Hospital rooms can harbor germs that can cause serious infections, especially for elderly patients, those with weakened immune systems, and those who have undergone surgery or who have catheters or tubes inserted in the body.
Imagine a polka-dotted, postage stamp-sized sensor that can sniff out some known poisonous gases and toxins and show the results simply by changing colors.
The agency has published proposals to identify the group as Substances of Very High Concern because of their carcinogenic, mutagenic, and/or reprotoxic properties and potentially serious effects on human health, or for persistent, bioaccumulative environmental effects. Comments to ECHA are due by Oct. 15.
The American Industrial Hygiene Association® (AIHA) recently announced the results of the 2009 election for the Academy of Industrial Hygiene Council.
The settlement is related to a release at the company’s ammonia and nitric acid manufacturing facility in Deer Island, Ore., on Sept. 29, 2008. EPA alleges that the company failed to notify the appropriate emergency response entities until approximately 11 hours after the release occurred.
Exposure to high levels of xylene and ethylbenzene can cause a variety of human health effects, including harm to the nervous system, fatigue, general weakness, memory loss, and visual problems.
In addition to issuing willful, repeat, and serious citations to the company, OSHA also issued it a notice of failure-to-abate citation relating to its failure to implement a respiratory program, institute a medical surveillance program for workers overexposed to chromium VI, and develop and implement a hazard communication program for workers exposed to caustics and corrosives.
Work continues on new approval criteria for various respiratory categories, and the branch chief at NPPTL asks whether users have additional needs that NIOSH could address.
The standard applies to the evaluation of vibration on rotodynamic pump applications, specifically when the vibration measurements are made on non-rotating parts (bearing housing vibration).
"OSHA has inspected this company on five occasions going back to 1997, resulting in numerous violations, including many we found again on this most recent inspection," said OSHA Area Director Kathy Webb, North Aurora, Ill.
With $1.6 billion scheduled to be invested in nano-related research during 2010, assessing the multidisciplinary nature of the field could be important to policy-makers, research managers, technology-transfer officers, and others responsible for managing the investment and creating a supportive environment for it.
“Even in these difficult economic times, cities must appropriately allocate resources to protect all employees from potential on-the-job dangers,” the group said in a statement issued to its members nationwide.
The agency's inspection found that the facility, which uses large amounts of anhydrous ammonia in its refrigeration system, had not conducted a proper evaluation of hazards and that standard operating procedures were either incomplete or had not been developed for all system activities, among other things.
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Howard's selection today. OSH professional societies had pushed for him to be returned to NIOSH's top post.
The next decade of NIOSH's research for the fastest-growing, most diverse sector of the U.S. economy should tackle big, persistent hazards: lifting, chemicals, diseases, stress, and violence in facilities and nonhospital settings, including home care.
"The sizable fines proposed here reflect the gravity of this employer's ongoing failure to correct clear and recognized hazards that could result in burns, crushing injuries, or death for its employees," said Arthur Dube, OSHA's area director in Buffalo, N.Y.
Better packaging standards would provide protection from mercury vapor emissions from this source.
"We believe that this agreement represents a fair and just resolution of this matter and, hopefully, will serve as a warning to all businesses that generate wastewater that they must abide by all requirements of their discharge permits," said U.S. Attorney Nora R. Dannehy.
According to DOJ, the company's six plants in the state are illegally emitting massive amounts of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter.
A chemical emitted from an individual site and the effect of that release — on not only the emitting site, but also on neighboring sites and nearby communities — are of concern to plant personnel, community leaders, and regulators.