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 ]

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 ]

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 ]

PARAMUS, NJ – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited CarePlus Bergen Inc., doing business as Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, for violating respiratory protection standards at its Paramus, New Jersey, location. OSHA cited the hospital for two serious violations, with proposed penalties of $9,639.

Based on a coronavirus-related inspection, OSHA cited the Bergen New Bridge Medical Center for failing to fit test tight-fitting face piece respirators on employees who were required to use them. The hospital also failed to train employees on proper respirator use and ensure employees understood when to wear a respirator.

"Employers must take action to protect their employees during the pandemic, including implementing effective respiratory protection programs," said OSHA Hasbrouck Heights Area Office Director Lisa Levy. "OSHA standards require healthcare workers to be fit-tested to ensure the respirators they use provide adequate protection." [ more ]

WASHINGTON, DC – Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic through Oct. 22, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited 144 establishments for violations relating to coronavirus, resulting in proposed penalties totaling $2,025,431.

OSHA inspections have resulted in the agency citing employers for violations, including failures to:

Implement a written respiratory protection program;
Provide a medical evaluation, respirator fit test, training on the proper use of a respirator and personal protective equipment;
Report an injury, illness or fatality;
Record an injury or illness on OSHA recordkeeping forms; and
Comply with the General Duty Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 [ more ]

A young construction worker was fatally crushed as he stood between two trucks in East Flatbush, Brooklyn Friday — when one of the vehicles backed into him, police said.

Saqueo Mejia, 24, of Sunset Park, was crushed just after noon on Troy Avenue when a large dump truck driven backed up, pinning him from the chest up against the second truck. [ more ]

PHILADELPHIA (Nov. 19, 2020) – Koppers Inc. has agreed to settle with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the state of West Virginia and the state of Pennsylvania to resolve alleged violations of federal and state environmental laws at its facilities in Follansbee and Green Spring, West Virginia, and Clairton, Pennsylvania, EPA announced today.

A complaint filed with the settlement agreement cited violations of the Clean Water Act's Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) and Facility Response Plan (FRP) requirements. The SPCC rules help facilities prevent a discharge of oil into navigable waters or adjoining shorelines. The FRP rules require certain facilities to submit a response plan and prepare to respond to a worst-case oil discharge or threat of a discharge. Koppers is a Pittsburgh-based company involved in carbon materials and chemicals, railroad products and services, and performance chemicals. [ more ]

IATA (The International Air Transport Association) has released an addendum to the 2021 Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR). The addendum details changes made regarding hand sanitizer carried as crew equipment or by a passenger for personal use.

It also addresses the shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine.

There are several changes that have been made to operator variations, including some that apply to Federal Express shipments.

If you maintain a hard copy of the DGR please print out the addendum and keep it with the book. If you use the electronic version of the DGR it will update the next time you log into the system.

[Download the Addendum]

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today issued a proposed rule to update the agency's Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) to align with the seventh revision of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS).

OSHA expects the HCS update will increase worker protections, and reduce the incidence of chemical-related occupational illnesses and injuries by further improving the information on the labels and Safety Data Sheets for hazardous chemicals. Proposed modifications will also address issues since implementation of the 2012 standard, and improve alignment with other federal agencies and Canada. [ more ]

LIMA, OH – While cleaning an auger used to rice potatoes, a 39-year-old production worker found her left arm caught in a running auger. The worker suffered multiple lacerations and the partial amputation of her arm. Co-workers had to cut the auger apart to free her arm.

An investigation in September 2020 by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined that BEF Foods Inc. failed to shut down and isolate energy to the auger during maintenance work, a process known as lockout/tagout. The company, which operates as Bob Evans Farms, also failed to train employees on the required use of lockout/tagout procedures when conducting maintenance activities. [ more ]

CHICAGO (March 15, 2021) – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a settlement requiring Western Reserve Chemical Corp. in Stow, Ohio, to pay a civil $357,000 penalty for violations of chemical data reporting regulations under the Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA.

EPA alleged that from 2012-2015, WRCC failed to submit data reports for 18 chemical substances as required by TSCA. The company imports various chemicals for businesses that formulate rubber, plastics, adhesives, sealants and coatings. [ more ]

Since the Fall 2020, healthcare workers have been reporting to HPAE concerns over highly suspicious ill-fitting, misshapen, sometimes torn and, often, odd-smelling "3M" masks they are being given by their employers while providing care for patients during a pandemic outbreak. Workers have reported to their employers that it is difficult to get proper seal with these masks to ensure they are fully protected. [ more ]

BOSTON – The owner of a Lynn, Massachusetts, tax preparation service faces $136,532 in penalties for prohibiting her employees and customers from wearing masks, failing to ensure employees and customers practiced social distancing, and refusing to implement other safeguards against the coronavirus.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Ariana Murrell-Rosario – doing business as Liberty Tax Service – for willfully failing to develop and implement measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

OSHA opened its March 17, 2021, inspection following a referral from the Division of Labor Standards of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. OSHA found that Murrell-Rosario and Liberty Tax Services: [ more ]