OSHA has established a new National Emphasis Program (NEP) focused on identifying and reducing or eliminating the health hazards to workers posed by occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium (CrVI) and a number of other toxic substances often found together with it, according to a post on the web site of ORC Worldwide, an EHS global consultancy based in Washington, DC.
OSHA has ordered Tennessee Commerce Bank in Nashville to reinstate a former corporate officer and pay more than $1 million in back wages, interest, attorney's fees, compensatory damages and other relief, according to an agency press release. The department found the bank had fired the individual in violation of the whistleblower protection provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
OSHA will hold an informal public hearing in Pittsburgh on March 31 regarding a proposed rule to align the agency’s Hazard Communication Standard with the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals.
OSHA has scheduled its latest informal stakeholder meetings to continue soliciting comments and suggestions for protecting workers from combustible dust hazards in the workplace. Since 1980, more than 130 workers have been killed and more than 780 injured in combustible dust explosions, according to an agency press release.
The proposed settlement of the lawsuit by 9/11 rescue and recovery workers acknowledges what the scientific literature already confirms – that health harm occurred from exposure to World Trade Center-derived environmental contaminants, according to the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health.
OSHA is publishing for public comment a direct final rule requiring employers to notify workers of exposures to hexavalent chromium, according to an agency press release.
The American Industrial Hygiene Association in partnership with General Electric will present “Measurements of Hazardous Substances,” part of a series of internationally developed and peer reviewed training modules at the GE China Technology Center, in Shanghai China.
Blogger Celeste Monforton, a former colleague of OSHA boss Dr. David Michaels at George Washington University, wrote on the blog, “The Pump Handle” that “the subcommittee on Workforce Protections of the House Education and Labor Committee heard testimony (March 16) on the “Protecting America’s Workers Act” (PAWA) (H.R. 2067) from OSHA assistant secretary David Michaels. In the Obama/Solis’ Administration’s first official statement about the legislation, Dr. Michaels said they:
“strongly support the goals of PAWA”
Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Michaels testified yesterday before the U.S. House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee’s Subcommittee on Workforce Protections. Michaels shared the U.S. Department of Labor’s views on the Protecting America’s Workers Act, particularly the issue of enhanced penalties, as described in an OSHA press release.
On March 16, the Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on legislation to reform, revise, or otherwise update the 40-year-old law governing OSHA operations.