Daily News

OSHA has produced new guidelines in response to Ebola saying workers cleaning or decontaminating for Ebola must use at a “minimum” NIOSH-approved, fit-tested N95 respirators in situations where there could be exposure to the deadly virus through a bio-aerosol, such as could occur from spraying liquids or air during cleaning. The guidelines are aimed at non-health care and non-laboratory sites and outline how to prevent Ebola's spread while cleaning and disinfecting areas where Ebola may be present.

OSHA is “determined” to finalize new regulations before the end of the Obama administration that lower exposure limits and put practices in place to control crystalline silica dust, agency chief David Michaels said Monday. He told industrial hygienists that OSHA is working diligently to read through the rulemaking record so it can move toward issuing a final rule before the president leaves office, but didn't offer a more specific timeframe.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued sweeping new guidelines for health care workers to prevent the spread of Ebola that recommend standard use of N95 or air-purifying respirators near Ebola, as opposed to earlier guidance suggesting such high-end respirators are only needed during aerosol-generating procedures. The guidance hones in on three key issues regarding use of personal protective equipment (PPE): training; ensuring no skin is exposed; and supervision of employees.

Industrial health experts are urgently calling on OSHA, and also taking their case directly to the White House, to move forward as rapidly as possible on a rulemaking to tackle infectious diseases in health care settings -- pressure that follows close on the heels of at least two U.S. health workers testing positive for the Ebola virus.

The National Nurses Union said the president's decision to tap a White House Ebola czar falls short unless the administration gives the czar power to cut off Medicare and Medicaid funds at hospitals that don't meet the highest uniform, national workplace safety standards. The union's press comes as worker health and safety advocates urge OSHA to step up efforts to issue a delayed infectious diseases rule that would protect health care and other workers.

The Environmental Protection Agency is receiving conflicting comments on its proposed revisions to its worker protection standards (WPS) for agricultural pesticides, with House Democrats and some state health officials urging stronger protections while the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and state agriculture departments are calling on EPA to overhaul the rule.

Federal chemical safety officials cite the high closure rate of their recommendations to improve industrial site safety as demonstrating the value of the investigative activities, as the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) comes under increased scrutiny on Capitol Hill over rampant allegations of dysfunction and whistleblower reprisal.

CSB on Wednesday (Oct. 8) released a video “safety message” discussing the role of CSB recommendations and the board's followup in ensuring that accident investigations, according to the agency, “have a lasting impact” on workplace safety.

OSHA officials are asking stakeholders to consider whether major changes should be made to the agency's rulemaking procedures in order to possibly expedite changes to workplace chemical exposure limits – a concept detailed in a recently issued request for information (RFI) on how the agency should approach updates to permissible exposure limits (PELs).

Worldwide concern over outbreaks of Ebola disease has hit home in the U.S. health care sector as a nurse in Dallas who cared for a now-deceased patient with the virus has contracted the disease, despite use of full personal protective equipment (PPE), putting new pressure on employers to institute comprehensive infection control programs that include site-specific training of employees. The nurse's diagnosis represents the first known transmission of the disease within the United States and the first known U.S. health care worker to contract Ebola while treating a patient domestically.

A Democratic lawmaker is calling on federal toxicology experts to study the possibility of human health risks from exposure to artificial field turf containing particles from recycled rubber tires, saying the tires often contain numerous chemicals considered carcinogens, including benzene, arsenic and phthalates, among others. A Capitol Hill source says the concern could extend to workers manufacturing and installing the turf, depending on the results of any such study.

OSHA is floating a wide range of new options for tackling what many health experts consider long-outdated permissible exposure limits (PELs) for workplace hazardous chemicals, saying the legal hurdles involved in regulatory updates to existing levels call for potential changes in approach that include using other data sources and approaches such as control banding and task-based controls to tamp down on worker risk.

The White House budget office has given OSHA the go-ahead to publish a formal request for stakeholder input on ways to update hazardous chemical workplace permissible exposure limits (PELs), most of which have not been changed in decades despite emergence of more modern scientific data. OSHA chief David Michaels plans to hold a press call Thursday on the subject, a signal that the request will come out in the Federal Register, which is expected as early as Friday.

Nurses and their supporters across the United States are voicing a variety of concerns about the U.S. health care sector's readiness to provide them with adequate health protections as cases of Ebola infection begin sprouting up outside the disease-ravaged region of West Africa, including a patient in Dallas and most recently a nurse in Spain -- with ensuring adequate protective gear a key priority of advocates.

OSHA reportedly is on the cusp of sending out, as soon as late this month or sometime in November, the necessary materials to start a small business review process on the agency's proposed rulemaking to help prevent workplace exposures to infectious diseases, a source closely following the issue tells Inside OSHA Online.

Worker safety advocates in New York have issued a new report sharply critical of working conditions for contract employees within the city's two major airports, ranging from potential bloodborne pathogen exposure to excessive noise levels, and say workers' health concerns about bodily fluid exposures are heightened now that suspected cases of Ebola disease have apparently gone through the U.S. aviation system.

NIOSH officials express deep concern that a large contingent of U.S. health care workers who deal with cancer patients face highly risky exposures to hazardous chemicals, raising red flags in a new study coming out in a major occupational health journal about issues ranging from inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE) to lack of worker training despite widely available guidance.

Federal experts are exploring the potential toxicity of chemicals involved in a disastrous spill from an industrial storage tank into West Virginia's Elk River early this year that devastated the region's water supply and left thousands of residents for lengthy periods without clean drinking water -- an event closely watched by OSHA observers.

Occupational safety and health activists are vocally concerned about a bevy of Republican-led bills that would make the regulatory process much more difficult for agencies such as OSHA to navigate -- especially complicated rules like crystalline silica that are currently in the midst of the rulemaking process. Prospects are dim that any of the GOP bills will clear Congress this year, especially with a Democratic Senate, but the advocates are deeply worried that the legislation could advance in the event the GOP takes control of the chamber this fall.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is pressing the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to work with OSHA to clarify safety regulations involving railroad and rail roadway safety, saying the agencies need to establish “clear guidelines” for use by railroads and railroad workers detailing when and where OSHA standards are to be applied.

Federal chemical safety officials are citing so-called “hot work” hazards near storage tanks containing organic or biological materials as a central concern in preventing industrial fires and explosions, saying it is both crucial and cost-efficient for such operations to monitor combustible gas levels and head off dangers associated with them. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) also cites data gathered by OSHA after an explosion this summer.