“Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health (ESOH) Analyses in Acquisition” by Mr. Brian Hubbard

Environmental, safety and occupational health analyses are critical components of the Department of Defense’s System Engineering Process. This presentation described the role of these analyses within the DoD’s acquisition lifecycle framework. It also discussed the benefits of phased assessments, beginning early in development in an effort to identify and mitigate corresponding risks. Additionally, the data developed by employing the phased approach is intended for utilization when preparing the Programmatic Environment, Safety and Occupational Health Evaluation as well as National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) assessments.

“Approaches and New Tools for Incorporating Life Cycle Thinking Costing into Research and Acquisition: Making Sustainability Decisions More Robust?” by Dr. Andrew Henderson

The Defense Acquisition Guidebook requires program managers to consider sustainability during systems acquisition, selecting systems that meet performance requirements, have a lower Total Ownership Cost, and have reduced environmental and occupational liabilities. Identifying cost-effective and sustainable solutions requires life cycle thinking: Currently, the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) “Sustainability Analysis Guidance” provides the defense community with such an approach. However, executing a Sustainability Analysis (SA) can be time- and data-intensive. To assist the defense community in developing data and tools to rapidly conduct an SA, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Sustainment), SERDP/ESTCP, the Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRCSE), and Noblis partnered on a case study of life cycle cost and environmental safety and occupational health impacts of switching to Low Hydrogen Embrittlement zinc-nickel (Zn-Ni) electroplating from the baseline cadmium (Cd) system. Noblis used this system as a test case from which to develop a user-friendly, web-based tool for SA. This tool, called SparkLC, is now available to all SERDP/ESTCP researchers. This presentation described the regulatory and financial drivers for SA and the use of tools (ranging from spreadsheets to SparkLC) to conduct SA studies.

is the Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health (ESOH) Officer for Joint Program Executive Office Armaments & Ammunition, located at Picatinny Arsenal, NJ. In this role, he works as principle advisor to the Joint Program Executive Officer Armaments & Ammunition, as well as subordinate Program Management Offices for all ESOH matters related to the acquisition life cycle of conventional ammunition. In his previous role, Brian served as lead engineer for environmental compliance and pollutio n prevention modernization programs throughout the Army Industrial Base. He earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering and a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Delaware where his research focused on developing treatment methods for conventional and insensitive munition explosives waste streams.

Dr. Andrew Henderson is a senior sustainability engineer at the San Antonio, TX office of Noblis. His current work focuses on the development of data, approaches, and tools to rapidly assess the life cycle cost, occupational and environmental performance of Department of Defense (DoD) systems, such as a Cr(VI)-free anodizing line or various depainting approaches for aircraft. At Noblis, Andrew has worked with multiple DoD servives. Prior to consulting, he served in roles in academia and government for seven years, working at the U.S. EPA National Risk Management Laboratory in Cincinnati and the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston. He has authored over 20 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters and serves as the co-chair of a UNEP/SETAC initiative to improve life cycle assessment methods for eutrophication and acidification. He earned a bachelor's degree in Physics from Williams College in Williamstown, MA, a master's degree in environmental engineering from the University of Texas in Austin, and a doctoral degree, also in environmental engineering, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.