Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
In the wake of Executive Order (EO) 13650, issued in August 2013 and titled Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security, federal agencies have been working to modernize key policies, regulations, and standards, including EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP) and OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM).
2016 has the potential to be a very busy reporting year. In addition to the usual annual reports, such as TRI and Tier II, this year also brings the hazardous waste biennial report and TSCA’s chemical data report, which only comes around every 4 years. Reporting deadlines will come up faster than you think. It […]
When your safety program is working well, your workers may develop a bad case of overconfidence. For sports teams, overconfidence can come before a season-changing loss. Are your workers keeping their heads in the game? Or, are they in danger of losing their next outing? Here are some strategies for making sure that your workers […]
When workers become complacent about safety—when they stop feeling that they are at risk—they can be less aware of safety in the workplace. A complacent worker is more easily distracted than one who’s aware of danger. Any task can be subject to distraction-related errors, but some errors will cost more than others—and some mistakes are […]
When you put an effective safety program in place—one that eliminates as many hazards as possible, substitutes safer alternatives whenever available, and uses engineering controls to minimize other hazards—your workers can start to think of the workplace as “safe.” And, when they feel safe, what happens? They might let their guard down. In the workplace, […]
When an unforeseeable emergency occurs at your retail motor fueling facility, are your employees adequately trained and prepared to respond to the situation? Retail motor fueling facilities, such as gas stations, have underground storage tanks (USTs) containing regulated substances. Unforeseen situations such as fires, spills, or severe-weather-induced power outages can have serious consequences on a […]
Your workers may be taking the training you’ve provided and doing great things—but compared to the cost of the training, just how great are they? What kind of return are you getting on your training investment? Your return on investment (ROI) answers the question, “For every dollar invested in training, how many dollars are is […]
Is your training getting the job done? You may have your own ideas on that score, but it can also be useful to find out what your employees think. When you’re soliciting feedback from workers, timing is a critical consideration. What they remember and what they think will be useful may be different immediately after […]
Training is a substantial investment of time and resources. So, naturally, you’ll want to make sure that your training is effective at what you want it to accomplish. Which is … what, exactly? In order to evaluate the effectiveness of your training, the first thing you’ll have to ask yourself is, What exactly would “effective” […]
Following its Clean Air Act (CAA) residual risk and technology review (RTR) of its 1995 National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) covering aerospace manufacturing and rework facilities, the EPA is amending NESHAP by establishing requirements for specialty coating operations, which were not previously subject to NESHAP.