In a letter to U.S. Senator Johnny H. Isakson (R-GA), a leader in occupational safety and health issues, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) urged support for provisions in OSHA reform legislation that would provide federal-level safety and health protections for the more than eight million state and municipal workers now without coverage, noting that the only practical solution is a federal solution, according to an ASSE press release.
Westar Energy has agreed to spend approximately $500 million to significantly reduce harmful air pollution from a Kansas power plant and pay a $3 million civil penalty, under a settlement to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act, EPA and the U.S. Justice Department announced yesterday. As part of the settlement, Westar will also spend $6 million on environmental mitigation projects.
The U.S. Department of Labor yesterday made six high-value datasets publicly available — twice the number designated as the first target in the Obama Administration’s Open Government Initiative. The datasets released today include information from the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which will make it possible for anyone in the public to better track health and safety conditions in the American workplace. Earlier this month — two weeks ahead of schedule — the Labor Department launched its own transparency Web page www.dol.gove/open. The page tracks the department’s efforts to comply with the administration’s Open Government Directive.
EPA yesterday announced a new national air quality standard for nitrogen dioxide (NO2). This new one-hour standard will protect millions of Americans from peak short-term exposures, which primarily occur near major roads, according to EPA. Short-term exposures to NO2 have been linked to impaired lung function and increased respiratory infections, especially in people with asthma.
EPA’s top 10 Green Power Partners increased their voluntary green power commitments by more than 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2009, while 300 new organizations joined the Green Power Partnership, according to the agency. Overall, the 1,200 partners are buying nearly 18 billion kWh of green power annually, equivalent to the annual carbon dioxide emissions from electricity use of more than 1.6 million average American homes.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) today voted to initiate an investigation of recent accidents at the DuPont chemical complex in Belle, West Virginia, following a release of highly toxic phosgene on Saturday that fatally injured a veteran operator, according to a CSB press release.
A truck fire that broke out Jan. 21 at Doe Run Co.’s Viburnum #29 lead-zinc mine in Bunker, Mo., trapped three miners when their escape route became blocked by the 30-ton haulage vehicle, according to a press release from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
Most characteristics of the “Type A” personality are linked to increased work stress. But there's one important exception, according to a study in the January Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM), as noted in a recent ACOEM press release.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that a 2008 rail accident in Chatsworth, California, involving a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train, was caused by the Metrolink engineer’s prohibited use of a wireless device while he was operating the train, according to a recent NTSB press release. The engineer failed to respond appropriately to a red signal at Control Point Topanga because he was engaged in text messaging at the time, the NTSB said.
OSHA has cited CITGO Refining and Chemicals LP in Corpus Christi for workplace safety violations resulting from a catastrophic release of hydrocarbon and hydrofluoric acid from the alkylation unit at this facility. Proposed penalties total $236,500.
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