Current News

Electronic manifesting for hazardous waste shipments began June 30, 2018.

Access the latest information on the EPA's E-Manifesting Portal.

Katt Training & Consluting can help your company transition to the new system. Please contact us for more information.

[The EPA's E-Manifesting Portal]

[EPA News Release]

This matrix tracks state implementation of the Hazardous Waste Generator Improvement Rule. Updated monthly, the matrix provides key information on rulemaking status, publication date, public hearing dates and comment periods, and the rule effective date.

Information is collected by a professional legislative and regulatory tracking service that monitors the development and adoption of the regulations, and individually contacts State Agencies to assess their progress on the Generator Improvement rulemaking process.

Katt Training can help you navigate the new rules in your state. Please contact us for more information.

[Go to the Tracking Matrix]

WAUKEGAN, IL – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited AB Specialty Silicones LLC for 12 willful federal safety violations after four employees suffered fatal injuries in an explosion and fire at the company's Waukegan, Illinois, plant on May 3, 2019. The company faces $1,591,176 in penalties. OSHA has placed the silicon chemical products manufacturer in the Severe Violator Enforcement Program.

OSHA investigators determined AB Specialty Silicones failed to ensure that electrical equipment and installations in the production area of the plant complied with OSHA electrical standards, and were approved for hazardous locations. The company also used forklifts powered by liquid propane to transport volatile flammable liquids, and operated these forklifts in areas where employees handled and processed volatile flammable liquids and gases, creating the potential for ignition. [ more ]

A truck driver is going to prison for illegally dumping toxic landfill waste in a soggy creek system that drains into one of central South Carolina's most well-known rivers, upstream from Congaree National Park.

Michael Greene, 45, received 90 days in prison, a $25,000 fine and one-year's probation after U.S. District Judge Michelle Childs questioned whether he understood the severity of dumping waste into a tributary of the Wateree River. [ more ]

BURLINGTON, Mass. - Officials have identified the employee killed after being exposed to a strong cleaning agent at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Burlington Thursday evening.

According to officials, firefighters responded to the restaurant on 15 South Avenue on Thursday at around 5:30 p.m. for reports of a chemical reaction in the kitchen.

At the scene, first responders found an employee who said he felt nauseous after breathing in fumes from the cleaning agent. The man was rushed to Lahey Hospital in serious condition, but was later pronounced dead

On Friday, Burlington Fire officials identified him as 32-year-old Ryan Baldera. Co-workers and friends tell Boston 25 News Baldera was a new dad to a baby boy and got married last year. [ more ]

The EPA issued a final rule that will take effect on Feb. 7, 2020 that will allow states to move used aerosol cans from the hazardous waste category to the universal waste category. Each state will need to adopt this rule.

Katt Training & Consulting will be incorporating this rule, along with other changes, into our upcoming Waste Management courses.

[Read the Final Rule]

The mysterious, greenish-yellow liquid that ran onto I-696 in Madison Heights on Friday came from a closed electroplating business whose owner is serving a year in federal prison for operating an unlicensed hazardous waste storage facility.

Lanes will remain closed until Monday after the fluid gushed from the walls of I-696 about a half mile from the Oakland-Macomb county line at Dequindre, according to Madison Heights Fire Department Capt. Kevin Powers.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was called to investigate and determined the liquid likely was groundwater contaminated with hexavalent chromium, according to The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). [ more ]

CULLMAN, AL – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Apex Roofing and Restoration LLC, and WW Restoration LLC for exposing employees to fall hazards after a 15-year-old worker suffered fatal injuries after a fall at a Cullman, Alabama, worksite. The companies face $159,118 in penalties.

OSHA cited the companies for exposing employees to fall hazards while performing roofing activities without adequate fall protection, and for failing to provide proper training. Although Apex Roofing and Restoration LLC and WW Restoration LLC are listed as separate entities, OSHA cited the companies as a single employer because both share supervision on a common worksite, and have interrelated operations and integrated working relationships. [ more ]

This webpage provides information for workers and employers about the evolving coronavirus outbreak first identified in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. The information includes links to interim guidance and other resources for preventing exposures to, and infections with, 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Chinese authorities identified the new coronavirus, which has resulted in confirmed human infections in China and exported cases outside of China, including in the United States, Thailand, Japan, and South Korea. China also has reported spread of the virus from infected patients to healthcare workers. [ more ]

BALA CYNWYD, PA – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Webb Contractor Corp. for exposing employees to fall hazards at three separate worksites in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, area. The roofing contractor, based in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, faces $605,371 in penalties.

