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A federal judge earlier this month ordered the EPA to update a decades-old regulation that currently allows the use of toxic chemicals in cleaning up offshore oil spills. “The agency ‘delayed unreasonably’ by waiting at least six years to finalize draft regulations updating the 1994 rules, said William H. Orrick, a judge in the U.S. […]
How’s your respiratory protection compliance? Last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) allowed inspectors to exercise enforcement discretion, especially in enforcing the agency’s annual fit-testing requirement, in response to respirator shortages. All those discretion directives have since been withdrawn. The time is now to check all components of your written respiratory protection program, […]
Kristy Wilson got her start in the environmental, health, and safety (EHS) field by accident. While working as an office assistant for a small steel erection construction company, she was asked to take over the company’s safety program. “As they tried to bid high dollar subcontracts with the bigger construction companies, they were finding themselves […]
As part of its Safe + Sound campaign, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) shared a variety of resources aimed at helping businesses put together safety and health programs. According to OSHA’s page devoted to the topic, safety and health programs help businesses do the following: Prevent workplace injuries and illnesses Improve compliance with […]
An Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) went into effect in early June 2021, and compliance with most of the provisions was required by July 6. The final set of provisions (pertaining to training, ventilation, and barriers) wasn’t mandated until July 21. With some exceptions, the ETS applies to all […]
When it comes to improving safety performance, behavior-based safety (BBS) programs can be useful and effective. BBS (sometimes called safety observations) is a method of avoiding human error and improving workplace safety by observing and analyzing employees’ behavior while they work. BBS helps determine why at-risk behavior occurs on the job and the steps necessary […]
Washington State has adopted the Health Emergency Labor Standards Act (HELSA), a sweeping worker protection bill passed by the state legislature. The Act amends the state’s workers’ compensation and industrial health and safety statutes to provide automatic protections for certain workers and to impose new notification and reporting requirements on employers in the event of a public […]
Over the years we’ve seen a steady stream of cases involving employees who filed workers’ compensation claims after being injured away from the employer’s premises. Sometimes it was difficult to determine whether the off-site injury was compensable. Changes to Oklahoma’s laws sought to clarify the question, and two recent cases provide more answers. Driving to […]
Back to Basics is a new weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine using a tabletop exercise to test your hurricane preparedness. When it comes to hurricane preparedness, you can have all your bases covered, but if you don’t test to see how […]
The Nevada Legislature recently passed Senate Bill (SB) 209 requiring employers to give employees paid time off (PTO) to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. Here’s how the new law works and what you will need to know. Key Facts About New Nevada Law Who’s covered. SB 209 applies to all private employers with 50 or more employees in Nevada. It doesn’t apply […]