My most recent blog provided a short summary of chemical evaluation and reporting requirements under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976. These requirements apply when a manufacturer or importer is preparing to introduce a “new chemical substance” into commerce in the U.S., to provide the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with information to evaluate whether chemical hazards require regulatory restrictions (up to and including outright bans) to provide adequate protections to human health and the environment. TSCA does not include any blanket requirement for ongoing studies or updated evaluations of an “existing chemical substance” after it has entered commerce—including those already in commerce when TSCA took effect, so some chemicals have never undergone a regulatory review of their hazards.
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Corporate Governance,
Business & Legal,
Health & Safety,
Environmental risks,
Environmental,
EHS,
EPA,
Hazcom
Spring may be just around the corner, but winter isn’t over yet. Those of us who work in comfortable indoor spaces are fortunate that we only experience the cold weather on our way to and from work. However, for the many who work outdoors, the weather presents a daily challenge, especially during winter.
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Corporate Governance,
Employer Best Practices,
Health & Safety,
OSHA,
Employee Rights,
EHS
Trespassing along railroad and transit rights-of-way (ROW) is a leading cause of rail-related deaths in America. Almost every two hours someone in the U.S. is hit by a train. Highway-rail crossing and trespasser deaths account for 90 percent of all rail-related deaths; more than 550 trespass fatalities and nearly as many injuries occur each year.
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Corporate Governance,
Employer Best Practices,
Health & Safety,
Training,
Transportation
By Kristen Brewer & Fergus McDonnell, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Canada’s workplace hazardous chemicals communication system is changing in 2015. The existing scheme, involving the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System which has been in place since 1988 (“WHMIS 1988”), is being modified to conform to the Globally Harmonized System for the Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS).
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Corporate Governance,
Business & Legal,
Health & Safety,
Environmental risks,
Environmental,
Hazcom,
Canadian
A wide variety of federal, state and even local laws apply environmental, health and safety (EH&S) protection requirements to chemicals. EH&S compliance personnel are accustomed to complying with chemical management requirements imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and their state equivalents.
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Corporate Governance,
Health & Safety,
OSHA,
California Legislation,
Environmental risks,
Environmental,
EPA,
Greenhouse Gas,
ghg,
Hazcom
Adopted half a century ago, the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) of 1965 is one of the first federal statutes in the modern era of environmental protection. SWDA focused originally on worries that a “landfill crisis” combined predictions that landfills would soon be too full to provide disposal capacity, and longstanding concerns that poorly designed municipal and industrial landfills might not protect public health. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has applied SWDA authority to adopt landfill standards, which are administered by state and local governments nationwide.
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Corporate Governance,
Health & Safety,
Environmental risks,
Environmental,
EPA,
Hazcom
How many times have you popped the batteries out of those old smoke detectors when the alarm blasted over burnt toast…and then failed to put the batteries back in? Or how about not replacing the batteries when they die or checking to see if the alarm is still in working order? Is there even a smoke detector in the house?
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Corporate Governance,
Business & Legal,
Health & Safety,
California Legislation,
Environmental risks,
Environmental,
Transportation
Being a good citizen and composting food scraps really isn’t that hard if you live in a house. But what if you live in a condo? You might think it isn’t possible (or maybe you even think it isn’t worth it) to do your part and compost your organic wastes. Let me show you how to do it and why it’s worth it.
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Tags:
Health & Safety,
Environmental risks,
Environmental,
EHS,
Greenhouse Gas,
ghg
How do you have to manage waste biological materials generated by your activities—maybe from agricultural or biotech production, or maybe from your onsite clinic or the healthcare facility you run? Worker safety and transportation rules will apply to handling, and environmental protection rules to releases and disposal. But the main regulatory focus is provided by waste management requirements.
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Corporate Governance,
Business & Legal,
Health & Safety,
Environmental
