While investigators in West, Texas, sift through the rubble of a fertilizer plant that exploded last week, killing 15 people, safety advocates are calling for stricter government oversight of potentially hazardous sites like that one. The operator of the plant, West Fertilizer Co., did file an emergency response plan update in 2011 with the EPA listing anhydrous ammonia on site, but did not indicate there was a risk of fire or explosion at the plant.
Measure has tougher penalties for workplace hazards
April 24, 2013
The reintroduction of a bill that would strengthen the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) is being hailed as a necessary step for protecting U.S. workers by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH).
Group: Texas has disregard for workers’ well-being
April 23, 2013
An occupational safety organization says last week’s deadly fertilizer plant explosion in Texas is the result of that state’s anti-regulatory environment. The explosion at the West Fertilizer Company killed 14 people and injured many more.
Rules, rulemaking and other standards activity planned
April 23, 2013
With Agency requested funding in FY 2014, OSHA projects that it will issue four Final Rules (Infectious Disease, Recordkeeping Modernization, Beryllium, and Vertical tandem Lifts), seven Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (Standards Improvement Project Phase IV, Infectious Disease, Injury and Illness Prevention Programs, Combustible Dust, Backover Protection, and 2 consensus standard update actions), and initiate SBREFA reviews for five rules (Combustible Dust, Backover Protection, one chemical standard, and two other new initiatives).
Lack of resources, high staff turnover affect performance
April 22, 2013
In a report released Friday (pdf), the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that some of the state-run occupational safety and health programs have failed to meet minimum workplace safety inspection goals because of state budget cuts, reduced staffing, and policies that limit their ability to retain safety and health inspectors.
Changes include felony charges for certain violations
April 22, 2013
The Protecting America's Workers Act currently pending in Congress would strengthen and modernize the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 by giving OSHA additional tools to ensure that employers promptly correct hazardous working conditions, protect workers from retaliation when they blow the whistle on unsafe working conditions, and hold employers accountable for violations that cause death or serious injury to workers.
The radiation guides allow cleanup many times more lax than anything EPA has ever before accepted.
April 17, 2013
The White House has given final approval for dramatically raising permissible radioactive levels in drinking water and soil following “radiological incidents,” such as nuclear power-plant accidents and dirty bombs.
Missouri levee project threatens the nomination process
April 11, 2013
President Obama’s pick for EPA administrator goes on the hot seat today. Gina McCarthy, the Environmental Protection Agency's top air quality official since 2009, will appear before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee as part of a nomination process that is already embroiled in a political spat.
Reactions to the budget proposed yesterday by President Obama have been swift and sharp, but they will probably prove to be sound and fury, signifying nothing, if Aaron Trippler’s predictions are accurate.