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.
U.S. District Court Judge James Cain Jr. of the Western District of Louisiana recently approved a $3.5 million settlement in a creosote contamination case. The settlement resolves claims against Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Occidental Petroleum Corp, owned by Shreveport Creosoting Company and International Paper Co. (IP), respectively. “The settlement, which benefits a class of local […]
Officials from the EPA, the City of Detroit, and the Detroit Water & Sewage Department (DWSD) gathered on August 9 to celebrate the city’s progress in removing lead from its drinking water. “Since 2022, Detroit has received $90 million in federal funding to help replace lead pipes, including $85 million distributed by the Michigan Department […]
The EPA recently announced a proposal to designate five chemicals as high-priority substances (HPS) for risk evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the nation’s chemical safety law. If the designations are finalized as proposed, the Agency will immediately move forward with risk evaluations on the chemicals. “Studying the safety of these harmful chemicals […]
The EPA recently announced it issued emergency orders to suspend all registrations for the pesticide dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA or Dacthal) under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). “This is the first time in almost 40 years EPA has taken this type of emergency action, following several years of unprecedented efforts by the Biden-Harris […]
The EPA recently granted a petition from the Center for Environmental Health, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Alaska Community Action on Toxics, Clean Cape Fear, Clean Water Action, Delaware Riverkeeper, and Merrimack Citizens for Clean Water to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) formed during the fluorination of plastic containers—perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), […]
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) issued a call for greater use of remote isolation equipment at U.S. chemical facilities, the board announced July 25. A new safety study titled “Remote Isolation of Process Equipment” offered recommendations for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), as […]
Back to Basics is a weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine chemical hazard “worker right-to-know” compliance. Both communities and workers need to understand the chemical hazards they might encounter. Hazard communication, or “worker right-to-know,” is the workplace counterpart to community right-to-know. While […]
The summer heat is in full swing and so are ramped-up compliance efforts from OSHA. This alert provides you with six quick tips to help avoid and minimize any “heat” from OSHA this summer. 1. Make sure your business is fully aware of the new Hazard Communication Standard. OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard is already one of […]
The EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently issued a report that found the Agency didn’t follow the typical intra-agency review and clearance process during the development and publication of the January 2021 perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS) toxicity assessment. During the final clearance process for the assessment, a Trump political appointee ordered a last-minute review […]
Last month, the Government Accountability Project (GAP), filed an Emergency Administrative Procedure Act (APA) petition with the EPA to spur the Agency to take action to warn residents in and around East Palestine, Ohio, not to eat homegrown garden produce due to dioxin and other chemical contamination in the soil from the Norfolk Southern train […]