Do You Screen Applicants for Criminal Backgrounds?  EEOC explains how to avoid negligence and discrimination when doing background screening. What if one of your employees is caught in criminal activity – white-collar bribery, embezzlement, or worse yet, violent assault or murder? And what if you find out it was a repeat offense—a skeleton that would have popped out of the closet if you’d run a criminal background check prior to hiring? If this ever happened, you would have to deal with the emotional and financial fallout, which could include legal suits against your organization for “negligent hiring." Many employers seek to avoid such nightmares by screening potential employees for criminal backgrounds.

On Monday, March 26, 2012, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) promulgated a final rule officially adopting the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) as part of the Hazard Communication Standard [29 CFR 1910.1200]. Employers that make, transport, handle or otherwise use chemicals should start now to prepare for the transition to GHS.

The current rules for lease accounting in the United States go back to 1976 and have been interpreted, modified, amended, and revised numerous times over the years. The existing U.S. accounting standard is complex and, some say, arbitrary because it allows companies to structure transactions to meet the rules of the standard, and helps keep significant liabilities off their balance sheet.

Latest Congressional Action on Securities | JOBS Act Loosens Regulation on Smaller Companies  Securities requirements in the United States tend to ebb and flow, so that a period of increasing restrictions is followed by a decade of loosening restrictions. Congress propels these changes as lawmakers respond to market needs and political tides. April 2012 marks the latest change, as the imaginatively named Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS) introduces legislation that allows small companies to grow before having to register securities or stage an initial public offering (IPO). The JOBS Act also reduces reporting requirements for up to five years after an IPO. These opportunities include:

The Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District is proposing to amend District rules to reduce air pollution caused by cleaning solvents.  The provisions would include requirements for work practices, reactive organic compound (ROC) content limits, and solvent cleaning devices and methods.The Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District is seeking to amend rules concerning Surface Coating of Metal Parts and Products (Rules 330), Surface Coating of Aerospace Vehicles and Components (Rules 337), Polyester Resin operations (Rules 349), and Adhesives and Sealants (Rules 353). 

When two parties in a claim cannot agree, appraisal is often the quickest and fairest method of determining loss value.  But if the appraisers are not able to agree on the value they can choose an umpire to help resolve the dispute, after which an award can be paid out.  But in innumerable cases the parties refuse to accept a win, and insist on moving for a new trial to appeal the case.

OSHA’s New Hazcom Explained

Everything you think you know about

about hazardous chemicals is about to change

Since the 1980s, most employers throughout the U.S. and Canada have been required to protect workers from workplace chemical hazards, and to train workers to protect themselves.  The cornerstones of these programs have been manufacturer-supplied summaries called Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs).  Sad to say, but sometimes they’re wobbly cornerstones, because they start with hazard information developed by company scientists for agency scientists, and may or may not extend that information into practical hands-on guidance for employers and workers.  They also vary in detail, because the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provides guidance for appropriate topics but no requirements that the content be practical.  While some MSDSs are fine, we’ve all grumbled about others that report clinical results of the lethal dose of constituent chemicals to half the test population (LD50), but then recommend no more than "use appropriate personal protective equipment."

A free report authored by Gary Lucks is now available from Specialty Technical Publishers.   The 23-page 2011 California Environmental Legislative Year in Review provides a comprehensive synopsis and analysis of the 2011 environmental legislation enacted by the state of California. This comprehensive report covers the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), energy, land use, climate change solid waste, hazardous waste and materials, storage tanks, and water quality. Download the Free Report Now. The following is the introduction to the report:

I love Google Chrome! It’s fast, it’s clean, and it’s wonderful. What’s not wonderful is how the Chrome PDF viewer opens our publications for subscribers in STP Online. Sure, it renders PDF content in its browser faster than Adobe does, but by removing the PDF bookmark navigation, it makes it hard to read further than the title page. The good news is I’ve found a way to tell Google Chrome to open all PDFs using Adobe Reader instead of the Chrome PDF Viewer.

In November 2011, EPA proposed substantial revisions to current regulations addressing petroleum releases from underground storage tank (UST) systems. The regulations (40 CFR Part 280) were promulgated in 1988 and imposed strict controls on tank design, construction, and installation. The proposed revisions (76 FR 71708) target and further reduce releases caused by poor operation and maintenance, releases from piping, spills and overflows associated with deliveries (especially releases at the dispenser), and ineffective release detection equipment. The revisions minimize retrofitting requirements for existing underground storage tank systems, while mandating additional release prevention requirements for new underground storage tank systems.