IHMM Today April 18, 2023

INSIDE IHMM

IHMM Board of Directors Nominations

IHMM Directors and Officers are volunteers who serve without pay. They may serve up to two, four-year terms. Directors are responsible for the governance of IHMM, including establishing the overall direction of IHMM, the appointment of Executive Director, policy-making, and financial management.

IHMM has two Board seats expiring at the end of 2023. IHMM is soliciting candidates for these two seats; one an At-Large Director seat that may be held by a CHMM, CHMP, CDGP, CSHM or CSMP. One a CSMP Director seat that must be held by a CSMP.

The composition of the present Board is here > https://ihmm.org/board-of-directors/

Qualified candidates may submit nomination papers [self nomination is acceptable] on or before June 30, 2023. The documents for this announcement, procedures, and nomination form are here:

• 2024 IHMM Nominations and Elections Process

• 2024 IHMM Call for Nominations

• 2024 IHMM Fillable Nominations Form

IHMM Excellence in EHS Management Award

The Excellence in EHS Management Award recognizes an individual who has excelled in their role as an EHS manager. The Institute for Hazardous Materials Management [IHMM] will present the award at the annual National Safety Council Expo.

The honoree will receive a commemorative plaque and be recognized in a press release and in IHMM member communications. Travel expenses to the award ceremony will be subsidized. If traveling from overseas IHMM will pay travel expenses from the nearest port of entry.

Nominations will be accepted from March through July of each year and the presentation to the winner will be in conjunction with the National Safety Council Congress and Expo, this year on October 23-25, 2023 in New Orleans.

Make your nominations here >>  https://ihmm.org/ehs-management-award/

See previous award winners here >> https://ihmm.org/past-honorees/

IHMM Needs Volunteers

“There’s nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer.” — Jimmy Doolittle. We all benefit from the expertise, knowledge sharing, content creation and mentoring that our volunteer leaders share with our communities of practice.

IHMM has a wide variety of ways that our certificants and members can volunteer their time, make a substantial contribution to their communities of practice, and earn valuable Continuing Maintenance Points [CMPs].

Volunteering with IHMM is a deeply rewarding and giving endeavor, ranging from being a subject matter expert on a scheme committee to leading discussions in our COLLABORATION engagement platform to becoming a mentor for a college student.

Take a few minutes and review How to Become An IHMM Volunteer, and then scroll down and take the volunteer self-assessment.

CHMP Scheme Committee

• Must be a CHMP > https://ihmm.org/chmp-scheme-committee/

Government Affairs Committee

• Open to all certificants, We need volunteers in these states:  We have partially succeeded in another 16 states – Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Florida, Delaware, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine. [Orange/Black Stripe states in the map above] These are states where the requirements of an “environmental professional” or QEP are cited that coincide with an IHMM credential so that relatively little work would need to be done to clarify the desired outcome.
• > https://ihmm.org/government-affairs-committee/

Student CHMM Committee

• Needs two members, open to CHMMs > https://ihmm.org/ihmm-student-chmm-committee/

A Collaborative Culture

There are 956 different conversations going on in the IHMM/HMS Collaboration platform this week.

A collaborative culture is important for every business but is especially important for our hazardous materials, dangerous goods, environment, health, and safety communities of practice. Do you have a problem you need to solve and want the opinions of your colleagues? This is where we come together to help each other.

IHMM credentialed professionals are at the top 1% of their professions and their reach is global. We are at the forefront of environmental protection, health, and safety and this is where collaborating with the best people in their fields, always willing to help one another, lessens the stress of our jobs, and where we strive as a team to make a difference of which we are proud.

We opened COLLABORATION to enable thousands of certificants and supporters to collaborate together. You can collaborate here.

Access to COLLABORATION is through the same username/password you use to access your MYIHMM account. Having a problem? Contact Jimmy Nguyen at [email protected]

ECHA recommends eight substances for REACH authorisation

To protect workers and the environment, we recommend that the European Commission adds eight substances, including lead, to the REACH Authorisation List. Once substances are added to the list, companies will need to apply for authorisation to continue using them.

