From nanotechnology exposure guidelines to unusually large fines for a Sinclair Oil refinery in Wyoming to electrical safety, here are the week's top EHS-related news stories as featured on ISHN.com:
Wyoming’s most-fined refinery for safety violations is facing another round of penalties, this time stemming from a formal complaint and three August incidents at the facility, according to a report in the Casper Star-Tribune. The Wyoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed a $259,950 fine against the Sinclair Oil-owned Sinclair Wyoming Refinery. The fine would be the largest levied against a refinery in Wyoming in the past five years.
Just months prior to two flash fires at the Sinclair oil refinery (one on May 8 and another on May 25) injuring a total of six workers (at least three of them, regrettably, burned “severely”) Wyoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors had witnessed several other fires and fire hazards while performing a “process safety management audit,” according to the agency.
The EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice have announced a settlement with two subsidiaries of Sinclair Oil Corporation to resolve alleged violations of air pollution limits established in a 2008 consent decree at refineries in Casper and Sinclair, Wyo.
U.S. businesses are starting smaller and staying smaller than in the past. Raymond Sinclair, Ph.D. -- Coordinator of the NIOSH Small Business Assistance and Outreach Program – wants to know what implications that has for worker safety.