The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) said an explosion and fire that killed five workers during a fireworks disposal operation in Hawaii in 2011 resulted from unsafe disposal practices; insufficient safety requirements for government contractor selection and oversight; and an absence of national guidelines, standards, and regulations for fireworks disposal.
Updated rule provides extensive public health protections, slashes costs of compliance
January 15, 2013
Today, in compliance with settlement agreements, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized revisions to standards to reduce air pollution from stationary engines that generate electricity and power equipment at industrial, agricultural, oil and gas production, power generation and other facilities.
One objection of mine to adding more OSHA standards is that the standards cited frequently (top ten in frequency) remain generally the same year to year. Sometimes they shift position in frequency order. Sometimes the numbers of citations trend up or down, but generally it all remains in a controlled range.
A new compilation, ASTM Standards for Accident and Disaster Control, is now available on CD-ROM from ASTM International. The compilation includes 185 of the latest ASTM standards for accident and emergency management from ASTM Committees E54 on Homeland Security; F12 on Security Systems; F32 on Search and Rescue; and F30 on Emergency Medical Services.
From a toxic gas release caused by a worker's inability to understand English language labels to OSHA's update of the General Industry Digest, here are the top stories of the week from ISHN.com:
On December 14th the EPA finalized a rule updating the standards for fine particulates, including soot, setting the annual health standard to 12 micrograms per cubic meter, down from the current level of 15. EPA’s proposed rule issued in June, 2012 generated more than 230,000 public comments.
OSHA's updated General Industry Digest – a booklet that summarizes General Industry safety and health standards to help employers, supervisors, workers, health and safety committee members, and safety and health personnel learn about OSHA standards in the workplace – is now available. The digest includes updated information on revisions to General Industry standards since the digest was last published in 2001.
OSHA has published a notice confirming the effective date of the direct final rule for OSHA's head protection standards. This final rule updates the incorporation by reference of national consensus standards to include the latest edition of the consensus standard. It updates references in OSHA's standards to recognize the 2009 edition of the American National Standard for Industrial Head Protection, and deletes the 1986 edition of that national consensus standard because it is out of date.
OSHA's updated General Industry Digest – a booklet that summarizes General Industry safety and health standards to help employers, supervisors, workers, health and safety committee members, and safety and health personnel learn about OSHA standards in the workplace – is now available