Info session on PFAS restriction proposal: material published

The video recording and presentations from the online info session explaining the proposed REACH restriction on PFAS are now available online. A Q&A document with answers to received questions will be published soon.

Let us know what you thought about the event by replying to our short questionnaire.

EPA Proposes Tough Air, Workplace Standards To Limit EtO Emissions

EPA is proposing new measures that would significantly strengthen regulatory oversight of emissions of the solvent ethylene oxide (EtO) from sterilization facilities and other settings, unveiling plans to toughen existing Clean Air Act rules and set strict new workplace safety standards under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to mitigate high cancer risks.

The package unveiled April 11 includes a proposed rule that would revise the national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for commercial sterilization facilities in line with EPA’s 2016 assessment under the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) that found EtO to be much more harmful than previously thought.

EPA is also proposing stringent workplace standards under FIFRA. In a “Proposed Interim Registration Review Decision” (PID), EPA imposes tough standards that are nationally applicable across all workplaces handling EtO.

“These proposals build on EPA’s extensive outreach to communities across the nation and reflect close coordination among key federal partners. Together they would significantly reduce worker and community exposure to harmful levels of ethylene oxide. EPA will continue to use every available tool to safeguard our nation’s communities, including workers, from exposure to toxic chemicals and to deliver important public health protections,” Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.

The NESHAP proposal will apply to 86 existing commercial sterilizers and at least two planned sterilizers, reducing EtO emissions from the facilities by 19 tons per year, or 80 percent. EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe told reporters that making the expected reductions is a “moral imperative.”

–Inside EPA

EPA Touts Ambition Of New Car, Truck GHG Emissions Proposals

EPA has unveiled two long-anticipated proposals to curb emissions from passenger vehicles and heavy trucks, touting the overall climate and other benefits of the actions as well as projections that the plan for cars and light trucks will help spur vehicle electrification rates well above prior Biden administration goals over the next 10 years.

The agency projects that the two proposals combined will curb carbon dioxide emissions by almost 10 billion tons by 2055, with roughly three fourths of that, or 7.3 billion tons, attributable to the light-duty plan.

That is equivalent to more than twice the country’s CO2 emissions in 2022, according to a White House fact sheet.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan during an April 11 press briefing described the two proposals as the “strongest ever federal pollution standards for cars and trucks,” which will “accelerate the ongoing transition to a clean vehicles future, tackle the climate crisis and improve our air quality for communities across the country.”

The proposed rule covering passenger cars, light trucks and some medium-duty vehicles, would set new multi-pollutant standards for model years 2027 to 2032.

Agency officials said during the press call that the light-duty proposal’s performance standard would include an 82 grams of CO2 per mile limit by 2032.

–Inside EPA

Supreme Court Weighs New Review of Chevron Amid Justices’ Skepticism

The Supreme Court is poised to decide whether to hear a case brought by fishermen and conservative groups that could provide a new test for the court’s decades-old Chevron doctrine, which grants discretion to EPA and other agencies to interpret ambiguous statutory language, amid skepticism from some justices that the doctrine should survive.

The high court justices are slated to hold an April 14 conference where they will consider whether to grant a petition for a writ of certiorari in Loper Bright Enterprise, et al. v. Gina Raimondo, et al., which asks the court to determine whether Chevron requires deference to the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) finding that it has statutory power to force domestic vessels to pay the salaries of the monitors they are required to carry.

While the case centers on NMFS’ authority under the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), if the court agrees to hear the case, the petitioners and many amici plan to invite the justices to overrule the doctrine entirely, though it remains unclear whether a majority of justices support such a move.

The high court has not issued a Chevron-based ruling in six years and since then has mostly ignored Chevron entirely, including in its June 2022 ruling in West Virginia v. EPA, which held that EPA lacks authority under the “major questions” doctrine to require generation shifting from dirtier power plants to cleaner burning ones.

