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A little over a year ago, OSHA issued a memorandum revising the agency’s interpretation of the PSM standard’s retail facility exemption. However, on September 23, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated the agency’s revised interpretation.
EPA’s Chemical Accident Prevention Program, more commonly referred to as the Risk Management Program (RMP), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Process Safety Management (PSM) program will always go hand in hand, as both seek to prevent chemical process accidents and protect workers and the public from the sometimes devastating consequences of such […]
EPA’s Chemical Accident Prevention Program, more commonly referred to as the Risk Management Program (RMP), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Process Safety Management (PSM) program will always go hand in hand, as both seek to prevent chemical process accidents and protect workers and the public from the sometimes devastating consequences of such […]
It has been 3 years since the ammonium nitrate explosion in West, Texas, killed 15 people, injured hundreds, and caused widespread damage. Just a few months after that event, President Obama’s Executive Order (EO) 13650 set into motion actions by numerous government agencies designed to enhance the safety and security of chemical facilities and reduce […]
When you think about chemical safety and compliance, the first standard that comes to mind might be the hazard communication standard. However, there are a lot of standards that apply to hazardous chemical safety. Yesterday, we looked at two employers that failed to comply with Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response, personal protective equipment, and […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released its proposed amendments to the Chemical Accidental Release Prevention Program, aka the Risk Management Program. Concurrently, the Agency also released a Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA). Today and tomorrow, we will explore how much the EPA says the major changes will cost. After comments flow into the Agency, […]
As discussed in yesterday’s Advisor, thousands of retail facilities face stricter requirements under the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Risk Management Program (RMP) because of a controversial Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) interpretation of a retail exemption under the Process Safety Management (PSM) standard. Here’s how to get started in RMP Program Level 3. Beginning […]
Thousands of retail facilities face stricter requirements under the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Risk Management Program (RMP) because of a controversial Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) interpretation of an exemption under the Process Safety Management (PSM) standard. Today we will review EPA’s reaction to OSHA’s narrowing of the retail exemption. Beginning in July 2016, […]
In the wake of Executive Order (EO) 13650, issued in August 2013 and titled Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security, federal agencies have been working to modernize key policies, regulations, and standards, including EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP) and OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM).
Within the past year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has completed some of its process safety management (PSM) “action items,” including clarifying parts of the PSM standard and revising its working definition of “retail facilities.” Keep reading to find out what other changes employers can expect to see as OSHA continues to revise […]