Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Workers have been trained to rely on chemical labels and safety data sheets (SDSs) for chemical hazard information—and rightly so, most of the time. However, some chemical hazards don’t come neatly packaged and labeled. That doesn’t make them any less dangerous. Yesterday, we looked at the hazards of vehicle exhaust and flammable vapors. Here are […]
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared the Zika virus and its suspected link to brain-damaged babies a public health emergency of international concern. The main concern is a link to microcephaly—a condition that causes babies to be born with unusually small heads and, in the vast majority of cases, damaged brains.
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 […]
Workplace violence is a growing problem in the United States. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, roughly 2 million workers are injured every year, and more than 800 die as a result of workplace violence. This has a devastating effect on the productivity of a business and on employees’ quality of life.
Are you a large quantity generator (LQG) of hazardous waste? If so, you and hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs) are required to submit hazardous waste reports (aka, biennial reports) by March 1 this year. Do you even know if you are an LQG? In the newest biennial report form, released by the […]
In a direct final rule, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the Department of Energy (DOE) has promulgated amended energy efficiency standards for small, large, and very large air-cooled commercial package air-conditioning and heating equipment and commercial warm air furnaces.
The U.S. Supreme Court continued its keen interest in the reach of the Clean Water Act (CWA) by agreeing to hear a case about whether a jurisdictional determination (JD) by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) constituted a final action by the Corps. The Supreme Court will review a ruling by a panel of […]
Back in June 2013, President Obama announced his Climate Action Plan, a major component of which is to cut carbon pollution in the United States. The outline to accomplish this focuses on renewable energy, clean energy innovation, energy efficiency, and a cleaner transportation sector, but it also specifically addresses cutting carbon emissions from power plants, […]
Do your workers have a problem with prescription painkillers? Odds are that some of them do—and that the number is increasing. Use of opioid painkillers like OxyContin®, Vicodin®, and Percoset® has increased throughout the United States since the 1990s, when new formulations made the drugs practical to use for long-term, chronic pain. The drugs are […]
Violence in the workplace isn’t pleasant to think about, but recent events highlight how important it is for employers to plan for it. We have advice for building an effective “active threat” plan from security expert Jay Hart. Hart, director of Force Training Institute, leads a team of first responders, antiterrorism, cybersecurity, defensive tactics, and […]