Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Occasionally, when OSHA issues new or revised standards, there are two dates of importance for employers subject to those standards. The first is the date OSHA will make compliance mandatory. The second is the date OSHA states it will begin enforcing noncompliance. In some cases, the two dates may be the same. But with standards […]
Some Cal/OSHA standards are “performance standards”—that is, the standard specifies an end to be achieved, but the exact methods for achieving that end are left to the employer. In such cases, Cal/OSHA may offer further guidance in complying with the standard. Unfortunately, even employers that receive additional guidance can run into trouble, as a recent […]
Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) can reveal job-related dangers not immediately apparent to the untrained eye. Here are some tips for implementing an effective JHA program. Some workplace hazards, such as a grease spot on the floor or a piece of pipe protruding from a shelf at eye level, are so obvious that even an inexperienced […]
Are you trying to reduce your organization’s carbon footprint? If so, you probably started with your facility power use—electricity and fossil fuels burned to light, heat, and cool buildings account for the lion’s share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), electricity and fossil fuel […]
In October 2017, former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that no individual who is benefiting from an EPA-issued grant may serve on an EPA federal advisory committee (FAC). The intent of the new directive was to eliminate “the appearance or reality of potential interference with [FAC members’] ability to independently and objectively serve as a […]
OSHA investigators found multiple safety violations at a South Dakota ethanol refinery expansion project after a 38-year-old pipefitter suffered fatal burn injuries when ethanol spilled from a process pipe he was working on and was ignited by flames from nearby welding operations.
A major environmental provision in the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act (S. 612) would give states the authority to establish, implement, and enforce their own permitting programs for the management and disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCRs) from electric power plants. Lawmakers from both the House and the Senate recently reached a […]
Q. Where can I find a list of thresholds for metal/chemicals to use to determine if the sludge-type waste from the triple basin collection system on our city sewer line is hazardous? A. From your question, we infer that you have already determined that your waste is not a listed hazardous waste and that you […]
Applying what it calls the “latest scientific information,” the EPA has updated its recommended aquatic life water quality criteria for cadmium. This is the fifth time—and the first time since 2001—that the Agency has changed the recommended criteria for cadmium since they were first issued 1980. There are four recommended criteria—two each (acute and chronic) […]