A new EPA study shows concentrations of toxic chemicals in fish tissue from lakes and reservoirs in nearly all 50 U.S. states, according to an agency press release. For the first time, EPA is able to estimate the percentage of lakes and reservoirs nationwide that have fish containing potentially harmful levels of chemicals such as mercury and PCBs, according to the agency.
OSHA has cited Loren Cook Co. of Springfield, Mo., with seven alleged willful and three alleged serious violations after a worker was killed by an ejected machine part on May 13.
OSHA announced in a press release that the agency has issued commonsense fact sheets that employers and workers can use to promote safety during the current H1N1 influenza outbreak.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) recently kicked off its 2009 Winter Alert campaign to warn miners and mine operators of the dangers colder weather can bring to the mining environment, according to an MSHA press release. Statistics show that most coal mine explosions throughout history have occurred during the period between October and March. This year's slogan, "Beat Winter Hazards, Win with Winter Alert" appears on posters and hardhat stickers with a race car theme.
Many members of the American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) have developed and implemented contingency and communications plans for their businesses in an effort to minimize the effects of H1N1 flu on workers as well as providing information for workers’ families and communities. In a recent press statement, ASSE urges all businesses to do the same.
Investigators from the California Labor Commissioner’s Office issued over $900,000 in fines to businesses in the car wash industry in a two-day statewide enforcement sweep, according to a press release from the California Department of Industrial Relations. The penalties included a total of $600,900 issued to 76 unlicensed carwash businesses that were cited for not having a registration.
New Place Carpentry, a New Haven, Conn., contractor with a long history of fall protection violations, according to OSHA, faces a total of $308,500 in new fines from the agency for willful and repeat fall hazards following the agency's inspections at worksites in Plymouth and Methuen, Mass.
Labels prepared under the European Union’s regulation for classification, labeling and packaging of substances and mixtures (EC/1272/2008), which adopted criteria based on the UN's Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), are considered to comply with OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) requirements if the EU GHS labels comply with all of the provisions of the HCS, according to a news post on ORC Worldwide’s web site, which picked up an OSHA letter of interpretation posted on the agency’s Web site Nov. 2.
Senator Al Franken (D-MN), on October 15, 2009, introduced legislation entitled the “Nurse Protection Act” (S. 1788), which would require OSHA to issue a standard mandating health care workers to use mechanical lift equipment when moving patients, according to a news post on ORC Worldwide’s web site. ORC Worldwide is an international EHS consultancy based in Washington, DC.
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