Welcome

Welcome to The OnSite Toolbox, your one-stop resource for environmental and facilities news. Archives of the OnSite Newsletter are available on our Web site.

For more information call 800.580.8272, extension 4154.

Upcoming Training

Flour Bluff ISD (Region 2)
2/9/10 Asbestos Designated Person
2/10/10 Integrated Pest Management Coordinator
2/11/10 Indoor Air Quality Coordinator

Katy, TX
2/24/10 Integrated Pest Management Coordinator

Athens ISD
3/2/10 Asbestos Designated Person
3/3/10 Integrated Pest Management Coordinator
3/4/10 TBD

Training calendar

Take Action

January was National Radon Action Month. DSHS is able to furnish Radon Test Kits at no cost to public schools in Texas by means of a grant with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). School districts should contact Ms. Sheena Embry, Environmental Specialist Region 1, Lubbock, Texas at 1-806-783-6491 for additional information.

February 2010

Designing a Greener Disinfectant

It isn’t easy being green, especially when it comes to disinfectants. Currently the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) forbids marketing disinfectant products as “environmentally preferable” because they are designed to kill microbes, giving them a pesticide designation.

Without a solid means of identifying green disinfectants and sanitizers, some custodial staffs charged with greening their cleaning operations believe they have to completely forgo disinfectant use. In fact, Marion Stecklow, executive director of the Building Wellness Institute LLC, Silver Spring, Md., a firm formed to train commercial-facility cleaning services to adopt environmentally friendly practices, says she’s audited more than a few companies where the staff wasn’t using disinfectants because they were not green certified.

Portable Classroom Construction Rules Adopted

AUSTIN - Relocatable educational facilities (REF), also called “portable” classrooms, were added January 1, 2010, to the list of Industrialized Housing and Building (IHB) structures regulated by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) under Chapter 1202 of the Occupations Code.

Many “portable” classrooms are constructed on-site at a school in a manner that allows them to be easily moved in the future. The previous IHB law only covered housing and buildings constructed at a manufacturing facility, but as of January 1, 2010, Chapter 1202 recognizes a REF constructed at the school as a portable modular building and requires that units purchased or leased on or after January 1, 2010, comply with all IHB requirements.

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation encourages all school boards, administrators, principals and facility supervisors to familiarize themselves with the new rules before purchasing or leasing a REF or any other portable building.