Industrial Hygiene


Workshop to Investigate Impacts of Indoor Air Contaminants, Lead Paint

The half-day event will focus specifically on damage to building contents that can result from airborne contaminants and the ramifications to contractors of EPA’s Renovation, Repair, and Painting rule.

Manufacturing Firm Fined $118,750 for Hexavalent Chromium, Other Hazards

The GISHD inspection identified numerous violations of the following MIOSHA standards: hexavalent chromium, dipping and coating operations, asbestos, formaldehyde, and noise. The most serious violations involved employee overexposures to highly hazardous air contaminants.

DOL Doles $27M to Oil Spill States

The funds are being granted to workforce agencies in the four Gulf Coast states experiencing economic hardship as a result of wage decline and job loss in the shrimping, fishing, hospitality, and tourism industries.

EPA Takes Wind Out of Texas' Air Permit Program, Steams Governor

The agency determined the state's 16-year-old plan allows companies to avoid certain federal clean air requirements by lumping emissions from multiple units under a single "cap" rather than setting specific emission limits for individual pollution sources at their plants.

Enzi Calls for NIOSH Accounting of 9/11 Payments

The ranking member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee said he wants to know how $475 million given to medical providers was spent.

The Hazmat Suicides

When you see a person down in a car, not breathing, your first instinct is to get him or her out of there. That instinct can prove deadly if followed, especially by someone who doesn't know how to protect himself.

Strategic Value for the Health & Safety Industry

The IT/MIS model has more to do with configuration management and much less with the job at hand, with little thought given to people in the field.

This photo from the Kleen Energy site is on the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board page about its investigation of the explosion.

CSB Wants OSHA, NFPA to Act on Gas Purging

A 4-1 vote Monday night at a public meeting of the board in Portland, Conn., adopted 18 urgent recommendations, including prohibiting the practices that resulted in the explosion at Kleen Energy's plant.



New BOHS Website Debuts

The biggest society of occupational hygienists in Europe now offers a news scroller and more resources online.

Reviewers Needed for Updated Submersible Pump Tests Standard

The revision currently on the drafting board represents a major departure from all previous pump test standards, according to the Hydraulic Institute, because it requires that the submersible pump be guaranteed and tested as a complete unit.

Beef Plant Faces Fines for Repeat Amputation, Serious Ammonia Release Hazards

An inspection found that machine guarding was inadequate for dumpers or packing machines and that, in general, mechanical integrity throughout the plant’s refrigeration system was not sufficient to prevent equipment malfunctions.

Pharmaceutical Manufacturer Cited for Methylene Chloride Exposure in NY

"Employees exposed to methylene chloride are at increased risk of developing cancer, adverse effects on the heart, central nervous system, and liver, and skin or eye irritation,” said OSHA’s Arthur Dube. “Effective safeguards are vital to the health and well-being of the workers."

Financial Marketplace Printer Faces LOTO, Combustible Dust Charges

Following a safety and health complaint, an investigation uncovered 13 serious and repeat violations that OSHA said "put workers at risk for potential injury or possible death."

Alfalfa Processor Cited for Grain Engulfment Hazards, Fugitive Dust

"This employer had no business conducting work inside the grain bins without taking protective measures to ensure that its employees were working in a safe environment," said OSHA Regional Administrator Charles Adkins.

DuPont Pays $59,000 Penalty for Mercury Discharges at Polymer Plant

“NPDES permits are an integral part of the nation’s system to protect rivers and lakes from pollution, and mercury is a dangerous pollutant, especially for children and pregnant women,” said Stan Meiburg, EPA Region 4 acting regional administrator.

This ASSE photo shows OSHA chief David Michaels delivering the Plenary Session on June 14

OSHA Chief Calls for Criminal Penalties

“It’s an unfortunate fact that monetary penalties just aren’t enough,” said OSHA chief David Michaels, Ph.D., MPH. “We believe that nothing focuses the mind like the threat of doing time in prison, which is why we need criminal penalties for employers who are determined to gamble with their workers’ lives and consider it merely a cost of doing business when a worker dies on the job.”

Father, Sons Sentenced to Prison for Asbestos-Related Crimes in NY

According to DOJ, on some of their asbestos projects, the hazardous material was removed in violation of EPA and OSHA regulations and then illegally dumped on unwitting landowners’ properties in Poland, N.Y.

Crew Member's Note Leads to Ship Management Firm's Fine for Oily Waste

"Pollution prevention acts were put in place to protect our natural resources," said George E. B. Holding, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. "It is disheartening when we see companies and individuals knowingly and purposely dumping oil-contaminated waste into those resources."

Code Council, Plumbing Society Sign Landmark MOU

"This partnership speaks volumes about the direction the plumbing industry seeks to go and how each of our memberships holds the other's expertise in high regard," said Jay Peters, ICC PMG Group's executive director.

OSHA Aims to Train Federal Workers to Private Sector's Safety Standards

The series of half-day seminars will discuss ergonomics, pandemic influenza, indoor air quality, fire protection, and other potential workplace hazards.

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