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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 […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced June 2 it’s deploying workplace health and safety experts to the areas of Guam that were hit the hardest by Typhoon Mawar to protect the health and safety of recovery workers. As part of recovery efforts in the U.S. territory, OSHA temporarily suspended programmed and planned enforcement […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced May 30 that discount retailer Dollar General Corp. and its parent, Dolgencorp LLC, face $267,622 in new OSHA penalties for two repeat and three serious violations at stores in southeast Oklahoma. OSHA inspectors discovered boxes of merchandise blocking walkways at Dollar General stores in Hartshorne and Wilburton […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has an ongoing National Emphasis Program (NEP) of enforcement and outreach to address amputation hazards across several manufacturing industries. Is your facility a target for OSHA’s enforcement? Industries targeted by the NEP include fabricated metal products, food, furniture and related products, machinery, nonmetallic mineral products, paper, plastics and […]
The Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion at Nationwide Children’s Hospital of Columbus, Ohio, faces $18,080 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines for workplace violence hazards, the agency announced May 25. The hospital failed to protect employees, including nurses and mental health professionals, from patients whose bites, kicks, punches, and other assaults caused serious […]
The EPA announced proposed federal baseline water quality standards (WQSs) for water bodies on Indian reservations that don’t have Clean Water Act (CWA) standards, ensuring protections for over half a million people living on Indian reservations, as well as critical aquatic ecosystems. Congress’s established goal in passing the CWA 50 years ago was that waters […]
Dollar General Corp. and its parent, Dolgencorp LLC, face $3.4 million in new Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines, the agency announced May 23. OSHA unveiled citations resulting from inspections at nine Dollar General locations in Maine, North Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Violations included blocked exit routes and electrical and fire hazards. The agency […]