SAN FRANCISCO – The EPA’s authority over asbestos comes from TSCA, the Toxic Substances Control Act. Another section of the act established an interagency testing committee, on which Fed-OSHA is represented, to report on chemical groups which should be tested to determine whether they pose risks to health or the environment. The Thirty-Third Report to …
SAN FRANCISCO – Tuan Nguyen, 29, worked briefly at Extron Electronics Inc. but was fired for unsatisfactory performance. He returned with a gun 2-1/2 weeks later, at 1 p.m. on March 14, entered through a rear door near a loading dock and began firing in all directions. He killed three of the 110 employees and …
SAN FRANCISCO – The new director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is Linda Rosenstock, M.D., M.P.H., who now directs the occupational medicine program at the University of Washington. NIOSH headquarters will be moved from Atlanta, Georgia, to the nation’s capitol at about the time Dr. Rosenstock begins her tenure. Rosenstock …
SAN FRANCISCO – A study reported in the March 1 Journal of the American Medical Association announces that nearly 10% of tuberculosis patients are resistant to the two first-line TB drugs. “Greater use of four-drug regimens and directly observed therapy is indicated,” writes Alan B. Bloch with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. …
SAN FRANCISCO – Among other policy revisions Cal-OSHA has made pursuant to 1993 legislation, two model IIPPs have been developed to help employers comply with General Industry 3203. Since passage of SB 198 in 1989, every employer in the state has been required to have an effective written injury and illness prevention program (IIPP). The …
SAN FRANCISCO – Paul Papanek, the medical doctor who heads the L.A. Toxics Epidemiology Program (TEP), was invited to speak at the March 3 meeting of the Cal-OSHA Advisory Committee. TEP concerns itself with the impact of toxic chemicals. It has been involved in occupational lead surveillance and research since about 1987, when by law …
SAN FRANCISCO – As Cal-OSHA continues to train compliance people in how to respond to indoor air quality (IAQ) complaints, while Assembly Member John Burton asks the Cal-OSH Standards Board to act, Washington State has pulled in its horns. In 1988, when Fed-OSHA chief Joe Dear ran WISHA, the state’s OSHA plan, a governmental interagency …
LOS ANGELES – For Cal-OSHA, Topic A continues to be the response to the 1993 workers’ compensation reform package, which pumped more money into the program while giving it added responsibilities. Industrial Relations Director Lloyd Aubry opened the March 3 meeting of the Cal-OSH Advisory Committee by referring to the Cal-OSHA Targeted Inspection and Consultation …