OSHA’s Area Office in Marlton, N.J., initiated an investigation on Jan. 21 after being notified of an employee accident.
Of the two deaths that have occurred in recent years from catastrophic pump failures, the first happened when a clean coal filter drain pump exploded due to restricted material flow that caused heat and pressure buildup within the pump. The pump’s access cover plate was blown off the pump, striking a plant operator who was standing approximately eight feet away at the on/off switch.
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.
“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.
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.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently announced that Haier America Trading LLC, of New York City, has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $587,500 to settle allegations that the appliance manufacturer failed to inform CPSC of a defect and fire hazard in the company's Oscillating Tower Fan, model FTM140GG.
Fall hazards, lack of personal protective equipment, and deficiencies in the plant's confined space, respirator, and lockout/tagout programs are among the 73 safety violations cited in an inspection conducted by OSHA's Concord Area Office.
"The size of these fines reflects the gravity and recurring nature of these hazards, any one of which could have resulted in death or disabling injury for these workers," said Richard Mendelson, OSHA's area director for Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn.
The agency says it will work with the Morristown Neighborhood House to develop information on the recognition and prevention of workplace hazards, as well as provide expertise in developing ways of communicating the information bilingually.
The goal is to measure the performance of the planes' radar-operator systems in a realistic scenario using 40- to 60-foot long commercial fishing vessels underway in the fishing grounds off the New England coast.
Chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants deplete the stratospheric, or "good" ozone layer, allowing dangerous amounts of cancer-causing ultraviolet rays from the sun to strike the earth, EPA notes. Production of some of these chemicals was stopped in 1995, and federal law strictly controls their use and handling.
The committee advises the Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA on issues relating to occupational safety and health policies, programs, and standards in the maritime industries, focusing on the shipyard and marine cargo handling (longshoring) industries.
The company is subject to the dry cleaning rule of the national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants because it uses perchloroethylene in its dry cleaning process. EPA says perchloroethylene may cause serious health effects including birth defects and cancer, and it may also cause harmful environmental and ecological effects.
Toxic substances and near shore health and runoff will be among the principal areas of focus over the course of the two weeks of meetings.
The firm provides services at O’Hare International Airport, as well as to the hospitality industry and private schools in the Chicago area.
The footwear was manufactured in Romania and sold by specialty outdoor retailers nationwide for between $140 and $400 (U.S.) and for between $200 and $500 (Canada) from December 2007 through June 2009.
ACCSH advises the secretary of labor and the assistant secretary of labor for OSHA in the formulation of standards affecting the construction industry and on policy matters arising in the administration of the safety and health provisions of the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act and the OSH Act of 1970.
"It is not limited to members of a particular class or a particular race. It is not limited to particular industries or particular regions. And it is not limited to a particular gender," said Acting EEOC Chairman Stuart Ishimaru in conjunction with the commission's issuance of a technical assistance document on waivers as part of severance agreements.
Two years in prison and three years of supervised release, plus $94,222 in restitution, was the sentence issued by a Houston judge this week.