The federal agency directed its staff to continue enhancing the security of cesium chloride radiation sources and encourages research on alternatives, but it agrees near-term replacement is impractical and would harm cancer treatment, research, and emergency response capabilities.
Panelists invited to the April 22 meeting--which is open for public observation--will address the importance of caregiver-friendly workplace policies in economic hard times.
A federal judge has ordered a Southern California cleaning service and its owners to pay $227,791 in post-judgment interest plus $2,400 in daily fines for failing to follow a 2007 order to pay nearly $3.5 million in back wages plus more than $1 million in liquidated damages to 385 workers.
OSHA is proposing 22 safety and health violations with fines of $73,275 against Fieldale Farms Poultry LLC. A January inspection of the company's processing plant in Gainesville, Ga., has resulted in the agency proposing two repeat violations with $27,500 in proposed penalties, 18 serious violations with $45,775 in proposed penalties, and two other-than-serious violations with no monetary penalties.
Gov. Edward Rendell presented 2009 Governor's Awards for Environmental Excellence to 15 organizations that are saving energy, recycling, reducing waste, using solar power, and teaching new home builders about sustainability.
The Federal Emergency Management Administration has recently released its Comprehensive Preparedness Guide, CPG 101, which provides general guidelines on developing Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) and promotes a common understanding of the fundamentals of planning and decision making to help emergency planners examine a hazard and produce integrated, coordinated, and synchronized plans. The guide is intended to help emergency managers in state, territorial, local, and tribal governments in their efforts to develop and maintain a viable all-hazard EOP.
"These violations are indicative of the kinds of safety and health concerns, often found at department stores, that can pose serious risk to employees," said Jean Kulp, director of OSHA's Allentown, Pa., Area Office.
The company disclosed more than 680 violations of water, air, hazardous waste, emergency planning and preparedness, and pesticide regulations to EPA after auditing 12 facilities it acquired from DuPont in 2004.
The company has been fined $121,500 for violations associated with process safety management, hazardous waste operations, and emergency response, including the company's failure to identify all of the causal factors of the incident during the investigation. The chemical release resulted in the evacuation of residents living within a three-mile radius of the facility.
"This order reaffirms both the right of drivers to refuse to operate vehicles when they reasonably believe it is unsafe and the Labor Department's commitment to taking the necessary steps to protect that right," said Ken Nishiyama Atha, OSHA's regional administrator in San Francisco.
Conditions at the worksite resulted in the issuance of 35 serious and two other-than-serious citations following inspections initiated in response to a complaint.
The grant program is designed to help occupational safety and health practitioners advance in their career.
The company has "a highly involved frontline employee workforce, an excellent medical program, and energy control procedures. Safety is valued from the bottom up," said Greg Baxter, OSHA's regional administrator in Denver.
This is another example of the alarming increase in the number of pregnancy charges that this agency has seen in recent years," said Mary Jo O'Neill, regional attorney at the EEOC's Phoenix District Office.
Employers cannot rely on online or video training tools as the sole source of training because physical manipulation of actual components of PPE (as opposed to virtual components of PPE) must be part of the program, the agency notes.
The company, a small municipal solid waste burner, was accused of not taking the correct measures to control its mercury, dioxin, and furan emissions.
A former NFPA senior electrical specialist, Mastrullo is now an OSHA employee in Boston. NFPA says his evangelism in the cause of electrical safety helped to make 70E and other electrical safety programs more prominent around the world. This photo shows, from left, NFPA Chief Electrical Engineer Mark Earley; OSHA New England Regional Administrator Marthe Kent; NFPA President James Shannon; and Mastrullo.
The American Trucking Associations' Safety Management Council will present awards in September for best vehicle accident and worker injury incidence, as well as national safety director and HR professional of the year.
The American Industrial Hygiene Association's president, Lindsay Booher, wrote a letter April 2 to the chairman of the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee expressing support for HR 849.
The Integrated Starter Alternator Motor (I-SAM) is a combined starter, generator and drive motor that cuts CO2 emissions and fuel consumption in wheel loaders, such as the L220F Hybrid shown here, and heavy trucks.