Chemical Safety

The Asbestos Disease Organization (ADAO) is asking EPA to expand the window to comment on newly published worker-safety data related to its proposed ban on current uses of chrysotile asbestos, even as it warns the agency against letting its review of those comments delay a final asbestos rule from its non-binding October target.

California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is issuing 18 citations to a medical device sterilization company for allegedly failing to protect its employees from overexposure to the toxic solvent ethylene oxide (EtO), amid a growing battle over EPA-crafted risk levels for the carcinogen that industry has argued are unreasonably strict.

EPA is opening a new public comment period for its proposed rule that would ban ongoing uses of chrysotile asbestos, saying industry and environmental groups have submitted a wave of new data on whether a two-year phase-out for chlor-alkali facilities is practicable and protective of workers, and asking stakeholders to weigh in on that evidence.

OSHA has posted a new regulatory interpretation letter that addresses a host of questions from employers on the Hazard Communication Standard’s (HCS) application to lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, noting several situations when the devices qualify as “consumer products” or “articles” exempt from the rule but highlighting other areas where HCS labels are mandatory.

EPA says its draft risk assessment of formaldehyde will be a model for reforms to the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program, even as employers continue to question its finding that studies of exposed workers show inhaling the chemical can cause leukemia and accuse the agency of misleading peer reviewers on its methods.

Environmental groups used a flurry of recent meetings with the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to renew their calls for a strict rule banning all use of the solvent methylene chloride, highlighting research they say shows both its acute toxicity and ongoing worker deaths even under OSHA’s current safety standards.

For the second time in less than three months, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is pressing EPA to prioritize hydrofluoric acid (HF) for TSCA evaluation, and to also boost inspections of facilities that work with the chemical, following the board’s investigation of a Wisconsin refinery explosion.

The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has released its report on a 2019 accident at a butadiene production facility in Texas, recommending that both the operator and the American Chemistry Council (ACC) strengthen their policies for the chemical to prevent similar incidents, just as EPA is evaluating its risks under TSCA.

An industry group is urging the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to block EPA from placing strict TSCA limits on methylene chloride use in order to protect workers from exposure, arguing that a tough rule lacks scientific support and risks cutting off domestic manufacturing of several key products.

A new report from the labor-environmental group BlueGreen Alliance (BGA) finds safety data sheets (SDS) OSHA requires to list chemicals’ toxic or hazardous properties are often erroneous, including several EPA has targeted for regulation -- which the group says undercut industry arguments that OSHA rules will protect workers from exposure.