“Stronger enforcement tools, tougher penalties and broader workers’ rights are at the center of soon-to-be introduced workplace safety legislation,” blogs the AFL-CIO.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced a total of $27 million in National Emergency Grant awards to four key states to assist workers along the Gulf Coast who have been displaced as a result of the ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to a DOL press release. The states are Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.
The American Bird Conservancy (ABC) hailed EPA’s decision to end all U.S. uses of the insecticide endosulfan (trade name: Thiodan prior to 2002 and later called Thionex) which has been found to pose reproductive and neurological risks to birds, other wildlife and humans, according to a press release issued by ABC.
EPA is finalizing requirements under its national mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting program for underground coal mines, industrial wastewater treatment systems, industrial waste landfills and magnesium production facilities, according to an agency press release.
A new U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) study indicates that in 2009 there were two deaths and nearly 9,000 emergency room visits for injuries resulting from fireworks related incidents. Most fireworks injuries occurred to consumers younger than 20 and resulted in the loss of a limb in many cases.
Increased OSHA fines and criminal penalties are tacked on to the end of 100 pages of draft legislation primarily concerned with reforming the Mine Safety and Health Act, now being finalized by Democrats in Congress.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board last night approved 18 urgent safety recommendations — directed to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and others — resulting from extensive CSB investigations into the February 7, 2010, explosion at the Kleen Energy power plant in Middletown that caused six deaths and multiple injuries, and the June 9, 2009, explosion at the ConAgra Foods Slim Jim plant in Garner, North Carolina, that killed four workers and injured 67.
Last week a federal judge halted the Obama administration’s six-month moratorium on Gulf oil drilling, stating the “the administration acted arbitrarily and capriciously in issuing the moratorium.” The administration has promised to issue a new moratorium and to appeal the judge’s decision.
OSHA has cited the U.S. Postal Service for alleged willful and repeat violations of safety standards following an inspection at the Southern Maine Processing and Distribution Center in Scarborough, Maine, according to an agency press release. The Postal Service faces a total of $430,000 in fines, chiefly for exposing workers to electrical hazards.
Can you locate and nurture your “safety talent”? Individuals in your workforce who are safety champions, naturally inclined to take on extra-duty safety responsibilities.
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