Industry Charges NEPA Climate Guide Favors Renewables, Delays Reviews

Major industry groups are slamming the White House’s guidance for considering greenhouse gases and climate change in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews, arguing the document pushes agencies to consider an ill-defined, broad range of emissions and unfairly weights climate impact as a deciding factor in environmental reviews.

Power generators, fossil fuel developers, and other industry groups also charge the January guide from the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) would unnecessarily slow environmental reviews when federal officials should instead speed them to ease the power sector buildout needed to support President Joe Biden’s push to electrify vehicles and other sectors.

“[T]he Interim Guidance will likely increase the level of analysis that agencies will need to perform, reducing the efficiency of the environmental review process and delaying decision-making and potentially blocking critical investments both envisioned by [the Inflation Reduction Act, the bipartisan infrastructure law and the CHIPS and Science Act] and otherwise needed,” argues a coalition of groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Chemistry Council, the American Gas Association, the American Petroleum Institute (API), and the American Public Gas Association, in an April 10 comment.

Among other issues, CEQ’s January guidance requires project reviews to assess direct and indirect GHG emissions.

States, Industry Warn Of Implementation Concerns With Tougher PM NAAQS

States and industry groups that otherwise differ over EPA’s plan to tighten fine particulate matter (PM2.5) standards are agreeing on the need for the agency to ease serious implementation challenges that would accompany tighter limits, especially over issues like wildfires that are most pronounced in California and other Western states.

EPA’s plan to reconsider and tighten its national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) is supported by some states and environmental groups, who urge the agency to set even stricter limits than those proposed.

Many industry groups, and other states, oppose the measure as unnecessary or unsupported by scientific evidence.

While EPA did not invite comment on its implementation regime, in comments recently submitted on its plan, groups on opposite sides of the discussion say there is at least some agreement that the work of implementing tougher PM NAAQS would have a “profound impact” on states — and industry — and would require EPA to think hard about certain issues.

These issues would include the impacts of wildfire, controlled “prescribed burns” used to limit wildfire, dust storms and other “exceptional events,” foreign emissions, air permits and mountain topography prone to trapping air pollution, among others.

2023 National Safety Stand Down to Prevent Falls in Construction – May 1-5, 2023

Fatalities caused by falls from elevation continue to be a leading cause of death for construction employees, accounting for 378 of the 986 construction fatalities recorded in 2021 (BLS data). Those deaths were preventable. The National Safety Stand-Down raises fall hazard awareness across the country in an effort to stop fall fatalities and injuries.

What is a Safety Stand-Down?

A Safety Stand-Down is a voluntary event for employers to talk directly to employees about safety. Any workplace can hold a stand-down by taking a break to focus on “Fall Hazards” and reinforcing the importance of “Fall Prevention”. Employers of companies not exposed to fall hazards, can also use this opportunity to have a conversation with employees about the other job hazards they face, protective methods, and the company’s safety policies and goals. It can also be an opportunity for employees to talk to management about fall and other job hazards they see.

Who Can Participate?

Anyone who wants to prevent hazards in the workplace can participate in the Stand-Down. In past years, participants included commercial construction companies of all sizes, residential construction contractors, sub- and independent contractors, highway construction companies, general industry employers, the U.S. Military, other government participants, unions, employer’s trade associations, institutes, employee interest organizations, and safety equipment manufacturers.

• Webinar: Preventing Falls through Improved Design (Wednesday, March 29 at 2:00 p.m. ET). This interorganizational webinar will begin with a general explanation of Prevention through Design (PtD) and how it can be used to improve not only building design, but also work and equipment design.

