IHMM Today January 23, 2024

INSIDE IHMM

IHMM and EPA Collaborate on the Continuing Challenge Hazmat Workshop

The Continuing Challenge is the oldest hazmat training workshop by responders by responders and we are entering our 35^th year.  The 2024 event is from September 3-5, 2024 in Sacramento, California.

We are currently looking for instructors for the 2024 workshop in all things hazmat including:

Planning/SARA Title III;

Mental Health for First Responders;

Drug Labs, Incident Command System and Response Management;

WMD/Explosives;

General Hazmat Response;

HAZWOPER;

Chemistry;

Oil Spills;

Hazmat Firefighting, Risk-Exposure Assessment;

Legal Issues for First Responders;

Media and Community Relations;

Radiation Response and Cleanup;

Air Monitoring and Sampling; Sampling; and

Lithium Ion Battery and Other Alternative Fuels Response.

Our students are hazmat team members from local, state, tribal, Federal and International fire and health departments as well as private industry.

Everyone can get more information at Hazmat.org.

Each seminar typically ranges from 2 hours to 8 hours in length. If you are interested in presenting at the Continuing Challenge then let us know by sending an email to [email protected] with a title, name of the program above, and a short description of the material you would like to deliver. Deadline for submissions so we can get them to EPA is February 1, 2024.

A Collaborative Culture

There are 1,204 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]

IHMM Proposes Changes in Government Recognition of Credentials

State of Maine Department of Environmental Protection is proposing to update Chapter 851, Standards for Generators of Hazardous Waste. In the current regulation work is required by a professional engineer. IHMM is proposing to include an environmental professional as defined by 40 CFR §312.10.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has a number of courses in occupational safety and health within which OSHA credits “A degree in occupational safety and health, a Certified Safety Professional (CSP) or a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) designation.” IHMM will propose including the CHMM, CSHM, and CSMP.

Beltway Buzz, Ogletree Deakins

Snowstorm Spurs Deal to Continue Government Funding. Despite all the negotiations, closed-door meetings, and political caterwauling, a mild snowstorm was perhaps the catalyst for a flurry of activity that saved us—again—from a federal government shutdown. Seeking to get out of town before snow descended on the Washington, D.C., area, on January 18, 2024, the U.S. Congress passed another continuing resolution that will extend funding for the federal government to March 1 and March 8, 2024 (instead of January 19 and February 2, 2024). This will be the third time that Congress has had to postpone a final deal on fiscal year 2024 appropriations.

To Defer or Not Defer. Administrative law wonks were on high court alert this week, as the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral argument in two consolidated cases concerning the viability of so-called “Chevron deference.” Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council—decided forty years ago—requires federal courts to defer to agencies’ reasonable interpretations of ambiguities in the statutes they administer. Critics of Chevron claim that the decision has given too much authority to federal regulators’ interpretations of statutes when statutory interpretation should be a job for the judicial branch. Proponents of the doctrine argue that it helpfully constrains federal judges from making policy calls on issues that they know little about. Ultimately, the Court’s decision could have a significant impact on agencies’ enforcement actions and regulatory agendas. Expect a decision around June of this year.

Immigration Update. It was a busy week for immigration policy news. Here is what the Buzz is tracking:

• H-1B Filings to be available online. Late last week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that in February 2024, it will make available online organizational accounts “to increase efficiency and ease collaboration for organizations and their legal representatives.” The organizational accounts will allow multiple individuals from the same organization to prepare and file H-1B registrations, petitions, and premium processing requests.

• H-1B modernization reg. moves forward. USCIS’s regulatory proposal to modernize the H-1B visa program has moved on to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review. This is a quick step forward in the rulemaking process, as the public comment period closed less than one month ago. In its proposal, USCIS indicated that it “may move to finalize the proposed provisions through one or more final rules,” but it is unclear at this time what is actually being reviewed by OIRA. If USCIS is moving to finalize the proposal via separate rulemakings, it is possible that OIRA may just be reviewing the beneficiary-centric selection procedure portion of the proposal.

• Fee schedule. OIRA is also reviewing USCIS’s proposal to increase fees for certain immigration and naturalization benefit requests. As proposed, the regulation would significantly increase fees on employers that supplement their workforces with foreign workers. In just one example, USCIS is proposing to increase the H-1B registration fee from $10 to $215—a 2,050 percent increase.

