Articles Tagged with ''government''

Representatives from more than 100 governments around the world, health experts, civil society organizations and other stakeholders are converging in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for three days to discuss how social, economic and environmental conditions could be improved to reduce the health gaps within and between countries.

OSHA has produced regulations in the past decade at a far slower rate than ever before, postponing rules that would have prevented more than 100,000 serious injuries, more than 10,000 cases of illness and hundreds of fatalities, a new Public Citizen report shows.

The American Industrial Hygiene Association® has written a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) offering to help the GAO in its investigations of OSHA enforcement programs using the same criteria the agency has used to scrutinize state OSHA plans (requested by House Republicans), and an examination of OSHA’s effectiveness in issuing health and safety standards (requested by House Democrats).

The European Union’s chemical management law known as REACH requires chemical manufacturers and importers to assess risks and describe conditions under which their chemical substances can be safely used. 

Distressing. Unacceptable. Mired in mediocrity. I’m paraphrasing, but that’s the essence of the American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) reaction last month to news from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that a total of 4,547 workers died on the job in 2010 compared with 4,551 from 2009. 

Just where will this new Super Committee of Congressional Budget-Cutters come up with more than a trillion bucks in federal spending savings, as mandated by that Grand Bargain reached by Congress this summer to raise the federal government debt ceiling?

OK, we all know a lousy economy and government regulations mix like oil and water.

I just saw a news article that reported the Obama administration's budget director has issued instructions to each of the federal agencies to prepare for 5-10 percent budget reductions.

 

In January of this year, President Obama announced that the federal regulatory system “must measure, and seek to improve, the actual results of regulatory requirements.”

The White House announced August 23 final regulatory reform plans for federal agencies and departments, including OSHA and EPA, that the administration said includes “hundreds of initiatives that will reduce costs, simplify the system, and eliminate redundancy and inconsistency,” in a press statement.