Category: Chemicals

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.

Continued Rise in PFAS Litigation Expected in 2024

Last year, lawsuits against major chemical manufacturers resulted in settlements totaling more than $11 billion. This year, as the EPA brings even more regulations into play and awareness of the extent of the harm from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination continues to grow, analysts predict substantially more lawsuits will be filed, resulting in even […]

EPA Petitioned to Halt All Uses of Glyphosate

Last month, a coalition of six organizations petitioned the EPA to immediately suspend and cancel all glyphosate registrations. The petition was filed by the Center for Food Safety (CFF), which was joined by Lideres Campesinas, Beyond Pesticides, the Farmworker Association of Florida, Rural Coalition, and Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Inc. These nonprofits work to protect […]

Mixed Messages for U.S. Semiconductor Industry

The Biden administration is sending mixed messages to the U.S.-based semiconductor industry—providing funding to jump-start innovations in the industry while the EPA continues to create new regulations that prohibit or ban the necessary chemicals needed for chip production. In August 2022, the Biden administration signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law, which provided $280 […]

Ohio Reaches $110 Million Settlement with DuPont

The state of Ohio recently reached a settlement of $110 million with The Chemours Co., Dupont De Nemours Inc., and Corteva Inc. to resolve legal claims of chemical contamination dating back 70 years from the company’s Parkersburg, West Virginia, facility, Washington Works. “Chemours, a spin-off of DuPont, said it would be responsible for half of […]

EPA Enforcement of EPCRA and General Duty Clause Requirements

Two Rhode Island companies, under separate, recently proposed settlements with the EPA, have been ordered to pay combined fines of approximately $280,000 due to alleged violations of reporting requirements for their uses of anhydrous ammonia and metals. The companies alleged violations stem from compliance with the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and the […]

Proposed EPA Rule to Increase Protections for Two Toxic Chemicals

The EPA recently released a proposed rule to further protect people from exposure to two chemicals that are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT). Both chemicals—decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) and phenol, isopropylated phosphate (3:1) (PIP (3:1))—are already subject to risk management rules under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The proposed rule would impose workplace safety protections […]

EPA Takes TSCA Action Over PFAS in Plastic Containers

On December 1, 2023, the EPA issued orders to Inhance Technologies LLC (Inhance) directing it not to produce per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), chemicals that are created in the production of its fluorinated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic containers. “This action, taken under the authority of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), will help protect the […]

Recent EPA Data Reveals PFAS in 854 Drinking Water Systems

Recent data released by the EPA shows drinking water systems serving 46 million people have per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in concentrations at or above the Agency’s Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) minimum reporting level (MRL) and therefore above the agency’s Health Advisory (HA) levels. “Of about 3,200 systems included so far, 854 measured at […]

NIOSH Director: Workplace Chemicals Can Cause Hearing Loss

Chemicals called ototoxicants or ototoxic chemicals can cause hearing loss, John Howard, MD, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), wrote in his From the Director’s Desk column in the institute’s December eNews. Substances in the workplace that can cause hearing loss include cancer-treating (antineoplastic) drugs, degreasers, fuels, lead, mercury, pesticides, […]

Worker Fatalities Yield Maximum OSHA Penalties

A Georgia chemical manufacturer and Massachusetts concrete contractor find themselves facing Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines following worker fatalities, the agency announced December 1. After a 52-year-old leach tank operator suffered fatal chemical and thermal burns over most of his body, OSHA cited Chemical Products Corp. of Cartersville, Georgia, with five serious violations, […]