In response to the recent announcement of the impending change to the Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) for hearing protection devices, the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) has provided its recommendations to EPA. Based on expert member input and review, NHCA’s recommendations are intended to improve the utility of hearing protection devices for occupational hearing conservation programs and for personal use.
OSHA and the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has signed an alliance with the Consulate General of Mexico in New York as part of an effort to promote the labor and human rights of Mexican and other Hispanic workers. The New York State Department of Labor (NYS DOL) and the Catholic Migration Office (CMO) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn are also part of the alliance.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released the Fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environment Chemicals. The report is a 527-page document that summarizes blood and urine levels for 212 chemicals, including levels for 75 chemicals which have never before been measured in a representative sample of the U.S. population.
A report of conference presentations and discussions among participants from the National Academies of Science, universities and research institutions, and representatives of professional associations, industry and labor, recommends attention to workplace environments to maintain “work ability” as workers age, along with legislative fixes and research to fill in knowledge gaps for keeping workers healthy and productive.
An American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) representative testified yesterday during an OSHA hearing on a proposed combustible dust standard that ASSE can support a new standard, but only one that is no less effective than the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) voluntary consensus standards addressing combustible dust.
In order to communicate messages to workers in a complex business environment, a majority of companies plan to increase their use of social media in the coming year, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm.
As the United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen heads into its final week, nearly half of Americans — 49% — say they are only slightly or not at all concerned about climate change, while 35% are somewhat or highly concerned, a new Zogby Interactive survey shows.
American Industrial Hygiene Association Government Affairs Director Aaron Trippler reported yesterday that it looked as though the Senate was nearing approval of the 2010 omnibus appropriations bill, possibly during the Sunday session. Trippler says, “While they are still debating health care, they have removed the final obstacle to approving the omnibus appropriations bill so I expect the vote to take place with no further debate. This bill combines all remaining appropriations bills yet to be passed by Congress.”
EPA has released its annual national analysis of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), and the analysis of the 2008 data, the most recent data set available, shows that 3.86 billion pounds of toxic chemicals were released into the environment, a 6 percent decrease from 2007.
As a result of the largest environmental bankruptcy in U.S. history, $1.79 billion has been paid to fund environmental cleanup and restoration under a bankruptcy reorganization of American Smelting and Refining Company LLC (ASARCO), the Justice Department, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture announced last week.
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