Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Yesterday we discussed green infrastructure as a method to stem the flow of stormwater at your facility. Today we are going to take a fun trip on the wine trail to explore some ways that wineries can “green the grapes.” As the weather changes and grapes are growing well in climates where they did not […]
Just five weeks after a 28-year-old maintenance worker lost part of his right arm in an improperly guarded bread wrapping machine at a wholesale baking company, federal safety inspectors investigating the injury found another worker exposed to the same hazard.
Yesterday we talked about the importance of accident reporting—not only in assisting with safety compliance but also in preventing future accidents. Today we look at key policy considerations. Without an effective policy, your accident reporting procedures might fail to meet requirements. BLR’s Essential Safety Policies identifies the following elements as indispensable to an effective accident […]
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.
Road rage has become an epidemic on highways and byways across the nation. Angry, stressed-out drivers taking out their aggressions behind the wheel may be one of the most dangerous highway hazards any driver has to handle. Do you know of anyone, including yourself, who hasn’t been ticked off by a tailgater, a lane hog, […]
On July 21, 2023, the EPA published a final rule in the Federal Register that removes the “emergency” affirmative defense provisions from the EPA’s Title V operating permit program regulations. Title V background The Title V program requires major sources of air pollutants, and certain other sources, to obtain and operate in compliance with an […]
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has agreed with an EPA whistleblower who alleged that the Agency’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) failed to meet its regulatory obligation to respond in a timely manner to allegations that the Agency has violated Title VII of the 1991 Civil Rights Act. Title VII prohibits employment discrimination […]
What defines “green power”? According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Green Power Partnership, “green power” is electricity that provides the highest environmental benefit and is produced from solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, eligible biomass, and low-impact small hydroelectric sources. Green power suppliers produce no fossil-fuel emissions and must have been built within the past 15 […]
The EPA’s recent final rule based on its residual risk and technology review (RTR) of the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Surface Coating of Wood Building Products (Subpart QQQQ, Part 63) (March 4, 2019, Federal Register (FR)) provides an opportunity to consider how the Agency determines if […]
As part of their Clean Air Act (CAA) responsibilities to implement the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), state and local air agencies must monitor for the presence of NAAQS pollutants (formally, criteria air pollutants) in the ambient air and report the monitored data to the EPA. The relevant regulations at 40 CFR Part 58 […]