• H-2B cap reached. USCIS announced that it “has received enough petitions to reach the cap for the additional 20,716 H-2B visas made available for returning workers for the first half of fiscal year 2024 with start dates on or before March 31, 2024.” The supplemental visas were made available pursuant to a temporary final rule published in November 2023. Natalie L. McEwan has the details.

Employee Retention Credit: Accelerated Termination? Who says Congress can’t get anything done? In what may be described as a rare moment of bipartisanship, this week Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) announced that they had come to an agreement on a bipartisan, bicameral, tax package. The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024” (H.R. 7024) would make changes to the child tax credit, low-income housing tax credit, and research and development deductibility, among other provisions. Here is why employers should take note: in addition to these changes, the framework proposes to end the CARES Act Employee Retention Credit (ERC) program as early as January 31, 2024. (Currently, 2020 ERC claims must be filed by April 15, 2024, and 2021 claims must be filed by April 15, 2025). The House Committee on Ways and Means was scheduled to mark up the bill today, so this could move quickly (though passage by January 31 would be unusually fast).

U.S. Senators: “I Can Buy Myself Flowers.” In addition to passing legislation to continue federal government funding, senators did other important work this week: they passed a resolution (S. Res. 526) to repeal the ban on flowers on the U.S. Senate floor. Way back when, the opening of each Congress was quite a spectacle, and there was a tradition of family members, friends, and political supporters sending their favorite legislators flowers to be displayed throughout the legislative chamber and adjoining galleries. The practice eventually became unwieldy, messy, and contentious (some legislators supposedly sent themselves flowers in secret in efforts to artificially inflate their own popularity), so flowers were banned on the Senate floor in 1905. In 1983, a floral exception was made in the event of the death of a sitting senator. This week’s resolution says “hosta la vista” to both the 1905 and 1983 resolutions.

What Is “Disease X?”

The World Health Organization uses the term “Disease X” to refer to an infection with the potential for causing the next epidemic – or a new global pandemic

What is Disease X?

Don’t panic! Disease X doesn’t exist yet – but it might one day. Disease X is the label that the World Health Organization uses to refer to some currently unknown infectious condition that is capable of causing an epidemic or – if it spreads across multiple countries – a pandemic. The term, coined in 2017, can be used to mean a newly discovered pathogen or any known pathogen with newly acquired pandemic potential. By the latter definition, covid-19 was the first Disease X. But there could be another in the future.

Why are people talking about it now?

The World Health Organization has been warning global leaders about the risks of future pandemics at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, held this week in Davos, Switzerland. “Some people say this may create panic,” says WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “No. It’s better to anticipate something that may happen – because it has happened in our history many times – and prepare for it.”

IHMM created the Certified Pandemic Preparedness Specialist™ [CPPS™] credential out of the conviction that the world was not prepared for COVID, and is similarly not well prepared for the next pandemic. When the next pandemic comes, the private and public sectors will need to rely upon trained, tested, and certified professionals to give sound advice.

Read more here

New Regulations for Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods Unveiled

The regulations concern the packaging, handling, storage, and transportation of dangerous goods and special loads abroad.

In a move to enhance the safety of transporting dangerous goods, the latest regulations have been outlined in the “orange books” of the ADR, or the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road.

These regulations, detailed in part 4 of ADR volume 2, bring a comprehensive framework for the packaging and transportation of hazardous substances.

ADR ensures that any dangerous goods transported by road can cross international borders freely if the goods, vehicles, and drivers comply with its rules. ADR has been in force since 1968 and is administered by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

Read more here.

Communities with Combined Sewers Adapting to a Changing Climate: Webcast Series

January 30, 2024 and February 6, 2024

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time

Additional Information and Registration

The U.S. EPA is hosting a webcast series on CSO communities adapting to a changing climate. The impacts of climate change, such as changes in annual precipitation, storm intensity, storm surge, and/or sea level rise, are anticipated to impact the performance of many combined sewer systems and influence the volume and frequency of combined sewer overflows, sanitary sewer overflows, and basement backups. Several CSO communities will share their stories of how they are impacted by and have adapted to climate change.

