The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum (NQF) are accepting applications for the 2009 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards, which recognize individuals and health care organizations that are making significant contributions in improving the safety and quality of patient care, according to a press release.
More than 170 public health organizations issued a letter today to Congressional Conferees urging them to maintain the House-passed level of funding for prevention and wellness programs in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, according to a press release from Trust for America’s Health (TFAH). The final U.S. Senate version of the bill removed all funding for these programs.
Two petroleum refiners have agreed in separate settlements to spend a total of more than $141 million in new air pollution controls at three refineries in Kansas and Wyoming, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Justice Department announced in a press statement yesterday. The settlements are expected to reduce harmful emissions by 7,000 tons per year.
To allow time for further review, a Jan. 15 New Source Review final rule specifically regarding the air permitting program’s “aggregation” policy will not take effect before May 18, 2009, according to an EPA press release.
The International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA), a trade association of 80 safety and PPE manufactures, has announced the availability of draft revisions to its voluntary consensus standards for workplace first aid kits and air-purifying respiratory protective smoke escape devices.
OSHA is proposing $108,000 in penalties against Tippins Contracting Co. for seven alleged safety violations that exposed its employees to possible injury or death at two construction sites, according to an agency press release.
The Department of Labor announced last week that all former Connecticut Aircraft Nuclear Engine Laboratory (CANEL) workers have now been added to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act’s (EEOICPA) Special Exposure Cohort (SEC).
Wondering who’s running OSHA these days? A career government attorney. Donald G. Shalhoub is the current deputy assistant secretary, responsible for oversight of the work of the OSHA’s ten regional offices across the country and the Directorates of Enforcement, Construction and Cooperative and State Programs in the national office.
The International Association of Fire Chiefs’ board of directors has issued a position statement reaffirming the association’s continued opposition to consolidating fire and emergency service and law enforcement agencies and the creation of public safety officers, according to a IAFC press release. The measure comes in response to a growing trend of some consultants to push consolidation as a remedy for local government officials faced with shrinking local budgets.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will reconsider its decision denying California permission to set standards controlling greenhouse gases from motor vehicles that agency announced in a recent press release.
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