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On June 9, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) urged employers to protect outdoor workers from the hazards of poor air quality. “Wildfire smoke exposure can create major health hazards for outdoor workers. These hazards can be reduced with knowledge, safe work practices, and appropriate personal protective equipment,” Doug Parker, assistant secretary of labor […]
Back to Basics is a weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine the different types of workplace fires and how to prevent them. Fire is a hazard that can affect any workplace and have devastating consequences. Thankfully, small fires can often be extinguished […]
On June 8, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it has again cited discount retailers Dollar General and Dollar Tree for repeat exit route and other violations. Dollar Tree Inc., operator of Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores, is facing $98,219 in new OSHA penalties for a repeat violation following the agency’s inspection […]
A Fairmont City, Illinois, roofing contractor is facing $66,711 in new Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines for five repeat, four serious, and one other-than-serious violation, the agency announced June 6. Juan Zuniga Ramos, operator of JZ Exteriors and Repairs LLC, failed to provide fall protection and train workers on its use. Agency inspectors […]
In 2019, Tyler Vanchure graduated from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Safety Management. Upon graduation, she accepted a Safety Specialist position at Southwire Company, a wire manufacturing company, in Carrollton, Georgia, where she worked for three and a half years at their largest utility wire manufacturing facility. During her […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a settlement with Anheuser-Busch LLC resolving the brewing giant’s violations of the Clean Air Act’s chemical accident prevention requirements and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. Anheuser-Busch will pay $537,000 in penalties and implement a comprehensive safety review of all 11 of its breweries that use the refrigerant anhydrous […]
Even as states continue to make recreational marijuana more easily available, a positive driver test for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, takes a driver out of service and affects the trucking industry, which is already dealing with driver shortages, according to a new report released June 5 by the American Transportation Research Institute […]
In May 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Zeus Lines Management S.A., a vessel-operating company, pled guilty to maintaining false and incomplete records relating to the discharge of oily bilge and for failing to report a hazardous condition on board the oil tanker Galissas. The company’s chief engineer, Roberto Cayabyab Penaflor, and Captain Jose […]
On May 25, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) issued its second opinion in Sackett v. EPA, ruling the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) improperly claimed jurisdiction over a private property wetland. In a unanimous ruling for the nine justices, Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, said, “Wetlands that are […]
The EPA recently announced its Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution, which builds upon the Agency’s National Recycling Strategy and focuses on actions to reduce, reuse, collect, and capture plastic waste. With input from stakeholders, the Agency identified three key objectives for the strategy: Reduce pollution during plastic production. Reduce the production and consumption […]