Facility Safety

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While the effects of the recent 16-day government shutdown are still being determined on a broad scale, a second OSH-related federal agency is showing signs of a significant lessening of activity during that time.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) is taking issue with an online tool developed by OSHA to help employers assess the relative safety of potential alternatives for hazardous chemicals. While the ACC said it welcomed OSHA’s recent launch of a website making it easier to access up-to-date information on Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) for the workplace, it feels more input is needed.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration’s inspectors issued 213 citations, 23 orders and one safeguard during special impact inspections conducted at nine coal mines and five metal/nonmetal mines last month.

An oil company’s adoption of process safety management (PSM) is the subject of an article in the November issue of Professional Safety, the American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) journal.

OSHA has cited EJ USA Inc., a metal hatch manufacturer, for 13 violations of workplace safety standards at its Cicero, NY plant. Proposed fines total $56,000.

Fire prevention week may be past, but it’s not too late to reduce the risk of residential fires, according to the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), who teamed up to bring information resources to the public.

The BBC is reporting that an explosion at a natural gas storage plant in Mexico Tuesday night has killed at least five people – all employees at the facility.