Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
As today’s workplace becomes more complex, regulation of that workplace increases. In this section, you’ll find the practical advice you need to understand exactly what OSHA, other federal agencies, and their state counterparts, require of you, and to comply in the ways that best satisfy both your and their needs. Look also for important court decisions, advice on how to handle enforcement actions, and news of upcoming changes in workplace health and safety law.
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Cambria, Wisconsin, corn milling company Didion Milling Inc. agreed to pay $1.8 million in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties related to a May 31, 2017, dust explosion that killed five workers and injured more than a dozen others, OSHA announced December 14. In a related criminal case, company Vice President of Operations Derrick […]
Ricardo Gallardo, a Palatine, Illinois, roofer, has been cited for the fifth and sixth time by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for fall protection violations, the agency announced December 12. Twice within a month, federal workplace safety inspectors found that Gallardo, doing business as R&R Construction Services Inc., didn’t provide roofing employees with […]
The EPA recently announced it’s planning to propose new rules to improve the management and recycling of end-of-life solar panels and lithium batteries. Plans for the proposed regulations include modifying the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Universal Waste Rule to add hazardous waste solar panels and to establish a new, distinct category of universal […]
On December 11, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it’s replacing the traditional hard hats its employees use with modern safety helmets to better protect them when they’re at inspection sites. Traditional hard hats, dating from the 1960s, protect the top of a worker’s head but offer minimal side impact protection and lack […]
A little-known rule under the Clean Air Act (CAA) known as the “exceptional events rule” allows local regulators to exclude certain high-pollution days from their National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) data reporting. “Exceptional Events are unusual or naturally occurring events that can affect air quality but are not reasonably controllable using techniques that tribal, […]
Recent data released by the EPA shows drinking water systems serving 46 million people have per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in concentrations at or above the Agency’s Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) minimum reporting level (MRL) and therefore above the agency’s Health Advisory (HA) levels. “Of about 3,200 systems included so far, 854 measured at […]
On December 6, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released its final report on the deadly explosions and fires at the Didion Milling, Inc., dry corn milling facility in Cambria, Wisconsin. The May 2017 explosion fatally injured five employees and seriously injured another 14. The incident destroyed the facility, resulting in over […]
Minnesota contractor Wagner Construction Inc. faces $1.8 million in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines for a serious violation and 16 repeat violations involving trenching and excavation hazards, the agency announced December 5. Despite signing a 2021 settlement agreement with the agency that included a promise to protect its employees from trenching and excavation hazards, […]
A Georgia chemical manufacturer and Massachusetts concrete contractor find themselves facing Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines following worker fatalities, the agency announced December 1. After a 52-year-old leach tank operator suffered fatal chemical and thermal burns over most of his body, OSHA cited Chemical Products Corp. of Cartersville, Georgia, with five serious violations, […]
Blue Ash, Ohio-based meat processor Sugar Creek Packing Co. faces $277,904 in proposed Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines after a worker fell into corrosive chemicals and suffered injuries that included severe leg burns and the degloving of their foot (the loss of skin and soft tissue), the agency announced November 29. Agency inspectors […]