For more information >> https://www.osha.gov/stop-falls-stand-down

OSHA’s Safe + Sound Campaign is a nationwide opportunity to raise awareness and understanding of the value of proactive occupational safety and health (OSH) programs in all workplaces. Mark your calendars! Safe + Sound Week will take place from August 7-13, 2023. Safe + Sound Week is a nationwide event held each August that recognizes the successes of workplace health and safety programs and offers information and ideas on how to keep America’s workers safe. Registration for Safe + Sound Week opens in early July.  We look forward to your participation!

Safe + Sound emphasizes the need for safety programs at small- and mid-sized businesses, which are more likely to have limited resources dedicated to safety. As you know, effective OSH programs can help organizations identify and manage workplace risk before they cause injury or illness, improving sustainability and the bottom line. Safety and health management systems are a critical best practice to ensure that OSH programs achieve significant results and lower risk exposure.

Earn a Challenge Coin

Workers are an important resource for identifying workplace hazards and implementing changes. Safety reporting systems allow ideas and suggestions for improving safety to be captured.

Take the Speak Up for Safety Challenge! Review your safety reports with a team to find common themes and opportunities to improve your overall workplace safety and health performance.

Complete the challenge and earn your virtual challenge coin! Then, share the results in your workplace and on social media to show how you encourage workers to #SpeakUpForSafety to be #SafeAndSoundAtWork.

Your Partner Punch List

We would appreciate if you could support Safe + Sound by doing the following:

• Promote the Speak Up for Safety Challenge to your stakeholders

Sponsored Content

Respiratory Protection Program Management – Susan Harwood Training Grant

University of Texas Medical Branch, William J. Pate, CHMM

This training course is intended to educate participants on the requirements of developing and implementing a compliant Respiratory Protection Program. The focus of this course will be on topics related to preparation for an infectious disease pandemic. At the end of this training the attendee should be able to:
1) Manage an effective respiratory protection program through proficient application of 29 CFR 1910.134
2) Compare potential routes of exposure
3) Identify and implement potential controls (engineering, administrative, and PPE)
4) List the equipment needed to support fit testing
5) Explain the difference between qualitative and quantitative fit testing
6) Discuss the different types of respiratory protection available
7) Demonstrate correct donning/doffing of respiratory protection

This training course is 7.5 hours and participants will receive a certificate of completion that may be suitable for professional certification maintenance (CSP, CIH, CHMM, CHSP, etc.).

This course will provide 7.5 Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) contact hours. Accreditation statement: University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston is approved with distinction as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by Louisiana State Nurses Association –  Approver, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. LSNA Provider No. 4002176

This training is available only to employees and employers who are subject to OSHA regulatory requirements.  Grant-funded training is not available to state or local government employees unless they have occupational safety & health responsibilities (e.g. occupational safety and health trainers, program managers, committee members, or employees responisble for abating unsafe and unhealthy working conditions for their organization).  Registration in this course confirms that meet these conditions.  This training will include the opportunity to don, doff, and fit test respiratory protection including N95, half-face, full-face, and powered air-purifying respirators.  Anyone participating in this training and wanting to put on a respirator agrees that they have been medically cleared by their employer to do so in accordance with OSHA’s Respiratory Protection Standard.

The 8-hour training program is offered at various dates from March through September. For more information and registration for this FREE program go here >> https://www.utmb.edu/ehs/programs/radiation-occupational-safety-program/RPPSHTG2023

Columbia Southern University

The Hazardous Materials Society [HMS] is a partner of Columbia Southern University. Columbia Southern University is an online university based in Orange Beach, Alabama, that strives to change and improve lives through higher education by enabling students to maximize their professional and personal potential.

A subsidiary of Columbia Southern Education Group, CSU offers online degree programs at the associate, bachelor, master, doctorate or certificate levels in a multitude of areas such as occupational safety and health, fire administration, criminal justice, business administration, human resource management, health care administration and more. CSU also features undergraduate and graduate certificate programs to provide focused training in specialized areas for adult learners.

Click on the CSU graphic at left and learn more about the professional development and degree program opportunities at CSU.

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