May 18, 2015
USA Technologies in Peoria, IL shuts down after being cited by OSHA for $144K. Approximately 70 employees were laid-off in the process. It's not uncommon, as in this case, for companies that are placed in OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) to also experience "...increased insurance premiums and customers backing o...
January 5, 2011
Below are a number of quotes which were provided as part of an interview regarding the topic of OSHA Reguatory Agenda item: Food Flavorings / Diacetyl. The SHIB which was published by the agency a couple of months ago has a number of serious flaws.
In the newOSHA Reg Agenda published on December 20, 2010, the agency an...
December 12, 2010
I’m not quite sure why the Agency has overlooked this, so I sent them an email to let them know of the oversight regarding the Diacetyl NEP. As we all know, OSHA released its first NEP (Diacetyl in Microwave Popcorn) in 2007 and that program ran its course so to speak.
Then in 2009, the Agency issued an expanded...
December 1, 2010
After taking a closer look at the SHIB, a few issues come to mind and are noted below. Hopefully, with the Diacetyl rulemaking effort, all stakeholders will soon be able to provide substantive comments help facilitate meaningful progress. Workers’ protection is at stake… it’s not like that’s important or anything. (yes, that is...
November 19, 2010
Another Prometrix Safety Consulting client has recently completed multiple inspections with each one being closed out as “in-compliance” (no violations). By the way, these were long-term inspections — not in/out on the same day. To get this news on a Friday and after a long week… let me tell you… it feels pretty darn nice! We no...
November 8, 2010
The following was submitted as part of the record for the rulemaking on Cooperative Agreements. The comment period closed on 11/2/2010.
The opportunity to submit an official public comment into the record is appreciated. Prometrix Safety Consulting is a professional services firm with expertise in OSHA compliance and trai...
October 1, 2010
I wrote earlier about OSHA’s activities in the area of Recordkeeping where the question was posited: Are Employers Under-Reporting? The debate on this question is literally decades old. Well, a new little wrinkle sort of entered the fold when the Assistant Secretary of OSHA wrote a follow-up to the open letter he had sent to Ag...
September 23, 2010
This article, discusses, in part, some of the issues associated with e-cigs (“fake cigarettes”) in terms of Diacetyl / Flavorings. Some specific partions below are relevant on the topic of having diacetyl (or other flavorings) in “fake cigarettes”.
E-Cigs: Popular With Kids, but What’s in Them? (AOL News)
(Sept. 16) — Two eight...
August 23, 2010
For at least the last 20 years, there has been much criticism and debate over the accuracy, or lack thereof, of the injury and illness data reported annually by the Bureau of Labor Stastistics (BLS).
According to BLS data, there has been a significant and steady decline in the injury/illness rates as demonstrated by the 8.9 case...
August 20, 2010
There is some good news indeed… at least on a preliminary reporting basis. The Department of Labor released the 2009 workplace fatality data yesterday. According to the press release, the number of workplace fatalities declined from 5,214 in 2008 to 4,340 in 2009. The data will be revised (virtually always upward) in the coming...
