|
| |
Regulatory News
This is where we'll announce the most recent
changes to Environmental, Health and Safety regulations that affect our clients.
ASSE Comments on
Combustible Dust
In late July, ASSE submitted a
statement for the record to the Senate Subcommittee on Employment
and Workplace Safety, which was holding a hearing on combustible dust—primarily
focused on OSHA’s efforts to address this long-recognized workplace hazard.
Congressional interest was piqued this year following an explosion at the
Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, GA, that killed 13 workers and
injured 40.
In its statement, ASSE urges caution in moving ahead to address hazardous dust
risks legislatively without developing a deeper understanding of current OSHA
standards, their enforcement and the approach taken through national consensus
standards. ASSE agrees with the approach taken in a
bill
recently passed by the House of Representatives seeking an OSHA standard no less
effective than the
NFPA
654 voluntary consensus standard. However, the Society also calls
for inclusion of measures to address OSHA’s inadequate inspection resources and
inspector training on dust issues; help for employers to deal with 17 different
OSHA standards related to hazardous dust; inclusion of related NFPA standards;
and an extension of the deadline for an OSHA standard from 18 months to 24
months.
|
Fatalities in the Workplace Declined in 2007 |
|
Workplace
fatalities fell by 6 percent in 2007, dropping to the lowest level since
the government began tracking such data in 1992, according to a Bureau
of Labor Statistics report released in August. The report said there
were 5,488 fatal work injuries last year, down from 5,840 in 2006 and
6,217 in 1992.
Workplace deaths involving transportation, which typically account for
nearly half of all on-the-job fatalities, fell to 2,234, the lowest
number since the government started compiling the numbers, the report
said.
Deaths involving electrocutions, fires and explosions also dropped
significantly last year as well.
According to the report, the four occupations with the highest fatality
rates in 2007 were fishing workers, loggers, aircraft pilots and flight
engineers, and structural iron and steel workers. |
Monday, August 25, 2008
Attorney General Abbott Resolves Environmental
Case Against Seven Gulf Coast Petrochemical Plants
Lyondell subsidiaries agree to pay $6.5
million in civil penalties, project funding
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg
Abbott today resolved the state’s environmental enforcement action
against two Lyondell Chemical Company subsidiaries that operated
seven petrochemical plants in Houston and along the Gulf Coast.
Under an agreed final judgment proposed by the state, defendants
Equistar Chemicals and Millenium Petrochemicals Inc. will each pay
$3.25 million in penalties. In December 2006, the attorney general
charged the Lyondell subsidiaries with repeatedly failing to prevent
the release of harmful pollutants into the atmosphere.
Under the proposed agreement, Equistar and Millenium will each set
aside $500,000 to fund supplemental environmental projects
identified by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
The agreed final judgment is subject to court approval.
|
