Environmental Quality Management
Encyclopedia
Environmental Quality Management, Inc. (EQM) is an environmental engineering and remediation company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio
that has been active in providing environmental remediation support in response to terrorist attacks, the space shuttle disaster, superfund site cleanup, hazardous chemical spills and natural disasters.
; Durham, North Carolina
; Las Vegas, Nevada
; New Orleans, Louisiana
; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
; Portland, Oregon
; Roanoke, Virginia
; Sacramento, California
; San Antonio, Texas
; and Seattle, Washington
. According to the July 07 issue of Engineering News Record’s (ENR) listing of The Top 200 Environmental Firms, EQ is currently ranked as the 43rd largest environmental firm in the US; the 17th largest in hazardous waste projects, the 16th largest overall governmental environmental contractor, and the 9th largest “All Environmental” firm in the US.
The company provides services in the following areas:
to determine the presence of dioxins, PCBs, inorganic metals, and asbestos. EQM made recommendations to ensure proper cleanup of the asbestos-contaminated dust and to reduce the exposure of cleanup personnel and occupants returning to buildings.
The company assisted in coordination of NIEHS-WETP grantee activities at the WTC Site, assessed the current safety and health status of response personnel working at the WTC Site, evaluated the current Site safety and health plans or programs and related aspects such as exposure monitoring with respect to worker protections, and performed a preliminary training needs assessment specific to the WTC Site activities.
EQ assisted in the mobilization of response resources, including coordination with the New York City Building and Construction Trades Council and the Construction Employers Association, Bechtel Corporation (the contractor responsible for developing the overall WTC Disaster Site Safety and Health Plan), and other parties with respect to the training programs that could be promptly provided by the grantee organizations.
The assessment of the safety and health status at the Site was based on on-site observations and analysis of the WTC Disaster Site Worker Injury and Illness Surveillance Update Reports issued by the City Health Department.
-laced letter in his office. Several other congressional office buildings also showed evidence of anthrax contamination and had to be fumigated.
Responding to these life-threatening hazards, EQ was on site at Capitol Hill within 24 hours with crews and equipment to develop biocidal treatment of Bacillus Anthracis endospores. EQM led, developed, and trained multiple contractors to deal with personnel, equipment, and gasification decontamination.
EQM developed “Sampling for Anthrax” training. EQM also designed, constructed, and manned modular multi-chamber decontamination containment systems in three locations in the Hart Senate Office Building. EQM refined construction units to make them quicker to assemble during daily setup and tear-down. EQM developed handbooks, established Standard Operating Procedures, and taught specialized decontamination procedures.
Due to concerns over hazardous exposures and site disturbances, the company was under pressure to rapidly accomplish and secure recovery. EQM’s staff worked in conjunction with many different local, state, and federal personnel to meet the goal of a quick and complete recovery of the shuttle remains.
This project was conducted over a 500 square miles (1,295 km²) area centered around Texas and Louisiana. Chemical hazards encountered included hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, in addition to risks of explosive, flammable, corrosive, and reactive materials.
As a result of this important effort, EQM was honored on July 10, 2003 in Washington, D.C. at the U.S. EPA’s 15th Annual Small & Disadvantaged Business Awards ceremony. The award recognized EQ for its outstanding accomplishments in recovering debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia.
and Hurricane Rita
. The company was an integral part of the search and rescue operation.
Days after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the neighboring Gulf Coast, the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) tasked EQM (through its U.S. EPA Region 6 Emergency & Rapid Response Services contract) to conduct a search and rescue mission, followed by debris removal and cleanup of hazardous waste in the hardest-hit areas.
The company immediately dispatched 120 people (employees and subcontractors) to assist with the effort. At the height of the rescue mission, the EQM team was working 15 to 18 hours a day and living in a tent city. Sixty boats were deployed continuously from New Orleans to various parishes in an effort to search for survivors and bring them to shore.
After the search and rescue effort was completed, the company turned its attention to removing debris and hazardous waste. The work involved identifying, labeling, packaging, and arranging transportation and disposal of massive amounts of household waste, manufacturing and refinery waste, and large appliances containing refrigerants.
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
that has been active in providing environmental remediation support in response to terrorist attacks, the space shuttle disaster, superfund site cleanup, hazardous chemical spills and natural disasters.
History
EQ was established in 1990, to provide nationwide environmental consulting, engineering, and remediation/restoration services from its offices throughout the country. In addition to its Cincinnati headquarters, EQM has offices in Chicago, Illinois; Denver, ColoradoDenver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
; Durham, North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
; Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
; New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
; Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
; Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
; Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
; San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
; and Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. According to the July 07 issue of Engineering News Record’s (ENR) listing of The Top 200 Environmental Firms, EQ is currently ranked as the 43rd largest environmental firm in the US; the 17th largest in hazardous waste projects, the 16th largest overall governmental environmental contractor, and the 9th largest “All Environmental” firm in the US.
