Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Tomorrow is Earth Day, so this week’s song is focusing on environmental issues. There are plenty of obvious songs we could go with, but a more obscure gem came out of the Pacific Northwest in the early days of grunge: Soundgarden’s “Hands All Over.” This rumbling hard rock thumper features an impassioned vocal performance by […]
Federal safety inspectors found that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) endangered maintenance workers at its healthcare facility in Prescott, Ariz., by allowing them to work on steam lines without ensuring they followed required safety procedures. Similar hazards previously killed two workers at a VA facility in Connecticut. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety […]
On April 19, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) announced that Meeder Equipment Company, a Rancho Cucamonga, California, equipment company, faces $272,250 in fines for serious safety violations following a confined space death of a worker who suffocated in a 10,000-gallon propane gas tank. On August 18, 2022, a mechanic employed by […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced April 19 that Bare Bones Farms of Greenwood, Mississippi, is facing fines totaling $90,182 for willful and serious safety violations following the death of a teenage South African worker, who suffocated in a grain bin. The 19-year-old, 2 coworkers, and their supervisor climbed into a storage bin […]
Over the past 17 years, Amanda Smith’s career has been dedicated to leveraging technology to empower people. She started her career as an Assistive Technology Specialist, where she used technology to enhance the learning experience for students with disabilities. Later, Amanda transitioned and became an Environmental Specialist at DTE Energy, where she employed the use […]
In our ESG Week installment of Ask the Expert, brought to you by our sponsor, Camfil, we look at some questions about hazardous dust and how it relates to air quality. See what expert Randi Huckaby, product manager with Camfil APC, had to say. Q. What’s so dangerous about dust, and how does it relate […]
The Billerud Paper Mill in Escanaba, Michigan, has closed for cleaning following an outbreak of blastomycosis fungal infections, Billerud North America announced. The outbreak included a fatality, according to local public health officials. “As a precautionary measure, we will temporarily idle the Escanaba Mill for up to three weeks to facilitate additional proper cleaning based […]
Over 2 months later, cleanup continues after a fiery February 3, 2023, train derailment in Ohio. At the time, Norfolk Southern reported that an unknown number of the 150 train cars had derailed, but 20 of the cars were listed as carrying hazardous materials. Five of the derailed cars were loaded with vinyl chloride, which […]
In March 2023, an industry challenge to the EPA’s April 2021 Revised Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) Update Rule was rejected by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The rule required “power plants in 12 upwind states to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx), an ozone precursor, emissions such that those states did not inhibit downwind states’ […]
Due to a reported increase in cybersecurity attacks, the EPA issued a memorandum on March 3, 2023, advising public water systems (PWSs) of various approaches to protect themselves from these types of attacks. The memo stresses the need for states to assess cybersecurity risk at drinking water systems to protect public drinking water. “While some […]