Manufacturing

Washington – The Spray Foam Coalition – part of the American Chemistry Council’s Center for the Polyurethanes Industry – has adopted a new code of conduct aimed at improving health and safety among its member companies.

Seattle – The fatal explosion at the Tesoro Corp. refinery in Anacortes, WA, in 2010 could have been prevented if the company had replaced steel tubing with inherently safer alloys, according to a new report from the Chemical Safety Board.

Washington – Results of a NIOSH study of workers at a former IBM plant could not establish a definitive link between chemical exposures and cancer risk.

Washington – NIOSH recently issued an update to its strategic plan for protecting workers from safety and health hazards associated with nanotechnology.

Washington – Screening data for nearly 2,000 chemicals is available through the Environmental Protection Agency’s new Interactive Chemical Safety for Sustainability Dashboard.

Richmond, CA – California needs to change the way it regulates refineries and adopt a system aimed at reducing risk to the lowest possible level, concludes a new report from the Chemical Safety Board.

Washington – The Office of Management and Budget has concluded a review of a draft rule that would update OSHA's Process Safety Management Standard, and the safety agency has formally requested input from the public.

Washington – OSHA on Dec. 3 announced a request for information regarding potential changes to its Process Safety Management Standard and related enforcement policies.

Atlanta – Lead exposure remains an issue for workers, with elevated levels most common in manufacturing, construction, services and mining, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Calling current permissible exposure limits “antiquated” and “dangerously out of date,” OSHA administrator David Michaels unveiled two web-based resources he said will help companies keep workers safer around chemicals.