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In following President Joseph Biden Jr.’s Executive Order (EO) 13990 on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis, on June 2, 2022, the EPA announced a proposed rule to update the regulatory requirements under the Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 Certification Rule. The proposed rule will strengthen […]
As a result of a legal agreement reached on May 3, 2022, with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), the EPA has nine months to analyze the toxic impact of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). PVC, also commonly referred to as vinyl, is widely used for many functions, and there are currently 7 billion pounds of the […]
On May 7, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) issued new employer guidance on the state’s COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS). On April 21, California’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board renewed the ETS a third time. The revised ETS is effective May 6 through December 31, and it applies to employers […]
The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) has published a new voluntary consensus standard for measuring health and safety performance. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/ASSP Z16.1-2022, Safety and Health Metrics and Performance Measures, updates a standard (ANSI Z16.1) first released in the 1960s as “Method of Recording and Measuring Work Injury Experience.” The updated […]
On April 20, 2022, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published a final rule in the Federal Register restoring the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) provisions requiring detailed environmental reviews of infrastructure projects to include climate change-related impacts. The rule, which goes into effect May 20, 2022, will impact projects like pipelines, oil […]
A first aid kit can be easy to ignore. It’s quiet, unobtrusive, and often hiding in plain sight. But it’s more likely to be used than you might think. There were 2.7 million workplace nonfatal injuries and illnesses reported by private industry employers in the U.S. in 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor […]
The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) published a second notice of modification to its proposed changes to Proposition 65 (Prop 65) safe harbor short-form regulations. About Prop 65 Prop 65 requires warnings labels to be placed on products sold in California that expose consumers to chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive […]
On April 21, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed revoking its final approval of Arizona’s state workplace safety and health plan (87 Federal Register (FR) 23783). Federal OSHA could resume concurrent workplace safety and health enforcement in the state, as the status of Arizona’s program would revert to initial approval. The agency has […]
The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board will weigh a third renewal of the state’s COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) this week at its April 21 meeting. If adopted, the proposed ETS would emphasize hand-washing, personal protective equipment (PPE), testing and worker removal, and ventilation as hazard controls rather than cleaning and disinfection. The […]
In a close 5–4 decision, on April 6, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) reinstated a Trump-era Clean Water Act (CWA) regulation that limited state and tribal authority in the permitting process for projects in their territory. History The CWA made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters unless […]