Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
As today’s workplace becomes more complex, regulation of that workplace increases. In this section, you’ll find the practical advice you need to understand exactly what OSHA, other federal agencies, and their state counterparts, require of you, and to comply in the ways that best satisfy both your and their needs. Look also for important court decisions, advice on how to handle enforcement actions, and news of upcoming changes in workplace health and safety law.
Free Special Report: What to Expect from an OSHA Inspection
At the 2019 National Safety Council Congress & Expo in San Diego, California, Patrick Kapust, deputy director of OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs, presented the agency’s top 10 violations for fiscal year (FY) 2019 to a standing-room-only crowd of safety professionals. The order may have changed slightly, but the list remain remains the same as […]
A Pennsylvania manufacturer must pay $1,047,399 in lost wages and punitive damages to two former employees fired in retaliation for cooperating in a federal safety investigation.
The applicability of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Risk Management Program (RMP) is reasonably clear, but facilities with chemicals in amounts less than the RMP thresholds are finding themselves in trouble with the EPA because they are overlooking EPA’s General Duty Clause (42 U.S. Code 7412(r)(1)). Several times over the last 6 months the […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) continues to hand out six-figure penalties to employers across industries, including construction, manufacturing, poultry processing, and wholesale trade.
An Ohio manufacturer faces $724,380 in fines following an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspection under its Site-Specific Targeting (SST) program. The agency cited Fuyao Glass America Inc. of Moraine, Ohio, with 13 serious violations of safety and health standards, including those for confined spaces, fall protection, hearing protection, lockout/tagout, machine guarding, and personal […]
No one looks forward to the day when the regulatory authority arrives at your facility for an inspection. Will he or she find issues of noncompliance? Will an enforcement action or penalty be forthcoming? But remember, the ultimate goal of the inspector is not to write up a notice of violation but to ensure your […]
OSHA has proposed penalties of $287,212 in its citation of a Long Island, New York, manufacturer. OSHA cited U.S. Nonwovens Corp., a home and personal care fabric product manufacturer with a facility in Hauppauge, New York, for nine serious and four repeat safety and health violations.
The EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) has finalized a policy document titled Enforcing Effective Partnerships Between the EPA and the States in Civil Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Work. The intent of the document is to delineate to the extent possible how the EPA and states that are authorized to implement and enforce […]
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) cited two employers for serious accident-related safety and health violations after workers were poisoned by carbon monoxide while working in a confined space at San Francisco International Airport.
A “chain of failures” in emergency response and process safety management led to the November 2014 deaths of four workers following a methyl mercaptan release at the DuPont Plant in La Porte, Texas, according to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB).