Regulatory & Standards


FDA Sets Meeting on Medical Device Innovation Initiative

The March 15 meeting in Silver Spring, Md., is part on a planned strengthening of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health’s 510(k) premarket notification process, which is currently used to clear new AEDs for the marketplace.

USPS Posts $329 Million Loss, Receives $70,000 OSHA Fine

Both were announced Feb. 9. USPS is trying to cut $2 billion in operating costs this fiscal year by cutting 40 million work hours. Since the end of 2007, total employee headcount is down 15.1 percent.

Combustible Dust Exposure Leads to Georgia Company's $55,250 Fine

Serious citations were issued for violations that included exposing workers to explosion hazards resulting from inadequate dust control, exposing workers to dust without respiratory protection, and failing to clean up thick dust accumulations.

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee

Stage is Set for Issa's Regulatory Campaign

The California congressman who chairs the House Oversight panel released 1,947 pages of submissions from trade groups identifying existing or pending regulations they claim are burdensome and eliminate jobs. The committee has set a 9:30 a.m. EST hearing on Thursday.

Building Contractor Fined $235,500 for Fall, Scaffold Hazards

OSHA's inspection found NER employees exposed to falls of up to 17 feet due to a lack of fall protection while power washing the side of a building and while dismantling scaffolding.

Wisconsin Electrical Company Cited in Worker's Fatal Electrocution

North Central Power Co. Inc. faces fines of $199,800 as a result of the investigation, which meets the requirements of OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program.

$390,000 Settlement in Broken Office Chairs Case

Raynor Marketing, Ltd. has agreed to pay the civil penalty in a settlement with the Consumer Product Safety Commission while denying any violation or that the chairs are contain a hazardous defect.

Oregon OSHA Adopting New Cranes Standard Feb. 9

The agency is keeping its crane operator safety training rule in force for now and adopting a new rule requiring workers to use fall protection when they are on a crane’s unguarded walking/working surface and more than 10 feet above a lower level.



NIST Controls Sizes of Nanoparticle Clusters for EHS Studies

The same properties that make engineered nanoparticles attractive for numerous applications--small as a virus, biologically and environmentally stabile, and water-soluble--also cause concern about their long-term impacts on environmental health and safety.

FDA Schedules Meeting for PET Drug Approval Applicants

The March 2 meeting will help applicants prepare new drug applications or abbreviated new drug applications for fludeoxyglucose 18 injection, ammonia N 13 injection, and sodium fluoride F 18 injection.

DOL Settles Whistleblower Suit against Navy Contractor

The employee had complained to company management for being required to climb microwave towers, work in manholes, and enter asbestos-filled buildings without safety training or equipment while working at several San Diego military installations.

The proposal is to be used in a comprehensive error-reduction approach that also relies on licensing and qualifying crew members and aircraft operations.

FAA Aligning Transport Aircraft Rule with EASA Standards

Proposed changes in design requirements in the airworthiness standards for transport category airplanes are intended to minimize design-related flight crew errors.

CPSC Extends Stay of Enforcement for Lead Content Testing, Certification in Children’s Products

The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted 4-1 on Jan. 31, 2011 to extend the stay of enforcement for testing and certification of lead content in children’s products (except for metal components of children’s metal jewelry) until Dec. 31, 2011.

Illinois Roofing Firm Fined $102,000 for Fall Protection Hazards

The company's willful and repeat safety violations put McEntire's Roofing in OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program.

Combination Unit Rulemaking Planned

A NIOSH regulation for CBRN combination unit respirators is coming in FY2012 and is being timed to coincide with the 2013 edition of NFPA 1981.

ATA maintains the existing HOS rule, enacted in 2004, has worked well, and trucking has achieved historic lows in fatalities, injuries, and property damage crashes since then.

No Common Ground on New HOS Proposal

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced it will host a Feb. 17 "public listening session" to hear comments and "relevant new research" it should consider in a final hours of service rule. Trucking and shipping interests are firmly against the FMCSA proposal, however.

OSHA has reported that 29 CFR 1910.22, its walking-working surfaces standard, was the seventh-most-cited standard by its compliance officers in the Eating Places Industry Group from October 2008 through September 2009.

Preventing Slip-and-Fall Injuries

Housekeeping and buying the right mat for the task and location are essential parts of the solution for food service companies.

MSHA Issues Proposed Rule on Pattern of Violations

The proposal would eliminate the potential POV procedure, which involves written notification that a potential POV exists at a particular mining operation. No longer would mine operators receive advanced warning.

Small Fine, Many Incidents in Action Against Maine Hospital

OSHA issued seven citations to The Acadia Hospital in Bangor but said its inspection found at least 115 instances between 2008 and 2010 where employees of the psychiatric hospital and clinic were assaulted by patients.

DATIA Kicking Off 2011 Webinars Next Week

Southern states are notably absent from the list of 15 states (and Washington, D.C.) that have medical marijuana laws. The Feb. 9 webinar explores these laws' impact on employers' drug testing programs.

Featured

Artificial Intelligence

Webinars