The company provides services in the following areas:
- Air Quality Services
- Emergency Response
- Environmental Management
- Industrial Hygiene
- Steel
- Cement
EQM subsidiary companies
The EQM companies currently consist of three companies that are strategically positioned to provide all encompassing environmental and engineering support for their customers, whether they are local or international in scope. The EQM subsidiaries include EQ Engineers, LLC in the Chicago area, and EQ Engineers Slovakia, s.r.o., in Košice, Slovakia.World Trade Center site monitoring study
EQM conducted a monitoring study of residential buildings located north and southwest of Ground ZeroGround zero
The term ground zero describes the point on the Earth's surface closest to a detonation...
to determine the presence of dioxins, PCBs, inorganic metals, and asbestos. EQM made recommendations to ensure proper cleanup of the asbestos-contaminated dust and to reduce the exposure of cleanup personnel and occupants returning to buildings.
The company assisted in coordination of NIEHS-WETP grantee activities at the WTC Site, assessed the current safety and health status of response personnel working at the WTC Site, evaluated the current Site safety and health plans or programs and related aspects such as exposure monitoring with respect to worker protections, and performed a preliminary training needs assessment specific to the WTC Site activities.
EQ assisted in the mobilization of response resources, including coordination with the New York City Building and Construction Trades Council and the Construction Employers Association, Bechtel Corporation (the contractor responsible for developing the overall WTC Disaster Site Safety and Health Plan), and other parties with respect to the training programs that could be promptly provided by the grantee organizations.
The assessment of the safety and health status at the Site was based on on-site observations and analysis of the WTC Disaster Site Worker Injury and Illness Surveillance Update Reports issued by the City Health Department.
Anthrax emergency response cleanup
The Hart Senate Office Building was closed on October 17, 2001, when aides to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle opened an anthraxAnthrax
Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...
-laced letter in his office. Several other congressional office buildings also showed evidence of anthrax contamination and had to be fumigated.
Responding to these life-threatening hazards, EQ was on site at Capitol Hill within 24 hours with crews and equipment to develop biocidal treatment of Bacillus Anthracis endospores. EQM led, developed, and trained multiple contractors to deal with personnel, equipment, and gasification decontamination.
EQM developed “Sampling for Anthrax” training. EQM also designed, constructed, and manned modular multi-chamber decontamination containment systems in three locations in the Hart Senate Office Building. EQM refined construction units to make them quicker to assemble during daily setup and tear-down. EQM developed handbooks, established Standard Operating Procedures, and taught specialized decontamination procedures.
Space Shuttle Columbia recovery
The Space Shuttle Columbia broke up on re-entry over Texas on February 1, 2003. Within hours of the Columbia disaster, U.S. EPA Region 6 used its Emergency and Rapid Response Services (ERRS) contract to contact EQM for help in the recovery effort. The company responded immediately by dispatching a crew to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Before long, EQM and its team had 75 trained response personnel in the field assisting with the recovery effort. The EQM team was involved with tagging and retrieving the debris and transporting it to a secure location.Due to concerns over hazardous exposures and site disturbances, the company was under pressure to rapidly accomplish and secure recovery. EQM’s staff worked in conjunction with many different local, state, and federal personnel to meet the goal of a quick and complete recovery of the shuttle remains.
This project was conducted over a 500 square miles (1,295 km²) area centered around Texas and Louisiana. Chemical hazards encountered included hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, in addition to risks of explosive, flammable, corrosive, and reactive materials.
As a result of this important effort, EQM was honored on July 10, 2003 in Washington, D.C. at the U.S. EPA’s 15th Annual Small & Disadvantaged Business Awards ceremony. The award recognized EQ for its outstanding accomplishments in recovering debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Environmental cleanup response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
EQM provided environmental cleanup and waste management services in eight parishes in Louisiana affected by Hurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
and Hurricane Rita
Hurricane Rita
Hurricane Rita was the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the most intense tropical cyclone ever observed in the Gulf of Mexico. Rita caused $11.3 billion in damage on the U.S. Gulf Coast in September 2005...
. The company was an integral part of the search and rescue operation.
Days after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the neighboring Gulf Coast, the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) tasked EQM (through its U.S. EPA Region 6 Emergency & Rapid Response Services contract) to conduct a search and rescue mission, followed by debris removal and cleanup of hazardous waste in the hardest-hit areas.
The company immediately dispatched 120 people (employees and subcontractors) to assist with the effort. At the height of the rescue mission, the EQM team was working 15 to 18 hours a day and living in a tent city. Sixty boats were deployed continuously from New Orleans to various parishes in an effort to search for survivors and bring them to shore.
After the search and rescue effort was completed, the company turned its attention to removing debris and hazardous waste. The work involved identifying, labeling, packaging, and arranging transportation and disposal of massive amounts of household waste, manufacturing and refinery waste, and large appliances containing refrigerants.
External links
- Environmental Quality Management Company website
- EQ Engineers, LLC Chicago subsidiary website
- EQ Engineers Slovakia, s.r.o. Košice, Slovakia subsidiary website