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Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) David Michaels, PhD, announced a new enforcement strategy during the 2015 National Safety Council Congress & Expo in which the Agency will no longer count the number of inspections it conducts in an effort to emphasize quality over quantity.
OSHA’s Confined Spaces in Construction standard was published in May 2015 and took effect in August. A temporary enforcement policy was in effect for all covered employers through October 2. OSHA has now extended that temporary enforcement policy through January 8, 2016, but only for employers engaged in residential construction work. Nonresidential construction employers please […]
Millions of Americans are employed in growing, producing, cooking, and serving food. Despite their importance to the economy and to our daily lives, these workers and the hazards they face remain largely invisible. This article addresses food-worker risks and some of the initiatives and innovations involved in reducing them.
In May, 2015, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a proposed guidance document for its personnel on complying with Executive Order 13673, Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces. The document is not yet finalized, however, it does offer insights into how OSHA and other agencies within the DOL intend to interpret and act upon the Order. […]
Most employers don’t think of executive orders—documents issued by the Office of the President that affect the management of government operations—when they think of safety compliance. But an executive order issued in 2014 means that your OSHA compliance may now be linked to your eligibility for government contracts.
In anticipation of BLR’s upcoming underground storage tank (UST) Master Class, Emily Remmel sat down with copresenter Dennis Oberdove, owner and president of Tank Integrity Services, to get a sense of the daily troubleshooting issues that arise on the ground when testing UST systems.
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (Court) recently issued a stay nationwide against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) from enforcing the revised definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), also known as the Clean Water Rule.
Q. Should oil mixed with absorbent (from spill cleanup) be included in a facility’s oil inventory for SPCC purposes? Would it be considered as oil during an inspection?
Written under the authority of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), EPA’s governing regulation was issued in 1986 and was initially called the Inventory Update Rule (IUR). In a 2011 action, the Agency changed the name to the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule. Under the CDR rule, between June 1, 2016, and September 30, 2016, […]
For several years, we’ve all been hearing a lot about the electronic hazardous waste manifest (e-Manifest) that soon will replace the paper form, EPA Form 8700-22 and its continuation sheet, EPA Form 8700-22A. “Soon” has now been informally redefined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to mean about 2-plus years from now. Although the Hazardous […]