Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
In the latest of its periodic reports on what the legislative branch is doing about climate change, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) notes that lawmakers in eight Congresses over the last 15 years have introduced bills to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 60 times.
Department of Defense (DOD) contracting officials need to more closely focus on contractor safety performance when awarding defense contracts, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report.
In October 2017, former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that no individual who is benefiting from an EPA-issued grant may serve on an EPA federal advisory committee (FAC). The intent of the new directive was to eliminate “the appearance or reality of potential interference with [FAC members’] ability to independently and objectively serve as a […]
The EPA has released what it describes as the first update of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Inventory in 40 years. The update indicates that 47 percent of the 86,228 chemicals listed on the Inventory are “active,” which means they have been manufactured, processed, or imported for a nonexempt commercial purpose during the 10-year […]
Published in the February 22, 2019 Federal Register, EPA’s long-awaited final rule to manage hazardous waste pharmaceuticals generated by healthcare facilities (including hospitals, clinics, and retail stores with pharmacies) and reverse distributors will go into effect August 21, 2019 in EPA territories and in states that do not have an authorized Resource Conservation and Recovery […]
California’s Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) cited two contractors for multiple serious safety violations after a worker was fatally struck by a steel beam last August while working on a light rail tunnel project in San Francisco. The agency is seeking $65,300 in penalties.
With considerable fanfare, including news conferences in every EPA region, the Agency unveiled its Action Plan for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a large class of manufactured chemicals that have proven to be highly effective in many industrial applications and have also spread risks to human health through sources of drinking water across the nation. […]
Fourteen states have responded to the EPA’s June 22, 2018, request to voluntarily submit information about facilities that produce, use, or store hazardous substances (HSs) designated at 40 CFR part 116 (Clean Water Act [CWA] Listed Hazardous Substances), the CWA HS they store, historical discharges of these HSs to waterways, and any state requirements relating […]
Two federal agencies have issued warnings about the hazards of working in cold weather. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reminded employers and workers that frostbite and hypothermia can occur when working in cold, wet, icy, or snowy conditions. And OSHA reminded employers about the carbon monoxide (CO) hazards of using portable […]
Introduced in the House and Senate on February 7, 2019, the Green New Deal is a proposed resolution that goes much further than recognizing climate change as the ultimate environmental threat. It also directly links climate change to “systemic racial, regional, social, environmental, and economic injustices” that disproportionately affect indigenous communities, communities of color, migrant […]