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Influencing Behaviors for Better Safety Performance

By Ana Ellington At this year’s New England area American Society of Safety Engineers Professional Development conference, Keith Robinson, corporate safety director at Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc., presented a lively session on how behaviors impact safety performance in workplaces—safety culture is key.

New FMCSA Rule Imposes Penalties for Coercion of CMV Drivers

Effective January 29, 2016, motor carriers, shippers, receivers, and transportation intermediaries are prohibited from coercing drivers to operate commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in violation of several provisions of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs); the commercial driver’s license (CDL) regulations, drug and alcohol testing rules; the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMRs); and commercial regulations. Keep […]

OSHA 300 Log—Is It Recordable? 4 scenarios

The end of the year is a good time to review workplace injuries and illnesses. Yesterday we looked at the requirements for Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Form 300A, The Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses. Today we will address various scenarios for recording injuries and illnesses under OSHA’s regulations. Background. Under OSHA’s injury […]

OSHA Form 300A—What, Who, When, and Where

As the year winds down, it is time to start preparing your Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Form 300A for posting. Today we will review the requirements for Form 300A, and tomorrow we will address various scenarios for recording injuries and illnesses under OSHA’s regulations. General Background Information Under OSHA’s recordkeeping regulation at 29 […]

Two Court Cases Find in Favor of the EPA

EPA’s nonattainment designations of two counties—one in Montana and one in Michigan—under the Agency’s 2010 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for sulfur dioxide (SO2) were challenged in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in two separate petitions that the court consolidated. According to the court, the two claims had “virtually nothing […]

Changes Issued to Simplify Exceptional Events Rule

EPA’s 2007 Exceptional Events Rule (EER) was intended to give state and local agencies an avenue to remove data about certain types of monitored air pollution from area attainment/nonattainment designations under the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). However, the EER required states to support their applications for data exclusion with analyses that were so […]

House Passes Joint Resolution to Block CPP

The U.S. House welcomed President Obama’s return from the Paris climate change conference by passing a joint resolution to block the EPA from implementing its Clean Power Plan (CPP) to regulate carbon emissions from existing power plants.

Compliance with the Final Hazmat Rule is January 1, 2016 – Or is It?

By Elizabeth Dickinson, JD The “Hazardous Materials: Harmonization with International Standards (RRR)” final rule was issued on January 8, 2015. Voluntary compliance with the new rule began January 1, 2015, with mandatory compliance delayed until January 1, 2016, unless otherwise specified (as it is for numerous provisions).