Corporate officer’s negligence Chad A. Jenkins

As a corporation you must rely on your corporate officer to ensure the company is

following all statues listed under the EPA. These officers are hired to keep the corporation from

violating any of these laws. Therefore, I don’t believe the law goes too far by including them as

a responsible party if there are any violations. A corporate officer must be diligent and audit the

acts of the company to ensure they are staying compliant under federal laws. Liability resting on

the corporate officer is necessary to ensure they are serious in their actions to provide not only

protection to the company, but also to ensure protection to the public’s health and safety. In

most cases the liability of the company and their officer can be avoided or minimized by

including a self-policy or self-disclosure. A compliance management system should adhere to

the USEPA model to ensure they are not only protecting themselves but the company. These

steps are the following: 1. Environmental Policy - management must be committed to

compliance and this commitment must be communicated to all employees.

2. Organization, Personnel and Oversight of EMS - define duties, roles and means of

communicating environmental concerns, provide a direct means for concerned employees to

reach management without fear of negative consequences.

3. Accountability and Responsibility - specify responsibilities, provide incentives to perform and

describe consequences of nonperformance. Nonperformance must be subject to consequences.

4. Environmental Requirements - ensure that applicable requirements are identified and

communicated and updated as regulations change.

5. Assessment, Prevention and Control - includes establishing standard operation procedures and

management of change.

Corporate officer’s negligence Chad A. Jenkins

6. Environmental Incident and Non-compliance Investigations - standard procedures for dealing

with incidents to determine causes and prevent recurrence.

7. Environmental Training, Awareness and Competence - must

include documentation of training and periodic updates.

8. Environmental Planning and Organizational Decision Making - includes integration of

environmental planning on an annual basis for all corporate decisions.

9. Maintenance of Records and Documentation - should include specification of types of records

to be maintained.

10. Pollution Prevention - provides procedures for minimizing waste and emissions.

11. Continuing Program Evaluation and Improvement - includes evaluation of the EMS and

periodic audits of facility compliance.

12. Public Involvement/Community Outreach - includes education and environmental awareness.

Jeopardizing