Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
As today’s workplace becomes more complex, regulation of that workplace increases. In this section, you’ll find the practical advice you need to understand exactly what OSHA, other federal agencies, and their state counterparts, require of you, and to comply in the ways that best satisfy both your and their needs. Look also for important court decisions, advice on how to handle enforcement actions, and news of upcoming changes in workplace health and safety law.
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Nearly a decade after the EPA called for additional soil sampling at the Vertac Inc. Superfund Site in Jacksonville, Arkansas, tests have not yet been performed, reports a December 18, 2021, Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article. Superfund is the more commonly known name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), a law enacted […]
A Trenton, New Jersey, roofing contractor faces Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties totaling $584,333 for fall protection and other violations at a Toll Brothers Inc. residential construction project, the agency announced January 12. The agency cited Guelsin Lima, operating as Extreme Roofing and Siding LLC, for nine willful and three serious violations. During […]
Thirty Big Oil companies, including Chevron Corp., Citgo Petroleum Corp., Exxon Mobile Corp., and Shell Oil Products Co., have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to ask for its review of a combined group of climate change liability cases led by San Mateo County, California. The question presented to SCOTUS “encompasses a threshold issue that […]
Last month, the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) announced fiscal year (FY) 2022 enforcement and compliance accomplishments, which included an increase in inspections of more than 78% over FY 2021, particularly in overburdened environmental justice communities. “Taken together, OECA’s criminal, civil, and administrative enforcement cases reduced, treated or eliminated pollutants by 95 […]
A Wisconsin malt barley supplier is facing $174,351 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines for 2 repeat and 14 serious safety and health violations, the agency announced January 10. Agency inspectors, responding to a complaint of unsafe working conditions at Briess Industries’ Manitowoc, Wisconsin, malt house, found that workers crafting malt were exposed […]
What does 2023 hold for workplace safety and health and commercial motor vehicle (CMV) safety? 2022 began with the Supreme Court issuing a permanent judicial stay of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) “vaccinate-or-test” COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS). The year ended with OSHA submitting a final healthcare COVID-19 standard for regulatory review at […]
In November 2022, hundreds of delegates, heads of state, business leaders, activists, and journalists went to Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, for the 27th United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP27) to discuss reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and how to battle climate change impacts. World leaders made several speeches during the conference, with UN Secretary General […]
On December 23, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) denied a request to allow the use of hair testing for determining a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) driver’s drug use (87 Federal Register (FR) 79061). The Alliance for Driver Safety & Security, or “Trucking Alliance,” asked the agency to amend the definition of “actual knowledge” […]
On December 16, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it issued citations to Amazon for 14 recordkeeping violations at six warehouse facilities in five states for failing to properly record work-related injuries and illnesses. Investigations are ongoing, according to OSHA. The agency received referrals from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., issuing a pair of six-figure fines, for violations at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar locations. On December 1, the agency announced that federal workplace safety inspectors discovered a Matteson, Illinois, Dollar Tree store exposed workers to the risks of unsafely stored and stacked […]