The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) gives EPA the authority to control hazardous waste from cradle to grave. This includes the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. RCRA also set forth a framework for the management of non-hazardous solid wastes.

EPA’s regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR) define four hazardous waste characteristic properties: ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity (see 40 CFR 261.21- 261.24).

To achieve these objectives, RCRA authorizes EPA to regulate the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste (also referred to as “cradle-to-grave management”) and the management of solid waste. Generators also are responsible for tracking waste through a manifest system.

Regulatory and Guidance Information by Topic: Waste RCRA’s goals are to protect us from the hazards of waste disposal; conserve energy and natural resources by recycling and recovery; reduce or eliminate waste; and clean up waste that which may have spilled, leaked or been improperly disposed of.

The seven wastes are Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Overprocessing and Defects. They are often referred to by the acronym ‘TIMWOOD’.

The 8 Wastes of Lean Manufacturing and How to Fight Them

1. 1- Overproduction. Overproduction occurs when something is created before it is needed.
2. 2- Transport.
3. 3- Over Processing.
4. 4- Defects.
5. 5- Motion.
6. 6- Inventory.
7. 7- Waiting.
8. 8- Human Potential.

What Are Lean Tools? The Japanese word for waste is muda, which is defined as “uselessness.” Lean tools are designed to reduce Muda in organizations and improve quality control. In other words, Lean tools seek to eliminate processes that aren’t valuable.

The Five S’s

The traditional approach to TPM was developed in the 1960s and consists of 5S as a foundation and eight supporting activities (sometimes referred to as pillars). The traditional TPM model consists of a 5S foundation (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain) and eight supporting activities.

The last pillar of Total Productive Maintenance is setting standards for the working conditions of all employees by eliminating potential health and safety risks. An example of such an activity includes the implementation of a set of measures (as guards, work standards) making machines safe to use.

These basic seven pillars are:

• Autonomous maintenance.
• Kobetsu Kaizen (Focused Improvement)
• Planned Maintenance.
• Quality maintenance.
• Training and Education.
• Office TPM.
• Safety Health Environment (SHE)

The five in a 5S workplace organizational and housekeeping methodology refers to five steps – sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain. The term refers to five steps – sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain – that are also sometimes known as the five pillars of a visual workplace.

They are sort, set, shine, standardize and sustain. Lean bases the words on the original Japanese: seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke.

4S is a Chief Prevention Office (CPO)-approved training provider for the Joint Health and Safety Committees (JHSC) and Working at Heights (WAH) training, which includes full and refresher training. Be it public or in-class OHS training for all the hazard-specific and other OHS trainings, 4S always supports its clients.

Keys and Tips to Implement the 5S Methodology

1. SEIRI (Sort) Seiri is about organizing and eliminating unnecessary items.
2. SEITON (Set in order) Seiton means setting in order the necessary elements so that they are easy to find and use by anyone.
3. SEISO (Shine)
4. SEIKETSU (Standardize)
5. SHITSUKE (Sustain)

3 Simple Steps to Implement 5S in your Workspace

1. Visualize the work area.
2. Look for waste.
3. Look for the root cause of every problem.
4. Develop standards.
5. Repeat the process.

The 5S philosophy is “a place for everything and everything in its place,” and helps to eliminate wasted time, wasted space and wasted inventory. Implementing 5S raises product quality and improves work productivity, resulting in lower costs and higher efficiencies.

The Kaizen approach consists of 5 founding elements :

• teamwork,
• personal discipline,
• improved morale,
• quality circles,
• suggestions for improvement.