The Food and Drug Administration has cautioned users of personal emergency response buttons worn around the neck of a potential choking hazard associated with this product.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is adding 11 new hazardous waste sites that pose risks to human health and the environment to the National Priorities List of Superfund sites. Also, EPA is proposing to add 10 other sites to the list. Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled, or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country.
In keeping with its commitment to protect the lives of children and families, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has launched "CPSC 2.0," a comprehensive social networking initiative that is designed to make lifesaving and other safety information more accessible to consumers. Using a variety of technologies and social media sites, CPSC said it will rapidly expand its reach to millions of consumers.
But the two senators who introduced legislation on Sept. 8 to strengthen security and federal oversight of the six laboratories say the labs remain vulnerable.
"There can be no delay in exiting a workplace during a fire or other emergency when the difference between escape and injury or death can be measured in seconds," said Kay Gee, OSHA's acting area director in Manhattan.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has released a new nine-minute computer animated safety video depicting a tragic reactive chemical accident that devastated T2 Laboratories in Jacksonville, Fla.
The Oct. 6-7 and Nov. 17-18 events in Arlington, Va., are part of the National Nanotechnology Initiative's nanoEHS series.
The site's lack of eyewash or shower stations near where employees were exposed to corrosive materials were among the 10 serious health violations for which OSHA cited the Georgia company.
The company was cited for violating Resource Conservation and Recovery Act requirements for treating, managing, and disposing of hazardous waste, including failure to mark, label, and keep hazardous waste containers closed; and comply with training, monitoring, inspection, and recording requirements.
Under the settlement, the city will improve its sewer system to minimize, and in many cases, eliminate overflows of sewage combined with stormwater overflows into the river at a cost likely between $100 and $150 million. The city has to have a comprehensive plan in place by calendar year 2020 or 2025, depending on the city's financial health.
The National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) recently announced that its 35th annual conference will be held Feb. 25-27, 2010, at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando, Fla. Titled "Explore the World of Hearing Loss Prevention," the conference will focus on various topics of local and international concern, including "whole life" hearing loss prevention; chemicals, ototoxicity, and otoprotection; and the impending change to the Noise Reduction Rating in the United States.
During a 2007 inspection, EPA staff found acetone and toluene being stored improperly at the facility. The agency noted that exposure to such solvents can affect breathing and cause vomiting.
The Food and Drug Administration has advised consumers not to use certain respiratory medications purchased after Sept. 8, 2009 and manufactured by Dey L.P., a subsidiary of Mylan Inc., because the medications might have been part of a shipment being transported on a tractor-trailer stolen in Tampa, Fla., on Sept. 8, 2009.
The Food and Drug Administration is notifying health care professionals of a Class I recall of certain LIFEPAK CR Plus Automated External Defibrillators (AED) manufactured and distributed from July 9, 2008 through August 19, 2008.
Vaccines against three seasonal virus strains are already available and should be used, FDA said. However, they do not protect against the 2009 H1N1 virus. These latest four vaccines are designed to do that.
The drug, which is also sometimes used to combat morning sickness and as an anti-allergic medication to treat hay fever, allergic rhinitis, and other allergic reactions, is available only by prescription in the United States but is available over the counter in the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, and many other countries.
The serious violations OSHA unearthed related to inadequate process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals, lack of emergency preparedness and response procedures, and poor respiratory protection for workers.
The newly downloadable document addresses methods for controlling silica such as wet cutting during construction operations and using vacuum dust collection systems.
With more participation this year than ever before, more than 100 radio stations in some 20 states are planning to help raise awareness of mesothelioma by playing a Warren Zevon song followed by a 20-second segment about the incurable disease on Saturday, Sept. 26.
The agency has published proposals to identify the group as Substances of Very High Concern because of their carcinogenic, mutagenic, and/or reprotoxic properties and potentially serious effects on human health, or for persistent, bioaccumulative environmental effects. Comments to ECHA are due by Oct. 15.