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The American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition (AIHce) 2013 concluded its six-day event with the induction of a new American Industrial Hygiene Association® (AIHA) leader. Barbara J. Dawson, CIH, CSP, was inducted as president of the international professional society, which represents 10,000 occupational and environmental health and safety professionals.

An arc flash is distinctly different from the arc blast. It is part of an arc fault, a type of electrical explosion that results from a low-impedance connection to ground or another voltage phase in an electrical system.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) says a turf war is hindering its investigation into the April 17 West, Texas fertilizer plant blast. In a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Cal.), CSB chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso accused the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) of destroying and  withholding evidence and refusing to permit CSB investigators access to the site.

Barbara J. Dawson, CIH, CSP, began her year-long term as president of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) at the group’s just-concluded AIHce 2013. Dawson will head up the international society, which represents 10,000 occupational and environmental health and safety professionals, until AIHce 2013, which will take place in San Antonio, Texas.

A flashlight with a programmable switch, a long-lasting cartridge filter and a blade dispenser that helps keeps workers’ hands safe are this week’s top products as featured on www.ISHN.com:

Didn’t make it to AIHce 2013? No worries. The week’s round-up of top EHS-related news includes plenty of coverage of the convention, along with accident updates, compliance tales and a startling finding about victims of the Upper Big Branch mine disaster.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is focusing on maintenance work done on the track in its ongoing investigation into the May 17 derailment and collision of two Metro-North trains near Bridgeport, Conn. The accident along a busy New York–New Haven corridor injured more than 70 people, at least five of them critically.

The large penalties levied against an Albany, NY manufacturer “reflect the breadth and severity” of the hazardous conditions found at its plant, according to OSHA’s Kimberly Castillon. "The fact that a catastrophic incident has not occurred does not absolve this employer of its responsibility to reduce and prevent risk and eliminate hazards that could injure or kill its workers."

Witnesses say the collapse of a bridge in Washington state last night occurred after an oversized truck struck the metal arches that cover traffic crossing the bridge. There were no fatalities or serious injuries, although three people were rescued after their vehicles plunged into the Skagit River. They were taken to area hospitals.

OSHA has cited Accadia Site Contracting Inc. for alleged willful and serious excavation safety violations found at a water main site at Lewiston Road and McKinley Avenue in Niagara Falls. The Depew-based contractor faces a total of $84,000 in proposed fines after an inspection by OSHA's Buffalo Area Office.