silica
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Tag archives for silica
Frack sand: An easily overlooked occupational hazard
Posted by The Pump Handle on June 4, 2012 Public awareness of water-contamination concerns related to hydraulic fracturing has been growing. But one of the more pernicious and pervasive potential occupational fracking hazards may come from sand.
Worker safety rule stuck in White House black hole, disease risk persists
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on April 12, 2012 More than 425 days—-that’s 14 months—-have passed since the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sent to the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) a draft proposed regulation designed to protect workers who are exposed to respirable crystalline silica. The hazard is one of the oldest known causes of work-related…
Occupational Health News Roundup
Posted by Liz Borkowski on February 1, 2012 Celeste wrote last week about the letter from scientists and public health experts urging President Obama to direct the Office of Management and Budget to finish reviewing the Department of Labor’s proposed health standard on crystalline silica. Respirable crystalline silica has been known for several centuries as an occupational hazard — it can cause irreversible…
Slow progress by OSHA to improve worker health and safety regulations
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on January 30, 2012 The Labor Department provided an update on January 20, 2012 to its regulatory agenda, including revised target dates for improved workplace safety and health standards. Several of the rules OSHA now expects to publish in 2012 are regulations the agency previously said would be issued one or two years ago. Missed deadlines, however, are nothing…
Federal advisory committee urges Obama Administration to act on worker safety regulations
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on January 5, 2012 A federal advisory committee is urging HHS Secretary Sebelius and Labor Secretary Solis to proceed expeditiously with new worker safety regulations. In letters sent recently to these Cabinet-level officials, the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, (NACOSH) the committee used phrases such as “deeply distressed,” and “concerned and disappointed,” to characterize the Obama…
MSHA should scrap any plan to wait for OSHA action on respirable crystalline silica
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on November 25, 2011 Before too long the US Department of Labor (DOL) and other federal agencies should be issuing their annual regulatory plans and semi-annual agendas. These documents serve as official public notice of agencies’ regulatory (and deregulatory) priorities. The Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order (EO) 12866 direct agency heads to release these documents in April (agenda)…
Congressman tells OSHA chief not to use “buzz” words like cancer
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on October 10, 2011 Freshman congressman Larry Bucshon (R-IN) scolded OSHA chief David Michaels for using the term “cancer” as a buzz word. The congressman, who is also a thoracic surgeon, said: “I don’t like it when people use buzz words that try to get people’s attention, and cancer is one of those.” The exchanged occured last week at…