Dr. Ralph M. Keller, P.E., CIH
Consulting Certified Field Hygienist

Experience Profile:

Education:
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering; University of Missouri at Columbia, MO, 1977
MS Chemical Engineering; University of Missouri at Columbia, MO, 1971
BS Chemical Engineering; University of Missouri at Columbia, MO, 1969

Registrations:
Registered Professional Engineer: KS, 1988; MO, 1982

Certifications:
Certified Industrial Hygienist in Comprehensive Practice, American Industrial Hygiene Association, 1984

Project Experience:
Asbestos Abatement Projects: Developing and reviewing removal plans on-site coordination and inspection Air sampling and final clearance inspections
Developed waste management plans for RCRA
Created and reviewed SPCC plans for both TSCA and RCRA facilities
Served as CIH and Closure Engineer for both RCRA and CERCLA remedial action projects
OSHA "Hazardous Operations Health & Safety Training": Developed the manual and provided instruction to over 1,400 individuals in the last 8 years

Narrative:
Dr. Keller has extensive experience in environmental engineering, industrial hygiene and hazardous waste management. His academic background, combined with his hands-on experience, ensures that your project will be managed in full compliance with current regulations and state of the art procedures.

Dr. Keller received his Doctorate in Chemical Engineering and a Specialty in Environmental Sciences in 1977 from the University of Missouri at Columbia. He worked with Midwest Research Institute for three years and then with Mobay Chemical Corporation for five years. While at Midwest Research he worked on several projects involving the monitoring and modeling of indoor and outdoor exposure of people to criteria pollutants. He also directed computer dispersion modeling of pollutants from various source types and conducted emission inventories. Dr. Keller was involved with field operations to measure emission factors from several different industrial source types. At Mobay Chemical Corporation Dr. Keller served as the air quality engineer in the Industrial Hygiene/Air Quality Section. During the five years, he became involved in the industrial hygiene, hazardous waste management and emergency response field. He directed the permitting of air pollution sources, designed pollution control equipment, directed odor studies and conducted emission inventories of facility emissions. He conducted area monitoring for identification of chemicals and exposure data. He also programmed computers to record and report exposure data, employee data and limited health data. He aided in the analysis of exposure data and recommended corrective action. He was involved in on-site emergency spill activities, taking part in identifying the spill source, recommending repairs and actions to limit exposure, and evacuating personnel if needed. In July, 1984, Dr. Keller became a consultant in industrial hygiene, environmental pollution sampling and control and hazardous material control and management.

Industrial Hygiene
Dr. Keller received his Certification in Industrial Hygiene in Comprehensive Practice in 1983. He has experience in personnel monitoring, area monitoring, hygiene audits, computerization of exposure data and general investigation of industrial hygiene problems. Other industrial hygiene areas in which he consults are hazards communications (right-to-know), indoor air quality, and asbestos monitoring. To date, Dr. Keller has conducted several hygiene monitoring projects to identify airborne chemicals and recommend corrective action. The monitoring has involved chemical, respirable particulate and nuisance odor exposures. He has been involved in an industrial hygiene audit of commercial facilities in which he has reviewed chemicals on site, protective actions and equipment, emission control devices, fire and noise hazards and general hygiene compliance. He has been involved in facility review for both safety engineering and exposure control. He has consulted to industry concerning industrial hygiene and worker protection. Dr. Keller has been active in hazardous waste remedial action in preparing site health and safety plans, monitoring site activities and performing site compliance review.

Indoor Air Quality
Dr. Keller has conducted industrial hygiene investigations into the causes of indoor air pollution, odor occurrences, personnel response and "sick building syndrome". Investigating indoor air pollution incidents requires interviewing the affected personnel, investigating potential sources, monitoring air concentrations and sorting the various clues to deduce the source of the pollution. Potential chemical and biological sources need to be considered. Sampling of substances has involved direct reading instruments for carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, temperature, humidity, formaldehyde, ammonia, and several other chemicals. Chemicals in very low concentrations require sampling with adsorbent tubes to concentrate the chemicals for analysis by laboratory means. Biological agents are collected by sampling plates cascade impactors or high volume samplers. Ventilation systems must be evaluated for the air supply, contamination flow patterns and effectiveness for individual comfort.

Environmental Engineering
Dr. Keller has consulted with government and industry on projects to determine air emissions, design control devices, and permit facilities. He has completed emissions questionnaires for several industrial facilities involved with printing, healthcare, warehouse storage, chemical production, coating operations, and woodworking operations. Dr. Keller consulted with the EPA and State of Missouri to review and complete emissions inventory questionnaires for approximately 1,300 sources. Nine of the questionnaires were from large facilities and required several weeks to be reviewed. Dr. Keller has worked with industrial clients to measure the emissions of air pollutants for estimates of air toxic releases and to determine the minimum removal efficiency of control devices. Dr. Keller has provided design parameters for selection of control devices for particulates and gas/vapor control devices. Dr. Keller has been involved with permitting new sources of air pollutants for facility expansion The permitting has involved data collection, permit generation, and interfacing with the state and federal representatives.

