Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Climate Change and Worker Health—Rising Risks Employers in the United States have long been governed by laws and regulations designed to provide a safe and healthy environment for workers. But climate change presents a new set of worker risks that are just beginning to be understood. Although many of the actual risks are the same […]
Yesterday, we looked at the four categories of employers that OSHA will hold responsible for safety on a multiemployer worksite. Today, we will look in detail at the responsibilities of “controlling employers,” who carry a higher compliance burden than other employers at the site.
Sufficiently Sensitive Testing Methods Rule—The Definitions One of the most subjective aspects of testing methods is the term “sufficiently sensitive.” To establish what is meant by the term, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has defined it in two sections of the regulations: 40 CFR 122.21(e), which covers application completeness, and in 40 CFR 122.44(i)(I)(iv), which […]
How many employers have a presence on your worksite? Do you have two or three contractors renovating your office space, another contractor running your on-site cafeteria, some consultants evaluating your production unit, a medical group doing a wellness screening on-site, and a crew of temporary employees in the warehouse? All of those workers represent different […]
In the first century B.C., the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote about miners using pig bladders to try to protect themselves from hazardous breathing air in the mines. We’ve made some refinements since Pliny’s day—to the point of recognizing that the respirator itself can, under some conditions, be hazardous.
Sufficiently Sensitive Testing Methods Rule—The Rationale Under the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) NPDES program, the EPA established and required “sufficiently sensitive” analytical methods be used by permit applicants and for “analysis of pollutants or pollutant parameters under an NPDES permit.” These “generally approved” methods under 40 CFR Part 136 and 40 CFR Chapter I, […]
Respirators can be real lifesavers. A firefighter inside a building filled with toxic smoke breathes clean air because of his respirator, as does a painter inside a spray booth. But for workers with underlying heart or lung issues, a respirator can place a dangerous amount of stress on the body. That’s why OSHA’s respiratory protection […]
Record of Noncompliance with CWA Ends in Hefty Penalty for Oil Company In April 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) performed an inspection at an oil storage facility in Ingleside, Texas, that included review of the facility’s physical condition, the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan and its Facility Response Plan (FRP). Following the […]
January is National Mentoring Month (www.nationalmentoringmonth.org/), so each Friday this month, we’ll explore different aspects of mentoring and how this form of training can benefit your organization. Today, we hear from mentoring expert, Lois Zachary.
Green Business Strategies for 2015 Adopt environmentally preferable purchasing. This growing area of sustainable business combines contract language, specifications and policies, with environmental standards and guidelines, and product vendors and service providers to help business make environmentally sound purchasing decisions. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Database to help them […]