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34-year-old James Byrnes of North Beach, Maryland, was working from a ladder, hanging Christmas lights at his neighbor’s home in December 2013, when he came into contact with an overhead power line and was electrocuted. That same month, 13-year-old Georgia Marshall of Barry, South Wales, United Kingdom, was electrocuted while helping her father retrieve Christmas […]
Signed by the EPA Administrator on December 11, 2018, EPA announced on December 13 that it is issuing the long-awaited final rule to manage hazardous waste pharmaceuticals generated by healthcare facilities (including hospitals, clinics, and retail stores with pharmacies) and reverse distributors.
With the release of their proposed redefinition of the Clean Water Act (CWA) term waters of the United States (WOTUS), the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers are, technically at least, midway in their journey toward replacing the Obama administration’s 2015 WOTUS definition. The prepublication version of the proposal is available here.
By itself, winter carries a heightened risk of fire, because it involves more of the things that create warmth and light—fireplaces, space heaters, candles, cozy blankets. During the holidays, even more light, heat, and potentially flammable decorations are added to that mix.
As part of its two-part strategy to revitalize coal-fired power in the United States, the EPA is proposing to amend its 2015 final New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from new, modified, and reconstructed electric utility generating units (EGUs).
Yesterday in our series on holiday hazards, we talked about the ways workers can hurt themselves when they’re trying to get at something that’s out of reach. But falls from elevations are not the only hazard workers face during the holidays; they may also be at increased risk from falls on the same level.
OSHA has announced a proposed rule to revise the beryllium standard for general industry. According to the agency, the proposed changes are designed to clarify the standard and to simplify or improve compliance with the standard. The proposal is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on December 11.
An administrative law judge with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) took the middle ground in a dispute between OSHA and a small grain seed-handling business in North Dakota over the amount of a monetary penalty OSHA assessed for multiple violations of worker safety standards. The case can serve to illustrate the […]
After grumbling that it intended to resist implementing the revised National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone it issued in 2015, in August 2018, the EPA informed a federal court that it had decided to uphold and defend the NAAQS as they had been promulgated. That decision set in motion the Agency’s responsibility to […]
Ah, the holidays! Twinkly lights, evergreen wreaths, chirpy music, family gatherings … and hazards that don’t apply to any other time of year. The EHS Daily Advisor’s upcoming series on holiday hazards will help you remind your workers of the hazards their holiday activities can present, both in and out of the workplace. The best […]