Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
OSHA has launched a new web portal for employers to report fatalities, inpatient hospitalizations, and other severe injuries. But the advice from one lawyer who specializes in OSHA matters is “proceed with caution.”
When workers will be de-energizing electrical equipment so that they can safely work on or near it, they must use lockout/tagout procedures to protect themselves from unexpected energization or startup of the equipment. But not all of OSHA’s applicable requirements are in one place. Most lockout/tagout requirements are found in 29 CFR 1910.147, however, a […]
Exposure to an unexpected electrical energy release that could result in electric shock or burns or in an explosion caused by an electric arc is covered by OSHA’s standard for Electrical Safety-Related Work Practices, 29 CFR 1910.333. Sometimes, workers cannot de-energize equipment that they will be working on or near. When that happens, it’s important […]
Industry can expect little relief from OSHA’s respirator fit testing requirements in light of a new National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) study that bolsters the Agency’s requirements and adds a recommendation that fit testing be performed for employees who lose a specific amount of weight. According to NIOSH, over 3 million workers […]
When OSHA inspectors returned to an Atlanta food manufacturing facility and found previously cited hazards had reoccurred, the company management took an unusual step: company representatives told OSHA the company accepted responsibility for the safety and health hazards and signed a pre-citation settlement agreement with OSHA on January 15.
OSHA’s Serious Event Reporting Online Form has recently gone live. The Agency’s new recordkeeping rule that went into effect in January 2015 requires employers to report to OSHA any work-related fatality within 8 hours and any inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours.
Recently, one of our subscribers asked the following question: I am looking for guidance on developing a lockout program where I can protect my employees from disassembled equipment while transferring the locks without having a physical hand off. Our second shift must leave equipment disassembled and locked out at midnight when they go home. We […]
By March 1, certain facilities will be required to submit hazardous chemical inventory reports, commonly referred to as Tier II reports. In a recent webinar, Tier II Reporting, Strategies for Meeting Compliance Obligations Ahead of the March 1, 2016, Reporting Deadline, speaker Lori Siegelman, CIH, CSP, CHMM, of W&M Environmental Group, LLC, discussed who is […]
Q. How do I identify extremely hazardous substances (EHSs) and hazardous substances on EPA’s List of Lists and SDSs?
Laboratories are dangerous places, and university laboratories have proved deadly with disturbing regularity in recent years. In 2008, for example, a lab research assistant at the University of California, Los Angeles, was killed in a flash fire. In January 2010, an explosion at Texas Tech University cost a graduate student three fingers and caused severe […]