Dear Mr. McCullough: Thank you for your October 21, 2011, letter to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). You requested an interpretation of OSHA's Respiratory Protection standard, 29 CFR 1910.134, specifically concerning the general requirements at §1910.134(d)(l)(iii), regarding identifying and evaluating the respiratory hazard(s) in the workplace.

OSHA has cited Danco Precision Inc. in Phoenixville with 14 safety violations found at the company's manufacturing facility. OSHA's March investigation, initiated as part of the agency's Site-Specific Targeting Program for industries with high injury and illness rates, resulted in $55,500 in proposed penalties.
 

Although the photos released by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) were taken nine miles away, the vapor cloud rising from the burning Chevron Richmond Refinery is enormous.

Just months prior to two flash fires at the Sinclair oil refinery (one on May 8 and another on May 25) injuring a total of six workers (at least three of them, regrettably, burned “severely”) Wyoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors had witnessed several other fires and fire hazards while performing a “process safety management audit,” according to the agency.

The 21 citations received by North American Salt’s Cote Blanche mine in Louisiana in recent weeks are only a fraction of the long string of safety violations issued against it by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

Dozens of fires sparked by high temperatures, severe drought conditions and strong winds have blanketed the western part of the U.S. including Washington, Montana, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada and California in recent months, making this fire season one of the worst in history.

A New Jersey chemical company failed to ensure that its workers were not overexposed to formaldehyde, resulting in some of the 14 health and safety violations lodged against it recently by OSHA. Proposed penalties total $82,500.

A coal miner trapped underground for nearly four hours earlier this month got out alive, thanks to the efforts of company personnel and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) officials – who happened to be at the mine to conduct an inspection.

An Obama administration plan to decrease black lung disease by reducing the amount of respirable dust to which coal miners are exposed has gotten the nod from the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), which has determined that scientific research behind proposed exposure limits is valid.

To provide assistance to employers in complying with OSHA's Subpart S Electrical Standards for General Industry electrical installation standard, the agency has developed the new "Subpart S eTool" (eTools are "stand-alone," interactive, Web-based training tools on occupational safety and health topics).