Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Stays, delays, proposals in abundance Five months into his term, President Donald Trump announced that no other president—with the exception of Franklin D. Roosevelt—accomplished so much in the same period of time. As of June 26, 2017, the president has signed 40 pieces of legislation and about an equal number of Executive Orders (EOs). Critics […]
Every day, workers witness actions that they know are unsafe—potentially disastrous actions that could almost certainly be stopped—but they don’t voice their concerns. Why are people inhibited in these situations? Why do we so often stay silent?
Oil and gas wells pose many hazards that are unique to the industry—for example, the chemical exposure issues that occur during tank gauging and monitoring. However, the most common causes of fatal accidents in the industry are depressingly familiar. One West Virginia employer learned this the hard way when a 19-year-old worker was killed on […]
OSHA announced that it will exclude monorail hoists from the requirements of the cranes and derricks in construction standards as long as employers meet other agency requirements.
On June 12, 2017, hazardous materials (hazmat) crews were called to a South Texas Cold Storage in Corpus Christi, Texas. A cooling unit at the facility was leaking ammonia. Nearby residents were instructed to shelter in place while hazmat crews controlled the leak. That same day, in Phelps, New York, two homeowners became ill after […]
The EPA has taken the middle ground in its proposed rule setting the renewable volume obligations (RVOs) or the minimum amount of renewable fuels that must be supplied to the market in 2018 under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) (Section 211 of the Clean Air Act).
During the early morning hours of June 6, 2017, an ammonia leak at a Mrs. Grissom’s Salads production facility just outside Nashville, Tennessee, trapped 32 people—some of them inside an administrative building at the site; others at the Coca-Cola bottling plant next door. The leak was outside the Mrs. Grissom’s facility, but the cutoff valves […]
A new survey from the National Safety Council (NSC) finds that no state goes far enough to protect its residents from leading causes of preventable death and injury (accidents) at work, at home, in the community, or on the road. Despite preventable death being at an all-time high, none of the 50 states or Washington, […]
Led by an industrial workers’ union, 14 environmental and health organizations have petitioned the D.C. Court of Appeals to stay EPA’s final rule (June 14, 2017, FR) delaying by up to 2 years the Agency’s amendments to regulations implementing the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) Risk Management Program (RMP), CAA Section 112(r). According to the petitioners, […]
An Ohio manufacturer of cast steel freight components is facing more than $610,000 in proposed penalties after OSHA investigators found workers at a Groveport facility exposed to machine hazards and silica. One worker was hospitalized after suffering severe injuries when he was caught in a machine. At least four employees were exposed to excessive levels […]