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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited workplace safety and health violations at three Amazon warehouses in Deltona, Florida; Waukegan, Illinois; and New Windsor, New York, the agency announced January 18. OSHA also issued hazard alert letters to all three warehouses after finding workers exposed to ergonomic hazards. Amazon faces new proposed penalties totaling […]
Underground Utilities, an Ohio excavation contractor, is facing Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines totaling $251,517 for violations at three trenching worksites following the death of a 33-year-old worker in Columbus, the agency announced January 17. The worker was pinned between the “spreader” bars of a trench box and the wall of a 7-foot-deep […]
Nearly a decade after the EPA called for additional soil sampling at the Vertac Inc. Superfund Site in Jacksonville, Arkansas, tests have not yet been performed, reports a December 18, 2021, Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article. Superfund is the more commonly known name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), a law enacted […]
Is your business in the bullseye of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) 2023 regulatory plans? If you oversee a healthcare facility, then the answer is a resounding “yes.” Labor Secretary Marty Walsh recently confirmed that three OSHA healthcare rulemakings are priorities for the Labor Department: a permanent healthcare COVID-19 standard, a proposed infectious […]
An individual or a team submitting an innovative respirator fit-testing concept could receive $350,000 in a challenge announced January 10 by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The challenge attempts to address two problems with respirator fit testing: Small and disadvantaged businesses often lack the resources needed to comply with the Occupational […]
Last month, the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) announced fiscal year (FY) 2022 enforcement and compliance accomplishments, which included an increase in inspections of more than 78% over FY 2021, particularly in overburdened environmental justice communities. “Taken together, OECA’s criminal, civil, and administrative enforcement cases reduced, treated or eliminated pollutants by 95 […]
After a year of uncertainty, on December 15, 2022, the EPA published a final rule amending the All Appropriate Inquiries (AAI) Rule to reference ASTM International’s E1527-21, “Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process,” and allow for its use to satisfy the requirements for conducting AAIs under the Comprehensive Environmental […]
A Wisconsin malt barley supplier is facing $174,351 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines for 2 repeat and 14 serious safety and health violations, the agency announced January 10. Agency inspectors, responding to a complaint of unsafe working conditions at Briess Industries’ Manitowoc, Wisconsin, malt house, found that workers crafting malt were exposed […]
Have you thought lately about your safety training needs? Your workers need training in general safety and health precautions, as well as training focused on the specific hazards of their work and at the workplace. Employee and supervisor safety training may help reduce workers’ compensation claims, and your insurer may offer resources to help with […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will proceed with three rulemakings focused on the healthcare industry—standards for COVID-19, infectious diseases, and workplace violence—the Department of Labor (DOL) announced as part of the fall 2022 unified regulatory agenda unveiled January 4. The agency also is moving forward with developing a federal heat illness prevention standard, […]