As part of the Obama administration's commitment to improved accountability, transparency, and service to the American public, the department of labor has recently announced a broad array of efforts designed to improve the public's accessibility to its agencies and to ensure the department can function more effectively.
A key Senate vote on Saturday prevents a filibuster, so the combined funding bills are set for a Sunday final vote. OSHA would get a $45 million boost from its FY2009 funding and MSHA a 3.1 percent increase.
SSM Health Care, a medical corporation comprised of seven health care centers and hospitals in the St. Louis area, has paid more than $1.7 million in back wages following a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) investigation by the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division.
With the excitement of the holidays, parents, and relatives eagerly purchase the hottest toys and latest items for their children. But it's during the hustle and bustle of the season that many fail to buy age appropriate gifts and they tend to disregard warnings on these toys and gifts when it comes to ensuring safety.
The National Hearing Conservation Association's comments on the EPA proposal recommend simpler labels, 42 months to retest and relabel protectors, and requiring a statement on the labels saying individual quantitative fit testing is the only way to estimate a user's attenuation.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is asking its Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee to advise on a draft rulemaking to be ready by next July.
All workplaces in Singapore would be required to implement Fall Protection Plans by 2015 under the plan published Dec. 2. While fatal falls have declined by 60 percent from a decade ago, the plan is meant to reduce them further.
Two new findings follow a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ordered EPA to determine whether they endanger public health. The agency headed by Administrator Lisa Jackson now can finalize light-duty vehicle GHG standards it proposed earlier this year.
The new chief of OSHA, David Michaels, Ph.D., will be sworn in this week and quickly can decide how to tackle some of the big issues on the agency's plate.
Today's online chats by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and OSH Acting Assistant Secretary Jordan Barab tell us they are not planning an ergonomics rulemaking, although a column to log MSDs on the 300 log will be restored.
Eurofresh Inc. of Willcox, Ariz., has reached an agreement with the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division to pay $937,460 in back wages and interest to 587 U.S. workers following an investigation into company practices related to hiring temporary, non-immigrant, foreign agricultural workers.
CSA Standards announced the standard on Nov. 25 and will offer a one-day seminar about it Feb. 9 in Calgary.
The leaders of 13 states' environmental agencies issued an eight-point statement of principles Dec. 2 as EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, shown here, testified at a U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing about the need to reform the law.
The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended for years that FAA establish hours of service for flight crews, aviation mechanics, and air traffic controllers.
Process Hazard Analysis (PHA), a regulatory requirement under OSHA's 29 CFR 1910.119(e), is a collection of methodologies to address process hazards. Societal and technological changes are affecting sources, intensity, and frequency of hazards. For instance, digital controls and smart instruments have reduced maintenance requirements inherent with analog instruments.
Although rail transit is one of the safest modes in America, its accident rates moved in the wrong direction between 2003 and 2008.
Fire Safety & Emergency Response
As with any maintenance requirement, the intent of small hose inspection and testing is to ensure that they will reliably operate properly when called upon, which is even more critical for emergency response equipment.
The future will be defined by how organizations respond to globalization, culture and performance; prioritization of safety initiatives; development of employee engagement; and the relationship between organization and employee.
Joe Main, the assistant secretary now in charge at MSHA, will unveil a “comprehensive” strategy Dec. 3 at the National Mine Health and Safety Academy, the agency announced.
A publicly available register of tower cranes will be launched April 6, 2010, if the regulations go forward from here.