment to compliance and environmental protection. Using state-of-the-art equipment to treat wastewaters benefits the community and our clients. We provide industries with an environmentally responsible outlet for the wastewaters derived from their manufacturing and production processes. Without a responsible outlet, these wastewaters could end up disposed of in other manners. At Shamrock, we treat wastewater in excess of what the regulatory standards require. We are audited and meet high client standards, including being a CHWMEG-approved facility and compliant with ISN, Avetta and other evaluation mechanisms.
Why is Shamrock a leader in CWT?
At Shamrock, we use state-of-the-art physical, chemical and filtration processes to effectively manage industrial wastewaters in excess of regulatory standards. We believe in an open and cooperative relationship with our regulators that makes Shamrock a leader in the field. We are in the compliance business; companies wouldn’t be coming to Shamrock if they didn’t have a desired need to comply.
How does Shamrock manage rapidly changing regulations and keep customers informed and safe?
We maintain a highly qualified staff of engineers, scientists and compliance specialists that monitor regulatory trends, continually evaluate our treatment systems and services we offer and modify those to address customer needs or regulatory changes in a proactive manner. There are lots of moving parts behind the scenes at Shamrock, with different levels of regulations from OSHA, the EPA and the states and communities in which we operate.
What is the difference between hazardous waste, hazardous materials, hazardous substances and non-hazardous industrial waste?
Hazardous wastes are defined in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations. They include listed and characteristic wastes that are defined as hazardous per EPA and state regulations.
Hazardous materials typically refer to materials regulated in transportation. They include materials that might cause harm to the public or to the environment if mishandled during transport, as defined in DOT regulations. For example, petroleum contact water (PCW) is water that has fuel in it. While it doesn’t reach the level of hazardous waste, it can be highly flammable, and is handled as a hazardous material.
Hazardous substances are an EPA list of chemicals and materials that may cause harm to the environment. Discharges of these chemicals in air, water, soil and the environment may be regulated. For example, amine is an industrial chemical that has lots of uses, but it typically does not meet the definition of a hazardous waste or material. While many of these amines may or may not meet the definition of a hazardous waste, they may be a hazardous substance and present a risk to the environment and/or safety and health of employees if not handled correctly. We have the experience, processes, people and equipment needed to properly manage these materials.
Non-hazardous industrial waste is anything that does not meet the previous definitions, is typically from a commercial or industrial source, and may have adverse characteristics that present environmental or public health hazards if not properly managed. For example, manufacturing byproducts, oily wastewater, food flavoring in an industrial state, paint byproducts and food product all may be categorized as non-hazardous industrial waste.
The post A Conversation with Jim Hollingsworth, Shamrock’s Director of Health, Safety and Environment appeared first on Shamrock Environmental Corporation.