Archive for August 2020
‘OSHA is AWOL’: Critics Say Federal Agency is Where Workplace Covid-19 Complaints Go to Die
Tampa Bay Times by Meghan BowbrowskyMiami, FL – The federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration, charged with enforcing health and safety in the American workplace, has received more than 6,000 complaints nationwide about unsafe work conditions related to COVID-19. And yet, on June 9, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia told lawmakers that OSHA, which his department oversees,…
Read MoreEPA Provides Consumers Consumers Additional Options for Covid-19 Disinfections
National – EPA added 32 new surface disinfectants to List N, the agency’s list of over 460 products expected to kill SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. These products have already been approved as tuberculocidal. While they have not yet been tested against SARS-CoV-2, they are approved for killing the pathogen that causes tuberculosis and are expected to…
Read MoreDiamond Offshore Warned Over Spread of Asebstos Debris in North Sea
Energy Voice by Allistar ThomasNorth Sea – The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said Diamond Offshore failed to protect workers on the Ocean Valiant rig from exposure to asbestos fibres. The incident, in September last year, took place on the Ocean Valiant while repairs were being made on a diesel engine which generates power on board. However, insulation…
Read MoreEPA’s New Asbestos Determination May Upend Decades of Science and Effect Litigation
National Law Review by Clifford Pascarella, IINational – The EPA’s Draft Risk Evaluation for Asbestos (“DRE”) generated significant attention from industrial groups, experts, and various other parties involved in asbestos litigation. All sides have significant issues with the DRE as currently drafted. EPA was left with more than 75 comments to consider. Many of these comments…
Read MoreStandard View: A Precious Opportunity to Ban Asbestos Now
Montana Standard Montana – Today it remains legal to import, manufacture and sell products containing asbestos in the United States – despite the fact that more than 60 countries worldwide have banned the deadly fiber. In November of 2019, the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act seemed to have real momentum. The House Committee on Energy…
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