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]

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 ]

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]

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 ]

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 ]

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]

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]

Millions of U.S. workers are exposed to heat in their workplaces. Although illness from exposure to heat is preventable, every year, thousands become sick from occupational heat exposure, and some cases are fatal. Most outdoor fatalities, 50% to 70%, occur in the first few days of working in warm or hot environments because the body needs to build a tolerance to the heat gradually over time. The process of building tolerance is called heat acclimatization. Lack of acclimatization represents a major risk factor for fatal outcomes. [ more ]

CLEVELAND, OH – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited healthcare company OHNH EMP LLC for violating respiratory protection standards following an inspection initiated after the company reported the coronavirus-related hospitalization of seven employees.

OSHA inspected three OHNH EMP facilities in Ohio: Pebble Creek Healthcare Center in Akron, and Salem West Healthcare Center and Salem North Healthcare Center in Salem. OSHA cited each location for a serious violation of two respiratory protection standards: failing to develop a comprehensive written respiratory protection program and failing to provide medical evaluations to determine employees' ability to use a respirator in the workplace. OSHA also issued a Hazard Alert Letter regarding the company's practice of allowing N95 respirator use for up to seven days and not conducting initial fit testing. The agency has proposed $40,482 in penalties. [ more ]