OSHA initiated an inspection on September 6, 2019, after a compliance officer observed employees performing residential roofing work without fall protection at a worksite in Macungie, Pennsylvania. The employer voluntarily agreed to remove employees from the hazardous condition. OSHA later responded to complaints of fall hazards, and initiated two additional inspections; one on October 1, 2019, at a worksite in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, and the other on October 11, 2019, at a worksite in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. [ more ]

CUMMING, GA – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Garick LLC – operating as Smith Garden Products – for exposing employees to safety hazards at the Cumming, Georgia, facility. The manufacturer of specialty mulch products faces $148,867 in penalties.

OSHA cited Garick LLC for failing to ensure energy control procedures contained clear and specific steps to limit the release of hazardous energy. OSHA also cited the company for failing to provide and ensure that employees affixed lockout/tagout devices to block machines and equipment from energy sources, train employees to recognize applicable hazardous energy sources, and conduct a periodic inspection of the lockout program at least annually. Other violations included failing to ensure machinery was effectively guarded, allowing employees to operate defective powered industrial trucks, and failing to reduce compressed air to the appropriate level before allowing employees to use it for cleaning purposes. OSHA conducted the inspection in accordance with the National Emphasis Program on Amputations and the Regional Emphasis Program for Powered Industrial Trucks. [ more ]

BOSTON, MA – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has determined that Universal Trucking Solutions LLC – a defunct Hartford, Connecticut, commercial motor carrier – and its co-owner, Juan Ramirez, violated the whistleblower protections of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA).

OSHA investigators found that the company and Ramirez retaliated against a driver who repeatedly voiced concerns to management about faulty vehicle maintenance – including missing or inoperative headlights and air pressure leaks – and the company's direction to violate Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hours of service regulations while driving. Management and Ramirez later changed the driver's work schedule, resulting in a reduction to the driver's pay.

The driver resigned in February 2017 after concerns that U.S. Department of Transportation officials would confiscate their Commercial Driver's License; that their livelihood and/or life could be lost because of defective trucks; and because their employer forced them to ignore hours-of-service rules. [ more ]

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It has spread from China to many other countries around the world, including the United States. Depending on the severity of COVID-19's international impacts, outbreak conditions—including those rising to the level of a pandemic—can affect all aspects of daily life, including travel, trade, tourism, food supplies, and financial markets.

To reduce the impact of COVID-19 outbreak conditions on businesses, workers, customers, and the public, it is important for all employers to plan now for COVID-19. For employers who have already planned for influenza pandemics, planning for COVID-19 may involve updating plans to address the specific exposure risks, sources of exposure, routes of transmission, and other unique characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 (i.e., compared to pandemic influenza viruses). Employers who have not prepared for pandemic events should prepare themselves and their workers as far in advance as possible of potentially worsening outbreak conditions. Lack of continuity planning can result in a cascade of failures as employers attempt to address challenges of COVID-19 with insufficient resources and workers who might not be adequately trained for jobs they may have to perform under pandemic conditions.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) developed this COVID-19 planning guidance based on traditional infection prevention and industrial hygiene practices. It focuses on the need for employers to implement engineering, administrative, and work practice controls and personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as considerations for doing so.

[Download/View the PDF]

This is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will provide updated information as it becomes available, in addition to updated guidance. This website provides key EPA resources on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

This website includes information about disinfectants that are effective against the Coronavirus.

[Visit the website]

PHMSA continues to monitor the effects the COVID-19 outbreak is having on regulated hazardous materials entities. As a result, PHMSA decided to temporarily halt enforcement actions against shippers and carriers that are unable to comply with training requirements included in the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR). The Notice is limited to recurrent training requirements and does not apply to all other HMR obligations or applicable laws for hazardous materials offers and carriers.

This is in effect until June 23, 2020 [ more ]

This Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website is targeted for businesses that are both operating and reopening. It includes a decision tree to help you evaluate if your business is ready to reopen, information on disinfection procedures and guidance for preventing COVID-19 transmission at operating businesses.

In addition, there are links to OSHA's COVI-19 guidance document and postings you can use in your business.

KTC can help you develop a plan to safely reopen, evaluate your current response to the pandemic and train your employees on any new procedures or personal protective equipment (PPE) they may be using as we reopen.

[CDC Business and Workplace website]