Hazmat teams at fire departments, industrial companies, and military units have enough to worry about in hazardous situations without having to be concerned about whether their hazmat suits fully protect them. In an effort to help hazmat professionals ensure their teams are fully protected, below are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about chemical protective suit standards.
OSHA has cited Diamond Sawing and Coring LLC of Summerfield, Kan., for alleged violations of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act.
Investigators will inspect randomly selected towers to determine whether FAA is meeting the requirements of the agency's alternate standard for egress and fire safety.
In a letter to the Food and Drug Administration, the American Pain Society (APS) petitioned the agency, on behalf of the terminally ill and their families, to modify a restricted distribution program for the newly approved pain medication Onsolis, a short-acting product that delivers fentanyl through the mouth's mucous membranes.
Although only introduced in 2007, ISO 16602 is already recognized and accepted internationally. It is clear that ISO 16602 will become the common global language for expressing CPC performance.
OSHA has cited Dehler Manufacturing Co. Inc. with 24 serious, four repeat, and six other-than-serious violations of federal workplace health standards and has proposed $85,360 in penalties.
The president's nominee to lead MSHA spent years advocating for stronger health protection for miners and more enforcement. The OSHA choice, Dr. David Michaels (shown here), studied the illnesses suffered by nuclear weapons industry workers and is credited with starting the program to compensate them.
The Food and Drug Administration has issued a final regulation classifying dental amalgam and its component parts--elemental mercury and a powder alloy--used in dental fillings. While elemental mercury has been associated with adverse health effects at high exposures, the levels released by dental amalgam fillings are not high enough to cause harm in patients.
A newly posted Letter of Interpretation says the employer must provide it at no cost to employees who work with flammable liquids and products because the footwear provides additional protection and is designed for special use on the job.
Facilities that could potentially release highly hazardous chemicals resulting in toxic fire or explosion hazards are the focus of a national emphasis program (NEP) developed by OSHA. The program establishes policies and procedures for inspecting workplaces that are covered by OSHA's process safety management (PSM) standard.
Real-time injury reporting, greatly increased OSHA training grants, and a "sophisticated public campaign" by OSHA officials in mainstream media to change how Americans think about workplace safety are goals he listed last winter.
The government's report on the May 2004 explosion and collapse of the ICL Plastics factory in Glasgow, caused by a gas leak, was released this month. A timetable to replace 210,000 commercial and home installations has been agreed to, and a push is on to hire and train gas engineers.
The results, reported Monday afternoon by The New York Times, dispel the belief that truly hands-free phones are just as dangerous as driving drunk but pinpoint texting as highly dangerous.
The settlement will result in operational improvements that are expected to reduce emissions of hazardous air pollutants by more than 48,000 pounds per year and nitrogen oxides by 313,000 pounds per year, EPA said.
In a separate but related matter, in November 2008 the company pleaded guilty to criminal charges of improperly repackaging, redistributing, and selling more than two million pounds of unwanted pesticides it had received in broken bags from Wal-Mart stores throughout the United States.
"Disasters and emergencies know no boundaries," said Kim Fontes, division manager, Product Development and Production. "With the help of the latest technology, we are able to use another communication channel to put tools and resources directly into the hands of people who count on them."
“The illegal export of e-waste to other countries is a big problem,” said Ed Kowalski, director of the Office of Compliance and Enforcement in EPA’s Seattle office. Color computer monitors contain an average of four pounds of lead. CRTs may also contain mercury, cadmium, and arsenic.
Ethylene oxide exposure levels and monitoring requirements are addressed in OSHA's recently published Small Business Guide for Ethylene Oxide. The guidance document helps employers understand the ethylene oxide (EtO) standard and explains how to monitor the air quality in workplaces where EtO is processed, used, or handled.
The current rule requires air quality monitoring in areas where any industry emits at least one ton of lead to the air each year, and in the 101 urban areas with populations of 500,000 or more.
U.S. Rep. George Miller, who chairs the Education and Labor Committee, welcomed his fellow Californian to the panel today and announced a bill has been filed to ensure workers don't lose back pay if wage and hour investigations are delayed.