EPA chemicals chief Michal Freedhoff says the agency could begin to finalize new versions of at least seven of the 10 chemical evaluations issued by the Trump administration starting in spring 2022, while three of the documents have been deemed “likely sufficient” in their current forms and will drive proposed management rules.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is seeking data and expert advice on use of personal protective equipment (PPE) by “underserved” workers -- a project that could aid not just workplace regulations but also EPA’s effort to tighten its approach to PPE in its chemical risk assessments and rules.
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) gearing up to peer-review the Defense Department’s (DOD) revised approach to developing a standard for workplace exposures to trichloroethylene (TCE), marking the latest step in DOD’s long-running struggle to reconcile EPA and OSHA’s drastically different findings on the solvent.
Speakers at EPA’s June 16 environmental justice (EJ) consultation for impending rules on trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE or perc) urged the agency to focus on impacts to workers, and heard praise from industry on what one official said is a new promise from officials to seek briefings on industrial hygiene practices.
The Biden EPA is seeking a court’s permission to revisit its Trump-era findings on risks posed by workers’ uses of the solvent methylene chloride, including what level of personal protective equipment (PPE) use would mitigate those dangers, in the first step of what could be a sweeping move to bolster protections for workplace chemical exposures.
Industry groups are urging OSHA to loosen its proposed labeling rule for hazardous chemicals and other substances, arguing that key provisions conflict with EPA policy and require companies to gather “vast” new data on risks posed by downstream chemical uses, while California says the agency should scrap the rulemaking altogether.
An asbestos-focused citizen group is urging the Biden administration to mandate steps to protect workers from the notorious carcinogen in its plans for sweeping upgrades to buildings and infrastructure nationwide, claiming that while OSHA and EPA have standards in place for the substance, few employers are actively following them.
An environmental whistleblower group claims Katherine Lemos, chair and sole current member of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) rewrote the panel’s governing rules to “consolidate” her power at the expense of three pending nominees, and claims she has improperly spent CSB funds during her tenure.
President Joe Biden has named three nominees to the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) including a former United Auto Workers (UAW) safety official, after labor and industry groups as well as the body’s own inspector general warned that CSB cannot continue to operate with a single member.
A new analysis conducted by OSHA researchers and academics says EPA’s risk evaluation of methylene chloride undercounted workers’ deaths from exposure to products made with the chemical by almost 40 percent if not more, prompting calls from some of its authors as well as environmental groups for EPA to ban use of the solvent.