Hazard Communication


CPSC Reminder: Important HTPV Recall Deadline Approaches

The Consumer Product Safety Commission and various home heating furnace, boiler, and high-temperature plastic vent pipe (HTPV) manufacturers are urging home owners who have not yet responded to the previously-announced 1998 recall, to do so immediately. After May 1, 2009, the remedy consumers receive will change.

Yamaha Motor Corp. Offers Free Repair for 450, 660 Model Rhino Vehicles

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with Yamaha Motor Corp. U.S.A., of Cypress, Calif., is announcing a free repair program to address safety issues with all Rhino 450 and 660 model off-highway recreational vehicles. Yamaha has also agreed to voluntarily suspend sale of these models immediately until repaired. Consumers should immediately stop using these recreational vehicles until the repair is installed by a dealer.

The Index Enigma

Determining the level of hand protection performance required in a safety glove is critical to the right glove specification. However, different standards and different test methodologies are in use, which can be confusing and complex for safety managers. It is imperative that buyers and safety managers of gloves seek out expert advice and counsel to help them make sense of the different and often incomparable data available.

OSHA Alliance Seeks to Protect Workers from Lyme Disease

A safety fact sheet on Lyme disease is among the products developed by the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA) through the recently renewed OSHA alliance. The fact sheet describes the causes, symptoms, treatment, and methods for preventing Lyme disease for people who work or spend time outdoors in grassy or wooded areas.

Q&A: HAVS Still a Threat

More than a million U.S. workers are exposed to potentially harmful vibrations from the tools they use at work, says Joseph D. McGarry, president of Gloves-Online.com.

McDonald's Vows to Reduce Pesticide Use

Through the agreement brought on by a shareholder resolution, the company has committed to survey its current U.S. potato suppliers and compile a list of best practices in pesticide reduction that will be recommended to the company's global suppliers (through the company's Global Potato Board).

Avoiding Serious Accidents Can Be Easy

When combined with a well-designed safety plan, industrial safety barriers greatly minimize the risks associated with a host of potentially disastrous accidents that threaten the safety and productivity of virtually any fast-paced industrial environment.

Preventing Occupational Skin Diseases

In a field where hand washing and hygiene is of utmost importance, studies indicate compliance among health care providers is well below 50 percent, on average.



Controlling Hot Work Fire Hazards

Hot work continues to be a leading cause of industrial fires, consistently in the top five across all industries, and it has been responsible for many of industry's most severe fire losses.

Computer Applications

Would an online engineering analysis of fall protection anchor points really work? Who needs it? OH&S Editor, Jerry Laws, asked those questions before seeing a demo of the Anchor Point Evaluation Program from Fall Protection Professionals, Inc.'s Jeffrey B. Reep, P.E., the Green Bay, Wis., company's senior structural engineer and developer of the program. What he demonstrated was the initial release, which evaluates the steel supports of fixed or mobile anchoring systems. Timber and concrete add-on modules are scheduled to be released later this year, Reep said.

EPA Investigating Potential Hazmat Site Near Housing Project

At least until results from sampling activity are known, EPA urged all persons to stay away from the site in Kansas City, Kan., with a special emphasis for parents to keep children off the property.

Stimulus Package Tops Agenda for OSHA Construction Meeting

The effect of the federal economic stimulus package on the construction industry will be the main topic discussed at a meeting of OSHA's Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health (ACCSH), April 14-17, 2009 in Washington, D.C.

FDA Alerts Consumers to Pistachio Recall

The Food and Drug Administration and the California Department of Public Health are investigating Salmonella contamination in pistachio products sold by Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., Calif.

cover page of "Expert Forecast on Emerging Chemical Risks" report

Major EU Report Cites Emerging Chemical Risks to Workers

Issued by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, the 197-page report estimates 74,000 deaths per year are linked to hazardous substances encountered at work -- 10 times more people than are dying in workplace accidents.

OSHA, BOCES Form Safety Training Alliance

OSHA has formed an alliance with the Wayne Finger Lakes Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) to provide students in Wayne, Seneca, Ontario, and Yates counties with information and training to reduce workplace hazards.

NIST, DHS Program Evaluates Labs for Emergency Communications Tests

To help ensure that first responders, public safety officers, and military personnel can always talk with each other no matter what communications equipment they are using--a characteristic known as interoperability--the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have teamed up to create the Project 25 Conformity Assessment Program (P25 CAP).

CSB Letter Encourages Florida to Adopt Safety Rules for Public Employees

In a letter released on March 26 by the Chemical Safety Board (CSB), Chairman John Bresland urged Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to support worker-safety legislation to protect state, county, and municipal employees in Florida.

Flight Charter Firm Fires Worker for Raising Aircraft Safety Concerns

The employee had repeatedly informed the company of suspected violations of federal aviation regulations, including ordering an unqualified pilot to perform a test flight while carrying passengers.

NAM Says Consumer Product Safety Law Actually Hindering Safety

"The law's overly broad approach applies to products that that should not be evaluated using the same safety criteria as products that do pose a risk," said NAM President John Engler, adding that the act's "unrealistic compliance deadlines made it impossible for industry or the CPSC to adequately prepare before the law went into effect."

logo for ASSEs 100th anniversary in 2011

ASSE Sets Course for 100th Birthday Celebration

The centennial year is 2011, the 100th year theme is "Your Safety is our Business. Your Future is our Mission," and the 100 logo is shown here.

Featured

Artificial Intelligence