The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) today announced that it will be conducting a full investigation of the October 23, 2009 explosion and fire at Caribbean Petroleum Refining. CSB investigators continue to examine the events and circumstances surrounding the catastrophic tank explosion and fire, according to a CSB press release.
Many current practices in respiratory protection are based on assumptions, past practices, or extrapolation from laboratory studies. Few studies have been done to evaluate the efficacy of or the need for each of these practices. The American Industrial Hygiene Association® (AIHA®) believes the results of research on the practical, applied topics presented in their newly released white paper may significantly enhance the safe and effective use of respiratory protection, according to an association press release.
OSHA and the Wage and Hour Division together have fined Tempel Grain Elevators LLP of Wiley, Colo., more than $1.6 million following the May 29 death of a teenage worker at the company’s Haswell, Colo., grain storage operation. The youth suffocated after being engulfed by grain in one of the facility bins. The company also exposed three other teenage workers to the cited hazards, according to an OSHA press release.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Southeast Michigan kicks off its 23rd annual Tie One On for Safety (TOOFS) campaign with their life saving message to drive safe, sober and bucked up this holiday season at the kick-off event being held Friday, December 4, 2009.
“For nearly 40 years, OSHA has been the Federal government's leading advocate for workplace safety and health. In this time we have made clear progress - think back to what workplaces were like in this country before OSHA,” acting agency boss Jordan Barab told a cheering audience at the United Steelworkers’ Health, Safety and Environment Conference, held earlier this year in Houston, Texas.
OSHA “welcomes” the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) report on the under-reporting of workplace injuries and illnesses and OSHA's audit process, according to an agency press statement.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, the Department of Labor is required to collect and compile work-related injury and illness data. The U.S. Government Accountability Office was asked to determine (1) whether DOL verifies that employers are accurately recording workers’ injuries and illnesses and, if so, the adequacy of these efforts, and (2) what factors may affect the accuracy of employers’ injury and illness records.
In the absence of a full Senate committee question and answer hearing, OSHA chief nominee Dr. David Michaels of George Washington University provided senators with written answers to submitted questions.
President Obama’s nominee to head OSHA, Dr. David Michaels, an epidemiologist and professor at George Washington University in Washington, DC, has moved a step closer to taking the reins at OSHA after his November 18th approval by the Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
For the protection of frontline health care and emergency medical workers at high risk of infection, OSHA has issued a compliance directive (http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/Directive_pdf/CPL_02_02-075.pdf) to ensure uniform procedures when conducting inspections to identify and minimize or eliminate high to very high risk occupational exposures to the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus, according to an agency press release.