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.
"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 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.
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 initial inspection carried proposed penalties totaling $25,500. The re-inspection carries $108,000 in proposed penalties.
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.
OSHA has cited LandCoast Insulation Inc. for three alleged safety violations following six injuries and one employee fatality last November when a scaffold collapsed inside a boiler at Mississippi Power's Plant Daniel in Moss Point.
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.
A Dec. 23, 2008, incident in which two employees were injured when they were struck by a 700-pound forging that shot up in the air while they were attempting to free it from a malfunctioning die on a power press led to the second of two agency inspections.
Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said this step facilitates the convening of a small business advocacy review panel to determine the impact a proposed rule might have on small businesses and how those impacts can be reduced.
Other alleged violations of the Florida company include not developing lockout/tagout procedures on packaging machines to prevent accidental machinery start-up; exposing employees to electrical hazards; and using high-pressure compressed air for cleaning purposes.
"The shrouded mystery of electricity compels many safety managers to depend upon plant electrical maintenance or engineering departments to manage their electrical safety program," writes Phil Allen, president and owner of Grace Engineered Products.
The California, Mo.-based company, which produces bulk turkey feed for 197 independent producers, earned VPP recognition after implementing a comprehensive employee safety and health management system in accordance with VPP standards, which exceed minimum OSHA standards.
U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal, who approved the fine, said she had no authority to alter the deal submitted to her and cannot make the Texas City refinery safe, The Houston Chronicle reported today.
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 first of two Workplace Electrical Safety Workshops from the Canadian Standards Association and Schneider Canada Services & Projects will take place Friday in Halifax. CSA announced the new Z462 standard on Feb. 13.