Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Today’s workplace uses thousands of chemicals, many of which are hazardous. The resources in this section will help guide you in the safe and legal identification, storage, transport, and use of these chemicals, and in making sure that your employees right to know how to be safe around such substances is provided, as required by law.
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 […]
The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act has brought about a long overdue reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The Act was passed to address many of TSCA’s shortcomings and to allow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) more authority to evaluate and mitigate the risks associated with chemicals […]
If your facility is part of the supply chain for certain composite wood products, as the environmental health and safety (EHS) manager you now have responsibilities for formaldehyde emissions. If your facility uses formaldehyde, as an EHS manager you are required to safeguard your workers from formaldehyde exposure under Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) […]
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has released its final report into multiple chemical releases at the Tesoro Refinery in Martinez, California. Get details here, including revealing findings about safety culture.
In April 2010, a 40-year-old heat exchanger at the Tesoro Refinery in Anacortes, Washington, failed catastrophically. The incident resulted in an explosion and fire that killed seven workers. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board’s (CSB) investigation of the incident, completed in 2014, found that the failure was caused by damage to the heat exchanger, a mechanism […]
In an order, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit denied EPA’s request for an additional 6 months to take final action on its proposal to ban application of the pesticide chlorpyrifos on food crops. The court did grant the Agency an additional 3 months—to March 31, 2017—to finalize the […]
Yesterday we reviewed the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new plans to improve how it assesses facility risks under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATs). Today we will outline five steps to help you determine if your facility could be targeted as high risk and subject to submitting the initial Top-Screen survey to the DHS.
What should you do if you think your facility poses security risks under the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATs)? First of all, take a breath and step back. Today we will review DHS’s plans to improve how it assesses CFAT facility risks, and tomorrow we will offer five steps to […]
For more than 40 years, safety and health professionals and others have relied on the NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards. Now a mobile app for the guide offers quick access to information on more than 600 chemicals. Get the details here.
The recent signing of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act has brought about a long overdue reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). But despite the buzz surrounding TSCA reform and how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will implement the new legislation going forward, chemical manufacturers and importers must […]