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.
The final deadline for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) phased-in compliance approach to implementing the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) is around the corner—just about 1 month away. This is the deadline that affects all employers covered by OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard (HCS). Is your organization ready? Here’s […]
A final rule was published in the March 29, 2016 Federal Register that amends the list of chemical substances that are partially exempt from reporting processing and use information under the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule.
Several EPA offices involved in reviewing toxic chemicals for commercial use have been moving to approve alternatives to using live animals—called in vivo testing—as part of their regulatory testing requirements. In the latest development, the Agency’s Office of Pesticide Program (OPP) has issued a document describing a process for evaluating and implementing alternative approaches to […]
A spill or release of a chemical just occurred at your facility. What do you do? Does it need to be reported? What information needs to be reported, to whom, and how soon?
When you think about chemical safety and compliance, the first standard that comes to mind might be the hazard communication standard. However, there are a lot of standards that apply to hazardous chemical safety. Yesterday, we looked at two employers that failed to comply with Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response, personal protective equipment, and […]
There are many chemicals in use in modern workplaces—and there are a lot of ways workers can be exposed to them. Three employers that were cited within a 1-month period earlier this year provide instructive examples of the kinds of mistakes that lead to overexposures.
It’s time for environment, health, and safety managers to start tracking another chemical. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has added 1-bromopropane (1-BP) to the list of chemicals required to be reported in toxic release inventory (TRI) reports. In addition, the Agency recently released a draft risk assessment for 1-BP. On top of that, the […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released its proposed amendments to the Chemical Accidental Release Prevention Program, aka the Risk Management Program. Concurrently, the Agency also released a Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA). Yesterday we reviewed EPA’s estimated costs for changes concerning third-party audits, root cost analyses, and safer technology and alternative analyses. Today we […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released its proposed amendments to the Chemical Accidental Release Prevention Program, aka the Risk Management Program. Concurrently, the Agency also released a Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA). Today and tomorrow, we will explore how much the EPA says the major changes will cost. After comments flow into the Agency, […]
The EPA is proposing mitigation measures to minimize human health incidents associated with paraquat dichloride.