Regulations & Compliance

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) discusses trends in cases of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) that were first identified by a California Department of Public Health (CDPH) analysis of workers’ compensation claims. The report identifies the industries and occupations with the highest reported rates of CTS, and calculates rates […]

The Fall 2018 meeting of the Society for Chemical Hazard Communication (SCHC) was held on September 22-26 in Washington DC, and VelocityEHS was on-hand for the morning of Tuesday September 25th as SCHC hosted several presentations covering the latest regulatory developments surrounding HazCom, WHMIS 2015, GHS and the recently amended Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). […]

EPA published a proposed rule in the Federal Register on October 1, 2018 that would revise the agency’s approach to regulating appliances containing substitute refrigerants, such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). This rule, if finalized, will significantly impact obligations for owners of equipment containing these refrigerants. Could this proposed rule affect your business? Let’s take a closer […]

This week, the Unites States remembers the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. We’ve had 17 years now of grieving and lesson-learning, but the emotional scars will always remain. For many people who were near Ground Zero of the WTC attacks, especially first responders called to the scene and their loved ones, the pain of […]

OSHA recently indicated its intent to update the current HazCom 2012 Standard – which is aligned with GHS Revision 3 – to align it with the United Nation’s most recent edition, GHS Revision 7. The UN allows nations and agencies the flexibility to pick and choose which elements of the GHS to adopt. While specifics […]

This week marks the third anniversary of the deadly explosions in Tianjin, China. A total of 173 people, including at least 80 firefighters, were killed and nearly 800 others injured when two blasts ripped through a warehouse that was improperly storing hazardous chemicals. As a small fire erupted in the facility, first responders doused the […]

This month, OSHA formally issued a letter of interpretation (LOI) clarifying its requirements under the Hazard Communication (HazCom) Standard for manufacturers who wish to use ingredient concentration ranges to protect proprietary chemical information as trade secrets on their chemical safety data sheets (SDSs). The OSHA LOI was in direct response to questions originally submitted by […]

Here’s how it happened. Recently, I left work in downtown Chicago at the end of a long and tiring day, and made my way to the train station I use every day to return home. I’d hoped to run some errands before going home to my family, so I was in a hurry. There was […]

By Phil Molé Large scale emergencies, such as the flooding that devastated Texas’ Gulf Coast during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, are often worsened due to failures in emergency planning that place first responders, workers and the general public at risk for exposure to hazardous chemicals. Incomplete knowledge of the identities and hazards of chemicals on-site, […]