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.
"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."
The agreement with one company focuses on leak detection and repair, the other with control of toluene, a hazardous volatile organic air pollutant that was used as a component of a wash-up solvent.
"This information underscores the need for fundamental transparency and provides a powerful tool for protecting public health and the environment," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "Serving the public’s right to know is the crucial first step in reducing toxic chemicals in the places where we live, work, and raise children."
Two alliances that have worked well have been extended, the agency announced Monday.
The W. Va.-based company was cited for failing to ensure that operating procedures addressed special or unique hazards of the process, failing to conduct adequate inspections on process equipment, and failing to ensure that proper respiratory protection and personal protective equipment were utilized during an emergency response, among other things.
"The dredging of toxic asbestos contaminated sand continues in Illinois, spreading increased risk of mesothelioma cancer rates that are already elevated when compared to the national average. How high must the body count get?" Jeffery C. Camplin, CSP, CPEA, asked the House Committee on Science and Technology's Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee on Thursday.
The company and its owner were indicted for shipping chemicals via United Parcel Service and Federal Express on multiple occasions without declaring the chemicals as hazmat. The owner's activities were discovered when a shipment leaked onboard an aircraft causing the entire aircraft to be unloaded and cleaned.
Letters of intent to create the center are due by March 16. NIOSH expects to make one award of up to $5 million per year for five years to support the center, with the intention of making it a national information resource for all construction stakeholders.
Included in the penalty amount is one willful violation for the company's failure to appropriately test gas monitors for hydrogen sulfide and combustible gas in the HVAC systems for the control rooms.
The Healthcare Waste and Emergency Preparedness Coalition has been formed to raise awareness and provide education about two major problems facing the healthcare system today -- healthcare facility operational sustainability during a crisis and the proper methods of discarding hazardous medical waste.
"Personnel trained to the first responder awareness level may make an effort to identify hazardous substances, but they must do so from a safe distance," wrote Richard E. Fairfax, director of OSHA's Directorate of Enforcement Programs.
The conference brings together NRC staff, plant owners, nuclear materials users and other interested stakeholders to discuss nuclear safety and security topics and current regulatory activities.
In the midst of changes taking place throughout the health care industry, many OHNs are rightly feeling they are in a whole new profession, which helps explain why organizers of this year's annual AAOHN conference have for months now been plugging the event with the tagline "It's a Whole New Symposium."
"The sizable fines proposed here reflect the fact that this company knew several of these critical safeguards were necessary yet chose not to provide them," said Arthur Dube, OSHA's area director in Buffalo, N.Y.
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski said his state will seek to join Washington state in a lawsuit to speed the cleanup of radioactive waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
The NRC’s interim staff guidance covers the activities that companies can request in applications for Limited Work Authorizations and Combined Licenses under the agency’s new reactor licensing process.
The company was issued one willful citation, with a proposed penalty of $35,000 alone, for not providing employees with confined space rescue training at least every 12 months.
Making and keeping the workplace safe and healthful will be the focus of the 18th Annual Downstate Illinois Occupational Safety and Health (DIOSH) Day slated for March 4 at the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, Ill. Workplace safety and health issues will be discussed and information made available to employers, employees and the general public.
A free, one-hour safe handling CE webinar on the subject is planned for April 20--the inaugural Safe Handling Awareness Day--and all health care professionals are invited to participate.