The home heating oil industry has a long and proud history, and Fuel Oil News has been there supporting it since 1935. It is an industry that has faced many challenges during that time. In its 77th year, Fuel Oil News is doing more than just holding
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/572773
38 OCTOBER 2015 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com BUSINESS OPERATIONS with critical data on spills and leaks; reduce spill mitigation response time; and eliminate conflicts of interest in spill remediation. For each of the six goals, COHA has formed "implementation groups" to find ways to achieve them "in an efficient and proper manner," Koch said. Here's more on what is being done. EXPAND GREENTECH; CREATE 'BEST PRACTICE' CERTIFICATE Over the past five years the association has established GreenTech, a certification program for technicians; now, as rec- ommended by the advisory council, an implementation group is preparing to add education in new technologies and methods of equipment installation and setup, the goal being to limit risk of contact or impact that might cause a system leak or spill. "Many people out there in Canada have their OBT [oil burner technician certificate] but they received them twenty years ago," Koch said. There was no continuing education on new technolo- gies and new methodologies. Some training this year resulted in Green Techs earning credits for continuing education. The implementation group examined how the wood-burning equipment industry and its installers addressed the challenges of risk and insurance coverage, looking for parallels with the fuel oil industry. "The insurance industry didn't want to provide coverage if someone had a wood-burning stove that was more than ten years old," Koch said. The wood equipment industry and installers created a best practices certificate designed "to give confidence to insurers that [an installed] product was without major risk of fire," Koch said. The group overseeing GreenTech is looking to see if that best practices approach can be used in the fuel oil business. "The insurers have problems with the existing [oil-burning equipment] because they don't know the work, they don't know how old the equipment is, they don't know if the connections are proper," Koch said. "They are looking for something to give them more confidence." The group also is exploring the feasibility of expanding GreenTech beyond technicians to others working in the fuel oil business, such as those selling tanks, and teaching them how to reduce risks. "We are in the midst of talking to educators and colleges on how best to put forward a curriculum that is going to be accepted not only by our industry," Koch said, "but by regulators and educators." FUEL OIL SYSTEM EDUCATION FOR CONSUMERS "We found that many consumers didn't understand their roles and responsibilities to ensure safe operation of not only fuel oil heating, but any type of heating," Koch said. Consumer representatives on the Advisory Council suggested COHA and insurers together create consumer education pieces for distribution to oil-burning customers. The content of the messages to consumers was to be discussed in an initial meeting in October. NATIONAL ADOPTION OF B139 The Canadian Standards Authority has created B139, pertain- ing to installation of oil burning equipment. COHA accepted it "as a major step forward in risk reduction," Koch said, and is recommending that all jurisdictions adopt it. The tank, second- ary containment within the tank, and connector pipes are also covered by B139. Newfoundland was the first province to adopt B139, Koch said, and Ontario will be implementing it effective January 2016. INFORMATION HUB There is a need for consistent data on leaks and spills to help pinpoint their causes "so that we can develop programs to help educate people," Koch said. "We found the data collected by governments is very limited and doesn't really give us the answers that we're looking for." It was suggested that a process be put in place that allows the collection of data in one location "so everybody's working off the same information," Koch said. Each province will provide Environment Canada, the federal environmental ministry, with their data, so that insurers, under- writers and the fuel oil industry "can focus on the highest risk in fuel oil escape," Koch said. Environment Canada has agreed to participate in the implementation group for the effort, Koch said. Claims groups, which seem to have such data, have histori- cally held it as proprietary, and still do, Koch said. "We need to have them buy into this program. We're working on a methodol- ogy to engage the insurers and the claims people so that we can access that information." While jurisdictions typically require that regulators be noti- fied when fuel spills or leaks, "Are [regulators] collecting that information consistently between provinces and what type of information are they collecting?" Koch said. "In many cases we found it was very limited. It was just the address." The available information often didn't include the amount that was discharged or how it came to be discharged, Koch said, "and those are the key things that we need to know." ELIMINATE CONFLICTS OF INTEREST IN SPILL REMEDIATION Many insurers retain preferred remediation companies or envi- ronmental engineering companies that are usually a subsidiary or even the same company that initially arrives at a scene to define the parameters of a spill or leak and how it's to be cleaned up, Koch said. In a court case stemming from a spill nearly ten years ago on "We found that many consumers didn't understand their roles and responsibilities to ensure safe operation of not only fuel oil heating, but any type of heating." — Stephen Koch