Patient Handling, Mold Abatement, Hazmat Top States' 2014 Legislative Agendas: AIHA
These are the three of the top issues likely to be on states’ legislative and regulatory agendas this year, according to AIHA government affairs Director Aaron Trippler's forecast.
Three safety issues at the top of state legislators' and state regulators' agendas in 2014 will be safe patient handling, mold abatement and licensing, hazardous materials (including chemical hazards), AIHA government affairs Director Aaron Trippler predicts.
AIHA issued Trippler's forecast Feb. 4. It notes that staffers in his department devote more than 30 percent of their time to state government relations, monitoring legislation at the state level, and taking action on bills that are of interest to occupational and environmental safety and health professionals.
The forecast says the ammonium nitrate explosion in West, Texas, is part of the impetus for possible state actions on hazmats; the Freedom Industries spill of a coal-washing chemical into the drinking water source for 300,000 West Virginia residents has prompted legislative hearings there and is being investigated by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
Twelve states have safe patient handling laws on their books, according to Trippler's forecast, which also says states are continuing to examine whether mold abatement should be regulated, and some are attempting to set exposure limits in this area.
He lists title protection and defense of the EHS profession as another hot issue for 2014, saying AIHA has been successful in enacting title protection legislation in more than 20 states thus far.