Regulatory & Standards


California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed into law AB 2774 (Swanson) which clarifies the definition of a serious citation.

New Law to Strengthen Cal/OSHA Citation Process

New factors used to accurately issue serious citations include any training given to employees and supervisors, existing workplace safety procedures, supervision of employees exposed to the hazard, as well as any contributing information the employer wishes to provide to explain why the employer believes that no serious violation exists.

Stronger Warning from FAA on Lithium Batteries

The agency on Friday alerted operators that the UPS cargo plane that crashed in Dubai on Sept. 3 was carrying large quantities of lithium batteries and that Halon 1301, the suppression agent used in Class C cargo compartments, is ineffective in controlling a lithium metal cell fire.

NFPA Survey: Americans' Smoke Alarm Education Needs Improvement

Survey findings show that less than one quarter have interconnected smoke alarms. And while smoke alarms should be tested monthly, a large portion of the population doesn’t check them as often as they should, according to NFPA.

MSHA's Fight with Massey Energy Continues

The federal agency issued 11 closure orders during a Sept. 28 surprise inspection at a West Virginia coal mine owned by the company. All 11 hazards have been abated.

Firefighters Benefit from Free Training

Silent Knight by Honeywell provided a two-day training to familiarize Rochester, N.H., firefighters with the most current fire protection technologies and codes.

Tom Phillips, chair of the Safe Work Australia Council

Safe Work Australia Council Chair Wins Top Award

Tom Phillips received the Ian Chisholm Award on Oct. 7 for leading the development of national health and safety laws being implemented by December 2011.

FAA Proposes Stricter Safety Rules for Helicopter Operators

Under the proposed rules, operators would use the latest on-board technology and equipment to avoid terrain and obstacles. The proposal also contains provisions which, if finalized, would require operators to use enhanced procedures for flying in challenging weather, at night, and when landing in remote locations.

FDA Seeks Permanent Injunction against New York Juice Maker

Failure to identify and control food hazards could lead to the formation of Clostridium botulinum (C. bot.) bacteria that can germinate in the carrot and beet juices made by the company. The neurotoxin formed by C. bot., when ingested in even very small amounts, could cause paralysis, difficulty breathing, and potentially death from asphyxiation.



WISHA Issues Record Fine for Tesoro Explosion

L&I announced it has cited Tesoro for 39 willful violations and five serious violations of state workplace safety and health regulations, fining the company $2.39 million. This is the largest fine in the agency’s history.

Scaffolding Tops OSHA’s Violations List Again

Yesterday, OSHA revealed its top 10 most-cited violations for 2010. Thomas Galassi, OSHA’s directorate of enforcement programs said there were approximately 94,000 violations issued for fiscal year 2010, and the top 10 violations represented 48 to 49 percent of all violations.

OSHA, MSHA Chiefs Highlight ‘Ambitious’ Regulatory Agendas

The importance of collaboration and sharing common goals was the message Tuesday during the Occupational Keynote at the NSC’s Congress & Expo. Assistant Secretary of Labor Dr. David Michaels and Assistant Secretary of Labor for mine safety and health Joseph Main both outlined their agencies’ “ambitious” regulatory agendas.

Blender Company Cited $120,600 for Crushing, Electrical Hazards

"There is no excuse for employees to work in an environment where they are exposed to being crushed while working inside machinery where the energy source was not properly locked out and tagged," said Charles Adkins, OSHA's regional administrator in Kansas City, Mo.

NSC Honors ‘A Million Acts of Safety’ Participants

"A Million Acts of Safety” was launched in October 2009 to challenge people to think differently about their role in safety and inspire people to get involved. The goal of the campaign is to show how small acts of safety can have a major impact. The individual and team that logged the most acts of safety and reached the most people during the campaign's first year will be recognized during the NSC National Awards Celebration.

New Aviation Board Plans to Improve Safety, Global Representation

"They will be joining current directors, with leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), to build and begin implementation of a five-year strategic plan that will improve aviation safety as well as global representation for our worldwide membership,” said Michele Dickstein, president of ASA.

Cyber attacks from criminal organizations have increased in number and severity in recent years, the commission reports.

European Commission Proposes New Anti-Cyber Crime Rules

The proposal will punish those who build, use, and sell tools and software designed to carry out cyber attacks, which have increased and grown more costly in recent years.

Flexible Foam Firm Fined $72,000 for Combustible Dust Hazards, More

The company is being cited for allegedly failing to keep an area clean and free of dangerous accumulations of explosive and combustible foam dust and for failing to install machine guards on cutting machines to protect workers from amputation hazards.

Employees have both a need and a right to know the identities and hazards of the chemicals to which they are exposed at work.

Think You Know HazCom?

Safety professionals have long had concerns with MSDSs, beginning with issues about the ability of workers to understand them.

With the new transfer method, it was now possible to meet the North Carolina closed-used safety codes for dispensing liquids from five-gallon containers on the fourth floor.

Solving 'Open Use' Storage of Solvents

Dispensing solvents from large containers into smaller ones or spending more to buy solvents in smaller containers weren't appealing. This pharmaceutical company found a different solution for meeting the fire codes.

Little evidence of "helicopter shopping" or "call jumping" was found in the GAO review.

GAO Finds Few Problems in Air Ambulance Industry

Little evidence of "helicopter shopping" or "call jumping" was found in the agency's review. Patients being transported increased 35 percent from 1999 through 2008 as the number of air ambulance helicopters increased 88 percent.

BP Products Paying $15 Million Penalty for Texas Refinery

EPA and the Justice Department announced the penalty and posted the consent decree that has been filed in a Houston federal court. It is a record civil penalty for Clean Air Act violations at an single facility.

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