Chemicals

The ongoing global pandemic involving the novel coronavirus SARS CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 is creating an urgent need for disinfectant usage. Frequent cleaning of potentially contaminated surfaces is essential to limit the further spread of the virus. EPA has provided some direction by publishing a list of disinfectants recognized to be effective against SARS CoV-2 […]

On March 10, 2020 the U.S.–Canadian Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) published its 2019-2020 work plans. These work plans introduce the specific initiatives that the RCC will pursue over the coming year to promote further alignment between U.S. and Canadian health, safety and environmental regulations. The 2019-2020 RCC work plans will specifically focus on continued alignment […]

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020 recently added 160 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of chemicals covered by the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) under Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). This addition creates immediate regulatory requirements for establishments that manufacture, process, or otherwise […]

On February 4, 2020 OSHA announced it will be launching a national emphasis program (NEP) aimed at reducing occupational exposures to respirable crystalline silica (RCS), and promoting compliance with its Respirable Crystalline Silica Standards for general industry, maritime and construction industries. Background A 2015 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) […]

The Chemical Safety and Investigation Board (CSB) recently issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would create new accidental chemical release reporting requirements, in addition to those already in place under other regulations. In comparison to existing regulatory requirements, the CSB proposed rule would broaden reporting requirements by requiring reporting under a range of […]

Penalties for noncompliance with regulations enforced by EPA, OSHA and other U.S. environmental and occupational health and safety agencies are going up! Under the requirements of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 2015, all U.S. federal agencies must annually revise their civil penalty amounts to account for the rate of inflation. Read on […]

The term musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) is widely accepted in the world of ergonomics to indicate damage associated with conditions that ergonomics guidelines seek to prevent. But what is a musculoskeletal disorder, and how does it occur? In a study by Barbe et al., the extent of the MSD development process in muscles, tendons, bones, ligaments […]

For a limited time, VelocityEHS is providing disaster relief organizations, emergency responders and local businesses affected by the wildfires in Australia and earthquakes in Puerto Rico access to our VelocityEHS safety data sheet (SDS) library at no cost. All customers and non-customers in these regions can visit www.ehs.com/disaster and search through the millions of safety sheets […]

Do you have hazardous chemicals in your workplace? What if there were an accidental spill? Would you be prepared to safely respond before it escalated into a serious emergency or dangerous environmental release? What systems do you rely on to prevent chemical spills in the first place, and are those systems as effective as possible? […]

The United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) estimates that more than 8 million US healthcare workers are exposed to hazardous drugs (HDs) in the workplace each year. Hazardous drugs (HDs) are a class of pharmaceuticals that pose serious health risks to individuals who handle them, including organ toxicity, reproductive and developmental defects, genetic toxicity, cancer and […]