|
Alta is pleased to announce the addition of three new experts to join our team. We continue to grow to meet the needs of our clients.
 Drought Expansion
Rainfall was hard to come by this past winter in Southern California. The wet weather season, which kicked off on October 1st, started warm and very dry. In fact, the first storm event in Southern California did not occur until January. Luckily, it was a large event with around an inch or more of rain, but it ultimately represented about a third of the total seasonal rainfall. February remained dry and while additional storms in March made a lackluster attempt to catch up for the seasonal deficit, the entire season ultimately fell well below normal. Contrary to Southern California, the Sierra Nevada had a ‘Miracle March’ with about 200% of normal due to several atmospheric river fueled events. The snowpack wrapped up at 30-50% of average, which is approximately three time less than last year’s snowpack. The lower numbers this year are at least tempered by the significant snowpack the Sierra’s received last winter. However, Southern California skiing areas suffered, recording the 4th driest on record, 12th driest for snowfall, and the warmest as well. May is National Safety Month and my ongoing onsite mantra of “environmental compliance is the new safety” came to mind. I use this phrase with clients, contractors and subcontractors when I get the usual retort of “we’ve been doing it this way since before you were born.” I must look young for my age, but the fact that someone is unwilling to change a methodology or process simply because that’s the way they’ve been doing it, apparently for nearly 5 decades, is a disservice to the trade, the construction industry, the environment, and their client. When OSHA was created in 1971 safety regulations began a multi-decade push to becoming an ingrained and second nature effort on any construction project. I can just imagine the old timer foreman in 1980 saying to a safety inspector “we’ve been hanging upside down from that scaffolding to paint the under side of window trim without a harness for decades, we ain’t starting now.” Fast forward to today, fall protection is a requirement and not considered optional by workers as they have been brought through their apprenticeships with the process as just a part of the job.
We are holding a mass hiring event – May 15, 2018 at 3pm. If you are an industrial hygiene or environmental health and safety professional Alta wants to hire you! At Alta, we help clients comply with federal, state and local environmental health and safety regulations; and specialize in the complex California regulatory agencies’ requirements. Our work makes businesses and communities cleaner, stronger, and safer. Take Control of Your Career and Join Alta Environmental Joining Alta means you’ll be part of a strong team that wants you to succeed and will give you the tools to do so. It means you’ll be working with smart and dedicated people who work hard but like to have fun. It means there’s plenty of opportunity to increase your skills and share your ideas. Our corporate culture enables both professional and personal development by offering a variety of positions and a direct career trajectory for growth and advancement. Do NOT miss the opportunity of a lifetime to join an exhilarating company and create a brilliant future in environmental health and safety consulting. Event Details
Please bring your best YOU. Plus 2 copies of your latest updated resume…. Plus a form of picture identification to show at check-in.
Data Management and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Problem Solving and Project Solutions4/19/2018
By Mallory Graves, GIS Associate
I mentioned to a colleague recently that working with GIS data for any environmental medium is like nailing Jell-O to a tree. While I cannot take credit for the Jell-O catchphrase, I can speak to its resonance in the business of utilizing GIS in stormwater management, where watershed boundaries change by the minute, point source locations may actually be streams, and visual assessments are acceptable forms of defining the common operating picture of a site as large as Disney Land. The integration of GIS data and spatial analysis offers a visual representation of complex phenomena as well as the ability to examine relationships between multiple layers of information in data-driven contexts that are constantly in flux. Galbestos - Asbestos Containing Hazardous Material
It may be “Galbestos”. This is a process used from the late 1940s until 1979 which involved carbon steel that was galvanized, and while the zinc component was molten, asbestos felt was pressed into it. An asphalt layer was applied under pressure on top of the asbestos layer. A color coat is then applied on top, and this layer may or may not have asbestos in it. This material was used as a protection from metal corrosion and more commonly found on the east coast where weather more severely impacts metal with corrosion. How We Walk the Walk
Alta Environmental (Alta) assists clients in complying with environmental policies and regulations, as well as growth and change in their operations with recommendations that incorporate sustainable policies and procedures, equipment, and facilities. In addition to providing environmental and sustainability consulting services to our clients, Alta also strives to implement sustainable policies and procedures in all aspects of our operations. In 2017, Alta formed a Sustainability Task Force to define and expand our company sustainability initiatives. The following sections highlight some of the metrics we track in order to determine the program’s success. This past January at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland the global c-suite community met to discuss the current state, as well as the future of, important global macro-economic forces such as: Mobility, Financial Systems, and The Environment and Natural Resource Security and Energy, amongst others. Each WEF meeting is accompanied with a Global Risks Report and according to the 2017/18 Report, the international business community is most concerned about: nuclear war and climate change.
 The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the local air districts are continuing to move towards implementation of the Community Air Protection Program (CAPP). Industries, municipalities, and community members should pay attention to Assembly Bill (AB) 617 and CAPP developments to see if their communities are nominated and/or selected for the inaugural year.
|
|
