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Focus on HAZWOPER Respiratory Protection

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is celebrating respiratory protection this year on Tuesday, September 6. It’s called N95 Day for users of N95 level filtering respirators. In the spirit of N95 Day, we will take this opportunity to focus on respiratory protection requirements specific to hazardous waste operations.

A Stroll through NIOSH’s Engineering Controls Database, con’t

Yesterday we began our stroll through the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) new database for engineering controls.  We looked at search results for aerosols, asphalt fumes and ethylene oxide.  Today we will report the search results for hydrogen sulfide, noise, and organic solvents.

Q&A: Industrial Hygiene Surveys

Recently, a subscriber asked us the following question: How long should industrial hygiene surveys be kept on file? This was our response:

OSHA: IL Roofing Contractor Shows ‘Callous Disregard’ for Safety

On July 29, 2016, OSHA issued citations to a roofing contractor for two willful, two repeated and six serious safety violations. The agency opened an inspection on May 18, 2016, after inspectors observed five roofers working at a height of 13 feet (ft) without adequate fall protection. In this case, the contractor faces proposed penalties […]

A Stroll Through NIOSH’s Engineering Controls Database

In the hierarchy of controls for preventing workplace hazards, engineering controls rank right in the middle—after elimination and substitution and before administrative controls and use of personal protective equipment. Today and tomorrow we will take a look at a database for engineering controls recently launched by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

Don’t Just Stand By! Bystander Intervention Can Stop Workplace Violence in Its Tracks

On January 18, 2015, Peter Jonsson and Carl-Frederik Arndt, graduate students at Stanford University, were riding their bikes across campus at about 1 a.m. As they rode through an alley, they saw something disturbing: a man on top of a woman next to a dumpster. The woman was unconscious. The two students yelled at the […]

Nine Tips for Working with Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde is back in the news now that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a new rule to control formaldehyde emissions from certain products. However, if your facility uses formaldehyde, as an environment, health, and safety (EHS) manager you have been required for a long time to safeguard your workers from formaldehyde exposure […]

Truckers’ Expectations Met in Phase 2 Standards

American Trucking Associations (ATA) responded with “cautious optimism” to the final federal Phase 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) and fuel-efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. The standards were adopted jointly by the EPA, which developed the GHG portion of the regulations, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which wrote the fuel-efficiency section. Industry’s […]