Regulations & Compliance

For many safety professionals, Management of Change (MOC) tends to conjure up thoughts of OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) Standard, EPA’s Risk Management Plan (RMP) Rule, or other complex regulations intended to help prevent major accidents or environmental releases involving hazardous chemicals. While certainly required by numerous safety and environmental regulations, the value of MOC […]

For operations involving hazardous processes, change management can be a matter of life and death. Operational failures resulting from insufficiently planned changes can cause catastrophic events such as explosions or chemical releases that endanger human lives, and the environment. That is why OSHA developed the Process Safety Management (PSM) of Highly Hazardous Chemicals Standard, which […]

On November 17, Health Canada published its Policy on Managing Incomplete Claims for Exemption Filed under the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act (HMIRA). The new policy is intended to prevent confidential business information (CBI) claims from being held up in the review process due to missing or incomplete claim information. Upon formal notice of incomplete […]

As the year winds down, now is a good time to review your current EHS programs and identify gaps that software can help fix. If you have remaining funds in your 2017 budget, there’s still time to “use it before you lose it,” and risk lower future budgets. You might also be able to tap […]

Record flooding in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, has caused a slew of secondary health and safety hazards. Among these issues is the high risk of exposure to hazardous chemicals in contaminated flood waters, including lead, arsenic, benzene, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. With damage to chemical manufacturing facilities, […]

By Phil N. Molé, MPH Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, also known as cloud solutions, have been evolving to meet today’s EHS challenges. Still, many EHS professionals have outdated perceptions about cloud solutions, and may not realize the direct ways modern software can streamline compliance and improve EHS management. It’s a good time to […]

“Do you recommend that my ergonomics teams be cross-functional? Or does that dilute the team’s focus?” We get this question often. There are several considerations here. Before creating a team, you first want to think about its purpose, which is to conduct risk assessments, identify solutions, and lead improvement efforts. The team should also be […]

October is National Ergonomics Month, and it’s the perfect time for employers everywhere to take a step back and revisit their ergonomic programs, especially in workplaces where ergonomic risks might not be so easy to see. You may think you don’t have to worry about workplace ergonomics because you’re not seeing the immediate costs and […]

In an effort to generate greater awareness and prevention of workplace musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and other ergonomics-related injuries and illnesses, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) along with occupational safety and health organizations around the world are celebrating October as Global Ergonomics Month. The Workers Health & Safety Centre of Ontario (WHSC) estimates the total […]

This past August, OSHA officially launched its Injury Tracking Application (ITA), ending months of delays and uncertainty surrounding the compliance deadlines for OSHA’s “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses” (aka Electronic Reporting) rule. All signs currently indicate the agency’s plan to move forward with its first submission deadline of December 1, 2017. Shortly after its launch, OSHA temporarily […]