Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Congress’s proposed EPA budget for 2024 is 39% less than fiscal year (FY) 2023. It provides $6.173 billion to the Agency, which is $3.96 billion (39%) below the FY 2023 enacted level and $5.91 billion below the president’s Budget Request. This is the smallest proposed budget for the Agency in nearly three decades. “The GOP […]
Back to Basics is a weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine NIOSH’s new resource for information on how to protect workers from lead exposure while working with lead pipes. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has a new resource […]
Manufacturer 3M Company faces $312,518 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines after an employee at the company’s Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, facility became caught in a machine’s rotating rollers and suffered fatal injuries, OSHA announced November 7. The agency cited the company with two willful safety violations. The incident followed the company’s assessment […]
President Joseph Biden Jr.’s Executive Order (EO) 14008 calls on all federal agencies to use a whole-of-government approach to tackle the climate crisis. In keeping with this directive, the EPA recently announced its Climate Enforcement and Compliance Strategy, which directs all enforcement and compliance programs to address climate change, wherever appropriate, in every matter within […]
After several deadline extensions, the EPA released its final per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) data reporting rule in late September 2023. The rule is expected to provide the “EPA, its partners, and the public with the largest-ever dataset of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) manufactured and used in the United States,” according to an Agency […]
A 34-year-old steel worker suffered a fatal 60-foot fall at the site of a Hyundai electric car plant in Ellabell, Georgia. Geismar, Louisiana-based Eastern Constructors Inc. now faces $160,724 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties for one willful and one serious violation, the agency announced November 2. Because of the company’s “plain indifference” and […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) construction industry fall protection standard was the agency’s most frequently cited standard for the 13th straight year, the agency announced October 24 at the National Safety Council’s (NSC) Safety Congress & Expo in New Orleans. Eric Harbin, OSHA’s Region 6 (Dallas) administrator, unveiled preliminary data for the agency’s […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) signed an agreement outlining procedures for information-sharing, referrals, training, and outreach to bolster federal antiretaliation protections and strengthen the agencies’ partnership, OSHA and the NLRB announced October 31. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) enables OSHA and the Board to cooperate in […]
In October 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two landmark laws that will require companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenues operating in California to disclose both direct and indirect emissions resulting from their operations and report on climate-related financial risks. SB 253 One of the new laws, SB 253, has been characterized […]
In the ongoing battle against per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination, U.S. District Judge James Dever of the Eastern District of North Carolina certified two classes of plaintiffs in a lawsuit claiming Chemours Co. and DuPont discharged wastewater containing PFAS and GenX chemicals, also known as “forever chemicals,” into the Cape Fear River, exposing as […]