Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently commended the Department of Homeland Security for opening a center devoted to ensuring the safety of foods imported to the United States.
The Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has announced a proposed exemption that, if granted, would allow the Ford Motor Co. to transfer company securities to a voluntary employee beneficiary association (VEBA) trust, which would fund a new health plan established to provide health benefits for the company's retirees. The new health plan would cover in excess of 285,000 retirees and their dependents, and a small number of active employees.
As part of the Obama administration's commitment to improved accountability, transparency, and service to the American public, the department of labor has recently announced a broad array of efforts designed to improve the public's accessibility to its agencies and to ensure the department can function more effectively.
A key Senate vote on Saturday prevents a filibuster, so the combined funding bills are set for a Sunday final vote. OSHA would get a $45 million boost from its FY2009 funding and MSHA a 3.1 percent increase.
The Food and Drug Administration has launched its pet health and safety widget for consumers as part of an ongoing effort to provide timely, user-friendly, public health information.
SSM Health Care, a medical corporation comprised of seven health care centers and hospitals in the St. Louis area, has paid more than $1.7 million in back wages following a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) investigation by the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division.
"The camera footage shows the release and spread of the flammable vapor cloud and the moment when the flammable vapor was ignited. It shows just how severe the release and fire were during this incident," said CSB Chairman John Bresland, adding that one worker was critically burned.
With the excitement of the holidays, parents, and relatives eagerly purchase the hottest toys and latest items for their children. But it's during the hustle and bustle of the season that many fail to buy age appropriate gifts and they tend to disregard warnings on these toys and gifts when it comes to ensuring safety.
"The need for fall protection was clear and recognized, yet this employer did not provide this basic, commonsense, and legally required safeguard," said Paul Mangiafico, OSHA's area director for Middlesex and Essex counties.
The National Hearing Conservation Association's comments on the EPA proposal recommend simpler labels, 42 months to retest and relabel protectors, and requiring a statement on the labels saying individual quantitative fit testing is the only way to estimate a user's attenuation.
"Few Americans are aware of lead's deadly effects or the fact that lead taken home on clothing and work tools can infect an entire family," said OSHA Area Director Richard Gilgrist in Cincinnati.
OSHA's Philadelphia Area Office initiated the investigation following an ethylene complex explosion in May 2009 at the company's refinery in Marcus Hook, Pa.
All workplaces in Singapore would be required to implement Fall Protection Plans by 2015 under the plan published Dec. 2. While fatal falls have declined by 60 percent from a decade ago, the plan is meant to reduce them further.
Two new findings follow a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ordered EPA to determine whether they endanger public health. The agency headed by Administrator Lisa Jackson now can finalize light-duty vehicle GHG standards it proposed earlier this year.
The agency began a health inspection in June after receiving information that fires had occurred in the Ohio plant, and that large amounts of dust from the manufacturing process had accumulated throughout the worksite.
The new chief of OSHA, David Michaels, Ph.D., will be sworn in this week and quickly can decide how to tackle some of the big issues on the agency's plate.
The Connecticut-based company received citations for working around energized transmission lines that were not grounded and working within the minimum approach distance in a bucket truck that was improperly rated for the work being conducted, OSHA said.
Today's online chats by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and OSH Acting Assistant Secretary Jordan Barab tell us they are not planning an ergonomics rulemaking, although a column to log MSDs on the 300 log will be restored.
Among its many functions at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the Raytheon MCVC provides the necessary range interface for test plans and test management activities for on-range and environmental testing, and performs processing for Patriot As A Target missiles.
Eurofresh Inc. of Willcox, Ariz., has reached an agreement with the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division to pay $937,460 in back wages and interest to 587 U.S. workers following an investigation into company practices related to hiring temporary, non-immigrant, foreign agricultural workers.