EHS Today News Archive
OSHA Launches Electric Power Safety eTool
Approximately 80 workers die from electric shock each year while working on electrical equipment or related utility operations. To help prevent such deaths, OSHA recently published the Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Standard eTool...
Shift Workers at Risk for Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Various studies have identified a possible connection between shift work and cancer risk. According to new research, shift work also may increase the risk of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)...
OSHA Seeks Comments on Hex Chrome Rule
In the March 17 Federal Register, OSHA published for public comment a direct final rule requiring employers to notify workers of exposures to hexavalent chromium...
Cal-OSHA Narrows Scope of Internal Employee Investigation
The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) issued a clarification to Cal-OSHA employees regarding the controversial questionnaire sent out as part of an internal investigation, stating that the audit was not designed to obtain personal information about employees...
Luck of the Irish? More Part-Time Employees, Lower Life Expectancy than Rest of EU
A booming economy during the 1990s, fueled by construction projects and increased consumer spending, allowed Ireland to become one of the fastest growing open economies. Like the rest of the world, the Irish economy has suffered in recent years...
House Hearing Focuses on Protecting America’s Workers Act, OSHA Penalties
In a March 16 hearing, witnesses told the U.S. House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee’s Subcommittee on Workforce Protections that legislation to strengthen and modernize workplace health and safety laws will save lives and hold employers accountable if they knowingly put their workers in danger...
Protecting Nurses from Workplace Violence
Health care organizations must establish a zero tolerance policy for violence against nurses to protect employees and the quality of patient care, according to Jean Henry, an assistant professor of health science at the University of Arkansas...
Welders Exposed to Manganese Above Recommended Levels
Researchers investigating welding fume exposures have found that welders frequently are exposed to manganese at or above the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) recommended limit of 0.2 milligrams per cubic meter...
At-Home Safety: Preventing Head Injuries
In honor of March’s designation as National Brain Injury Awareness Month, Dr. Todd Trask, a neurosurgeon at the Methodist Neurological Institute, offers tips on how to protect the head and prevent injuries...
CSB Issues Safety Bulletin on Hazards of Welding, Hot Work
A new safety bulletin issued by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) warns of hot work hazards and identifies seven key lessons aimed at preventing worker deaths during hot work in and around storage tanks containing flammable materials...
The Hazards of Daylight Saving Time
Many Americans will lose an hour of sleep on March 14, the first day of daylight saving time, when clocks are set ahead one hour at 2 a.m. local standard time – making it harder to wake up, causing difficulty in staying alert and increasing the chance of car crashes...
Solis Testifies Before House Subcommittee on FY 2011 DOL Budget
On March 10, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies to highlight the department's fiscal year 2011 budget request and explain why the funding is vital to the nation's ongoing economic recovery...
Is Cal-OSHA Violating Employees’ Constitutional Rights?
All professional staff inside the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health have been directed by Len Welsh, chief of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health of the state’s Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), to report any outside “teaching, presentations and training” performed while working for Cal-OSHA...
NIOSH Offers Health Screenings for Surface Coal Miners
Beginning in late March, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) will offer a series of free, confidential health screenings to surface coal miners throughout the United States. The screenings are intended to provide early detection of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), also known as black lung, a serious but preventable occupational lung disease in coal miners caused by breathing respirable coal mine dust...
OSHA Notifies 15,000 Workplaces of High Injury and Illness Rates
OSHA recently sent letters notifying approximately 15,000 workplaces that they have the highest numbers of injuries and illnesses resulting in days away from work, restricted work activities or job transfers (DART rates) nationwide...
Searching for America’s Safest Companies
Over 100 companies have been recognized by EHS Today as America’s Safest. Large, small or somewhere in between and spread out all over the country, these companies represent what is best in safety in the United States, and provide more than 1 million workers with a safe work environment...
OSHA Proposes $3 Million in Fines for BP-Husky Refinery Safety Violations
On March 8, OSHA proposed more than $3 million in penalties against BP North American Inc. and BP-Husky Refining LLC’s Oregon, Ohio, refinery, citing various alleged willful and serious violations that exposed workers to hazards that could cause serious injury or death...
AIHA Participates in GHS Public Hearing
The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) participated in a public hearing hosted by OSHA to discuss modifications to the hazard communication standard (HCS) to conform to the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS)...
ASSE Wants Control Banding in OSHA’s Hazmat Communications Standard
Donald Garman, CSP, an American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) professional member and chair of the ASSE Global Hazard Communications (GHS) Task Force, testified on March 5 at OSHA’s public hearing on a proposed rule to align the agency’s Hazard Communications Standard (HCS) with the United Nation’s Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). Garman said ASSE supports the goals of the proposed rule, and urged that control banding (CB) be included in the standard and that the standard be finalized soon...
Flip-Flops vs. Gray Hair: Managing Generation Clashes in the Workplace
In one corner of the office we have an experienced, competitive baby boomer. In the other, a confident, multi-tasking Generation Y employee who expects to shoot to the top and then move on – all while wearing flip-flops. When they meet, expect fireworks...
OSHA Listens: Stakeholders Weigh in on VPP, Alliance Programs
During the March 4 OSHA Listens public meeting, safety stakeholders defended the Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) and implored the agency not to drop the program’s funding or compromise its future...
OSHA Listens: Panel Discusses OSHA Enforcement, Outreach
As part of its March 4 “OSHA Listens” public meeting, OSHA Administrator David Michaels and other agency personnel met with stakeholders from a wide range of groups to discuss key issues facing the agency...
CSB Sheds Light on Fatal Kleen Energy Explosion, Highlights Gas Blow Hazards
In a Feb. 25 statement, U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) Lead Investigator Don Holmstrom said the fatal Feb. 7 explosion at the Kleen Energy Plant in Middletown, Conn., occurred during a planned gas blow. He expressed broader safety concerns over natural gas power plants venting gas near worksites, a practice he called “inherently unsafe.”...
Survey: Improved Chemical Security Makes Millions Safer
A new survey by the Center for American Progress identified 554 drinking water and wastewater plants in 47 states that have replaced extremely hazardous substances with safer and more secure chemicals or processes...
OSHA: Stay Safe While Shoveling Snow
While spring might be just around the corner, it’s still early to put away the snow shovel and sidewalk salt. A recent spate of snowstorms in the northeastern United States prompted OSHA to remind workers, employers and the general public of the hazards associated with snow removal and recovery work...
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