Environmental Health and Safety

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After receiving input from stakeholders including community groups, industry and the states, the EPA is proposing to update the toxic air pollution standards for petroleum refineries to protect neighborhoods located near refineries. The agency describes the change as a “common-sense” proposal that includes new monitoring requirements.

As of December 1, 2014, manufacturers will no longer be allowed to ship products using old labels. Instead, they must be in compliance with the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) regulations incorporated into the Hazard Communications standard published by OSHA in 2012. Among the changes: new GHS labels.

The American Journal of Industrial Medicine recently reported online a “game changing” Harvard-based report by Dr. Shane Journeay and Dr. Rose Goldman in the field of nanotechnology - toxicology. The study is the first reported or published case in North America of a worker handling nanoparticles in a U.S. manufacturing facility and developing serious health effects.

It’s legal in emerging nations but banned in the developed world (although you can still find it in many buildings). An international coalition called for it to be banned globally 25 years ago, but as an industry, it continues to thrive.

The EPA is extending the comment period for the proposed revisions to the agricultural Worker Protection Standard for an additional 60 days, until August 18, 2014, in response to requests from growers, industry, farmworker advocates and states for additional time to provide input.

Despite significant advancements in workplace health and safety over the past four decades, 150 people are killed on the job or die from job-related illnesses and diseases every day in the U.S, reports the 2014 edition of the AFL-CIO’s annual Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect.

In terms of climate, geography, accents and politics, New York and Louisiana are very dissimilar, but they do have this in common: the amount of narcotics used by an average injured worker in each state is about double the amount of other states.

The prevalence of infectious diseases, such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV, SARS and avian flu, have raised the concern of hospital personnel over the possibility of acquiring such infections. Healthcare workers (HCWs) in or outside hospitals who have contact with patients, body fluids, or specimens may easily acquire infections from or transmit infections to patients, other personnel, or loved ones.

Headaches in astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are attributed to elevated levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), reports a study in the May Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

Amid speculation that OSHA is on the verge of issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to modernize the beryllium standard, worker safety advocates are hoping that it provides stronger protections for construction workers.