SACRAMENTO – HIGH LEAD LEVELS PROMPTED INSPECTION: On July 22, Fed-OSHA Region IX levied penalties of $415,900 against Astoria Metal Corp. (AMC) for a number of willful, serious and repeat violations of federal safety and health laws during work on the vessel Glomar Explorer. OSHA went to Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco after …
SAN FRANCISCO – The letter Fed-OSHA sent to Acting Director John Duncan of the Department of Industrial Relations landed on Cal-OSHA Chief John Howard’s desk on July 29. In it Acting Assistant Labor Secretary Gregory Watchman asks that the state, no later than August 18, send OSHA “an action plan and timetable for fulfilling California’s …
SAN FRANCISCO – The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has issued a document titled “Elements of Ergonomics Programs,” a primer based on workplace evaluations of musculoskeletal disorders that is intended to help employers prevent WMSDs. Director Linda Rosenstock explains in a foreword that calls to the NIOSH 800 number increasingly concern WMSDs. Inquiries …
SAN FRANCISCO – The Cal-OSH Standards Board met July 17 in San Diego. No one had any comments during the public meeting portion of the agenda. The public hearing was on proposed changes to asbestos rules in Construction 1529, General Industry 5208 and Ship Building and Repairing 8358. The revisions were necessary to adopt federal …
SAN FRANCISCO – The largest, most thorough electromagnetic field (EMF) study yet has found no connection between the magnetic fields generated by electric power lines and childhood leukemia. The eight-year, $4.5 million National Cancer Institute study was reported in the July 3 New England Journal of Medicine. An accompanying editorial asserted: “The many inconclusive and …
SAN FRANCISCO – HEALTH EFFECTS OF ETHYLENE GLYCOL: The USEPA will be submitting its risk assessment for ethylene glycol, conducted for 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, for external review. At the request of the Chemical Manufacturers Association, the comment period has been extended until September 5. The EPA is particularly interested …
SAN FRANCISCO – This year, the annual Occupational Health and Safety Conference presented by PASMA, the Public Agency Safety Management Association, will take place in San Diego. A special notice was sent to members asking that they bring with them a copy of their agency’s ergonomics program, if one has been prepared. If not, members …
SAN FRANCISCO – Cal-OSHA is investigating the circumstances around a scaffold that collapsed during demolition of the La Paula Apartment Building in Hollywood. Cal-OSHA investigators stopped the demolition work at the site the day of the accident, July 14. One worker, Noberto Urias, was killed and another was critically injured when they fell from the …