IH/EHS NewsWatch

OSHA Announces Nationwide Inspection
Program

In June, OSHA announced that it is continuing its nationwide program to emphasize workplace safety and health for federal workers and for contractors whose work is supervised on a daily basis by federal agency personnel.

The Federal Agency Targeting Inspection Program (FEDTARG09) directive provides the procedures OSHA field staff must follow when conducting safety inspections at some of the most hazardous federal workplaces. The federal agencies targeted have experienced a large number of lost-time injuries, based on data from their fiscal 2008 Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs reports.

“This directive is part of OSHA’s continued efforts in assuring that the men and women who work to improve the lives of American citizens are provided safe working environments,” said acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab.

This targeted inspection program was developed in 2008 in response to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit report. Field inspectors conducted 109 inspections of high-hazard federal worksites during 2008 and found multiple violations of OSHA safety and health standards. For more information on FEDTARG09, visit www.osha.gov/OshDoc/Directive_pdf/ FAP01_09-04.pdf.

CEM Corporation Wins EPA’s Green Chemistry
Challenge

In June, the EPA honored CEM Corporation of Matthews, North Carolina, as one of five winners nationally to receive the 2009 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award. For the 14th year, the EPA recognized chemical technologies developed by leading researchers and industrial innovators who are making significant contributions to pollution prevention through source reduction in the United States.

The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards are given in five categories: Academic, Small Business, Greener Synthetic Pathways, Greener Reaction Conditions and Designing Greener Chemicals. CEM Corp. won the Greener Reaction Conditions Award for Innovative Analyzer Tags Proteins for Fast, Accurate Results without Hazardous Chemicals or High Temperatures.

Each year, laboratories test millions of samples of food for the presence of protein. Such tests generally use large amounts of hazardous substances and energy. CEM has developed a fast, automated process that uses less toxic substances and less energy. The new system can eliminate 5. 5 million pounds of hazardous waste generated by traditional testing in the United States each year. What’s more, it differentiates between protein and other chemicals that contaminate food, such as melamine.

EPA’s Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge promotes research and development of less-hazardous alternatives to existing technologies that reduce or eliminate waste, particularly hazardous waste, in industrial production. An independent panel of technical experts convened by the American Chemical Society selected the winners from nearly 100 nominated technologies. Over the past 14 years, awardees’ work has led to the elimination of over 1.3 billion pounds of hazardous chemicals and solvents, nearly 43 billion gallons of water, and over 450 million pounds of carbon dioxide. These benefits are in addition to significant energy and cost savings by the winners and their customers.

The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge 2009 Awards: www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/pgcc/past.html

NIOSH Launches Green Jobs Initiative

A new NIOSH initiative will highlight the importance of incorporating worker safety and health into “green jobs” and environmental sustainability. The initiative will also develop guidance for preventing occupational injuries and illnesses in these growing sectors.

As a first step in this initiative, NIOSH introduced a new web page, “Going Green: Safe and Healthy Jobs” ( www.cdc.gov/ niosh/topics/greenjobs/). The initial contents of the NIOSH “Going Green” web page include links to resources on the following industry sectors: agriculture; construction; manufacturing; services; and transportation, warehousing, and utilities. Links also are included to resources on relevant topics, such as chemicals, falls from elevations, outdoor work, highway work zone safety, machine safety, nanotechnology, hearing loss prevention, protective clothing, and respirators. New information and links will be added to the page on an ongoing basis.