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.
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The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered Mr. Good Vape LLC of Chino, California, to reinstate a former manager and pay him $110,000 in compensation after he was fired for claiming the company’s production of flavored liquids for e-cigarette vapor inhalers violated federal environmental law.
Each of the 15 federal departments (and the hundreds of federal agencies) has its own mission, personnel, and operating procedures. But that does not mean that these separate entities operate with no knowledge of what the others are doing or no interest in seeing that their sister agencies achieve their statutory and discretionary objectives. In […]
Penalties are as high as six figures in our early April enviro enforcement roundup. Violations run the gamut from failure to submit forms to waste issues to pesticide problems; companies cited include DuPont, Terminix, and Dole.
December 31, 2017, was the deadline OSHA set for employers to submit their injury data for calendar year (CY) 2016. OSHA now says more than half the 350,000 businesses OSHA believes are subject to filing did not do so in time. OSHA now has until June 15, 2018, to issue citations for noncompliance with the […]
Yesterday we took a look at some recent environmental enforcement actions, one of which resulted in a fine of over $1 million. Today we’re reporting on five more recent enforcement actions, ranging from tank violations to water permitting problems.
Employers rely on OSHA’s Field Operations Manual (FOM) to better understand how OSHA inspectors will review workplace compliance, identify violations, issue citations, and propose penalties. But is OSHA actually legally bound to adhere to the procedures and standards described in the FOM? Apparently not, according a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the […]
Take a look at how water woes, air and pesticide violations, and WPS issues came into play in recent environmental enforcement actions. One of the fines (levied against Amazon) was seven figures!
In early February 2018, the EPA released its environmental enforcement results for 2017. The data revealed shifts in emphasis, the number of civil and criminal actions initiated, and how the EPA views its own enforcement role in relation to enforcement undertaken by the states.
David Michaels, the former head of OSHA, told the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections that there are no substitutes for standards, inspections, and enforcement and that employer voluntary programs produce limited benefits at most.
A case recently decided by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit should put employers on notice about when contractors and subcontractors may be viewed as a single entity in terms of liability.