CERCLA and RCRA Remediation
Dr. Keller has served as the closure engineer for remedial action projects since 1986. Sites have included a disposal site for paints and paint thinners; an underground tank farm containing RCRA waste in which the tanks had leaked contaminating the groundwater and soil; sites with heavy metal contamination, sites with PCB contamination; and several underground storage tank removal operations. He has served as the industrial hygienist at remedial action sites. He has performed general safety and health activities at the sites. These included respirator selection, exposure control, record keeping and hearing protection. He held site safety meetings as well as developed the site safety plan. Dr. Keller has developed and implemented confined space entry plans, conducted air monitoring and has provided the training recommended for confined space entry. Dr. Keller has completed the mandatory 40 hours of safety and health training (OSHA 1910.120) required for individuals working on RCRA and CERCLA remedial action sites.

Dr. Keller has conducted Health Profiles, Risk Assessments, contaminate dispersion modeling, health impact statements and public notification procedures for the closure and post-closure of RCRA and CERCLA sites. The projects have required the determination of the emissions of pollutants to the atmosphere, surface waters and groundwaters; estimates of the pollutant concentration at the receptor, location of potential receptors, evaluation of the population distribution of the receptors; and determination of the appropriate clean up goals for the contaminates. Two projects required the location of wells within 1 to 3 miles of the source property, determination of the property owners and accumulation of the well data.

Environmental Audits/Assessments
Dr. Keller has conducted environmental audits/assessments on properties to determine the environmental liabilities of the properties. The audits were conducted to determine if any contamination of the property existed from various pollutants.  

These contaminates included asbestos, PCB’s, hazardous wastes, -underground storage tanks, and past chemical storage and usage at the facility. He has conducted environmental audits on residential commercial and industrial properties.

Hazardous Waste Management
In the areas of hazardous materials, Dr. Keller has obtained operating permits for a toxic waste firm and aided in the preparation of a Part B RCRA application. His-involvement included planning and writing plans for storage, waste processing, tank farm designs, contingency plans, SPCC plans, closure plans and disposal planning. He is familiar with federal, Kansas and Missouri hazardous waste regulations, hazardous waste training and management, stack sampling of POHC,s and the operation of hazardous waste incinerators. In 1987, he created a computer program to manage, inventory, track and manifest hazardous materials at TSD facilities. Dr. Keller has conducted two public health assessments for RCRA permits and one risk assessment for a proposed remediation of a RCRA facility.

Asbestos
Dr. Keller has conducted bulk sampling, surveying and removal monitoring for asbestos containing materials to identify asbestos containing materials and to determine the airborne fiber concentrations. He has authored and reviewed asbestos removal plans for removal technique, monitoring, decontamination, isolation and disposal. He has reviewed and developed management plans for operation and maintenance. He has conducted asbestos awareness training programs. He has been involved in over seeing removal operations for clients to insure proper removal and air monitoring has been conducted and that OSHA and EPA regulations have been followed. Dr. Keller has been involved with asbestos abatement projects since 1987.

Computer Programming
Dr. Keller has been programming computers for fifteen years in BASIC and FORTRAN languages on main frames, mini-computers and microcomputers. He has applied programming to emission inventories, meteorology data collection and analysis, air pollution calculations, stack sampling calculations, data bases, water pollution parameter tracking and prediction, hazardous waste manifesting, and dispersion modeling.

Training
Dr. Keller has provided training on a variety of subjects related to environmental topics and health and safety topics over a period of six years. He has trained personnel on laboratory handling and analysis of hazardous materials, emergency response, hazardous waste remediation, and the handling and removal of asbestos containing materials. He has written the training manuals for the subject matter covered in the various training courses including the 24 and 40-hour Hazardous Waste Operation and Emergency Response training course. He has provided over 40 training sessions related to hazardous waste operations and emergency response in the past four years with over 1400 students trained. Dr. Keller has attended EPA sponsored classes and been certified to work on hazardous waste sites. Dr. Keller served as an emergency responder to chemical spills and releases for 4 years during his employment at Mobay Chemical Corporation. His experience on remedial action sites and emergency response has contributed to his presentations in the classroom. His experience as a Professional Engineer at hazardous waste site remediations contributes to the discussion of site management, soil and water sampling, and site security. As a Certified Industrial Hygienist, Dr. Keller is familiar with respiratory protection, protective clothing, toxicology, monitoring instrumentation and exposure limits. His background in engineering and regulations provides experience in regulatory compliance and engineering controls.

Previous Work History (July, 1984 - Present)
CONSULTING ENGINEER. Dr. Keller has consulted in environmental engineering, industrial hygiene and hazardous waste management. Environmental projects have included completing emission inventories for industrial and commercial clients including woodworking operations, chemical manufacturing facilities, printing operations and coating operations; inventory questionnaire evaluation and verification for the State of Missouri, EPA and industrial facilities; environmental audits of manufacturing, commercial and light commercial facilities; industrial hygiene monitoring for chemical exposure at several facilities; hazardous waste site remediation activities; risk assessment for waste sites remediation; computer programming of personal computers to create wastewater and hazardous waste databases, to provide real-time measurements data acquisition, and to provide reports; and evaluation of air pollution control devices.

Dr. Keller has conducted industrial hygiene audits, employee exposure personal and area sampling, hazard evaluation and Hazard Communication program training. Sampling has included chemical concentrations for coating operations, chemical manufacturing, plating operations, woodworking, office building operations and noise levels for various operations. Dr. Keller has conducted investigation into general building exposure problems resulting in employee discomfort. He has served as the Certified Industrial Hygienist for asbestos abatement projects involving developing and reviewing removal plans, on-site coordination and inspection, air sampling, and final clearance inspections.

Dr. Keller has evaluated plant operations and developed waste management plans for RCRA facilities. The investigations include evaluating the wastes, planning storage routines, training, manifest use, and disposal selection. He has created and reviewed SPCC plans for both TSCA and RCRA facilities. He has participated in closure and post closure permitting projects. He has developed Health Profiles, health studies, toxicological impact studies, and conducted risk assessments and pollutant impact studies.

Dr. Keller has served as CIH and Closure engineer for both RCRA and CERCLA remedial action projects. He has developed Site Health and Safety Plans for such actions, evaluated the hazards, acted as onsite coordinator, conducted on-site training as a CIH. He has conducted activities as the closure engineer and provided the signed closure statement for remedial actions.

Dr. Keller has provided Health and Safety training to meet the 40 hour and 24 hour Hazardous operations training required by OSHA for individuals working on sites and individuals working in emergency response. He developed the manual and provides the instruction for the course for the 24-hour and 40-hour training, the 8-hour annual training, the 8-hour supervisory training and the 24-hour in-field training. Dr. Keller has trained over 1,400 individuals since 1987.

Dr. Keller has provided consulting services to both commercial and industrial clients. Dr. Keller has provided the leadership and technical expertise for the projects completed during this time period.

Aug., 1979 - July, 1984 Mobay Chemical Corporation. Senior Air Quality Engineer.
Staff of nine technicians. The air quality section was responsible for monitoring emissions of all pollutants, both criteria and others now classified as air toxics, monitoring the air pollution control devices, conducting community patrols for odors from the facility, permitting of new sources, inventorying all emissions from all sources, environmental impact statements for new source permitting, and design of control devices. The facility produced pesticides for agricultural use. The processes included distillation, blending, chemical reaction, incineration, carbon absorption, steam generation and many others. The chemicals included mercaptans, organophosphates and various gases which resulted in emissions of several air toxics. Among Dr. Keller's duties were managing the staff of the Section, operating the Section's odor laboratory, guiding emission inventory efforts, sampling and process definition. Pollution control equipment operated at the facility included process ventilation, scrubbing and thermal incineration. Dr. Keller served on the company's emergency response team.

Dr. Keller assisted the Company Industrial Hygienist in performing industrial hygiene duties and computer control of sampling and exposure data. Dr. Keller served on the company emergency response team for the company. He responded to emergency situation involving chemicals releases and spills. He also was involved in the completion of the company's RCRA Part B permit for a hazardous waste incinerator.

November, 1976 - August, 1979 Midwest Research Institute. Associate Engineer.
Project leader for a project to define and measure volatile organic compound emissions from natural and quasi-natural sources. The project involved the measurement on site and in the laboratory of emissions of VOC’s from various sources. United States and global emissions of VOC’s from natural sources were also estimated. Other projects included 1) estimating VOC emissions from urban sources; 2) dispersion modeling of criteria pollutants from stationary sources; 3)computerization of dispersion models, emission inventory data and source data and 4) measurement of particulate emission factors from various sources.

Dr. Keller also directed computer modeling efforts to predict pollutant concentrations downwind of pollutant sources. Modeling of point and area sources were conducted. One project required the alteration of available models to predict the concentrations in complex terrain.