January 30, 2024 (Register Here)

Presenters:

• Scott Schreiber, Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority, NJ
• Marlene Feist, City of Spokane, WA

February 6, 2024 (Register Here)

Presenters:

• Todd King, Great Lakes Water Authority and Samuel Smalley, Detroit Water and Sewage Department, MI
• James Stitt, Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, PA

For any questions related to this announcement, please contact [email protected]

Request for Nominations of OSHA’s Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health (FACOSH)

As you may be aware, OSHA is requesting nominations for membership on its Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health (FACOSH). Nominations for FACOSH must be submitted by February 23, 2024.

Individuals may submit nominations and supporting materials, identified by Docket No. OSHA-2023-0012, electronically at https://www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. For more information, see the Federal Register Notice.

Understanding Firearm-Related Injury and School Violence

Episode 1: Contributing Factors for Firearm-Related Injuries

In the first episode of our new podcast series, we are joined by Dr. Marc Zimmerman, co-director of the National Center for School Safety. Together, we explore the issue of firearm-related injury and school violence by discussing contributing factors and providing some general context. Moreover, we look at the positive influences that can significantly reduce the probability of injury and violence among students.

LISTEN HERE

EPA Issues Final SNUR to Prevent Inactive PFAS from Reentering Commerce

On January 11, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final significant new use rule (SNUR) to prevent companies from starting or resuming the manufacture (including import) or processing of 329 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that are designated as inactive on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substance Inventory. 89 Fed. Reg. 1822. The final rule notes that persons subject to the final SNUR are required to notify EPA at least 90 days before commencing any manufacture (including import) or processing of the chemical substance for a significant new use. Once EPA receives a significant new use notification (SNUN), EPA must review and make an affirmative determination on the SNUN and take such action as is required by any such determination before the manufacture (including import) or processing for the significant new use can commence. EPA states that such a review “will assess whether the new use may present unreasonable risk to health or the environment and ensure that EPA takes appropriate action as required to protect health or the environment.” The SNUR will take effect March 11, 2024. For more information, please read the full memorandum.

Read more here.

NPRM: Streamlining Requirements for the Approval of Certain Energetic Materials

On November 30, PHMSA published the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) “HM-257A: Streamlining Requirements for the Approval of Certain Energetic Materials” to the Federal Register. This NPRM proposes to amend the Hazardous Materials Regulations to:

• Streamline the classification and approval process for low-hazard ground device fireworks
• Codify existing guidance for UN3178 novelty devices
• Revise classification criteria for small arms cartridges to include tracer ammunition
• Include the PHMSA Portal as the method to submit applications for all explosives approvals
• Allow for voluntary termination of an explosive approval by the approval holder.

If you’re involved in the pyrotechnics supply chain, PHMSA wants your input! The public comment period for this NPRM ends on February 28, 2024.
Interested in being the first to know when PHMSA posts notices and rulemakings to the Federal Register? Receive email notifications from the Federal Register whenever PHMSA posts by visiting the Federal Register site and clicking ‘Subscribe’ at https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/pipeline-and-hazardous-materials-safety-administration.

Security Requirements and Considerations for Hazardous Materials Transportation

Millions of tons of hazardous materials transported each day, but not all shipments carry the same level of risk. Certain quantities and types of hazmat require security plans due to the elevated risks that they pose.

This brochure outlines the Safety and Security Plan requirements found in 49 CFR Part 172, Subpart I, including when a security plan is required, what should be included in the plan, and what additional training is necessary for those who fall under the security plan requirements. It also offers suggested security measures, per PHMSA’s Risk Management Self-Evaluation Framework, to help develop of these plans.

Link: https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/training/hazmat/security-requirements-brochure

OSHA – New Injury Tracking Application

Please be aware that the updated Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Injury Tracking Application (ITA) is now available from osha.gov/injuryreporting. This page provides requirements and guidance about electronically submitting your establishments’ injury and illness data from the OSHA Form 300A: Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, OSHA Form 300: Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, and OSHA Form 301: Injury and Illness Incident Report.   These data help employers, workers and OSHA evaluate the safety of a workplace, understand industry hazards, and implement worker protections to reduce and eliminate hazards -preventing future workplace injuries and illnesses.

As a reminder, establishments that meet certain size and industry criteria are required to electronically submit injury and illness data from their OSHA Form 300A, 300, and 301 (or equivalent forms) once per year to OSHA via the ITA. Employers should visit the ITA Coverage Application to determine whether they are required to submit this data. Data collection for CY 2023 will begin January 2, 2024, and must be submitted by March 2, 2024.

Gavel Down, Gearing Up: 2024 State Legislative Sessions and How AIHA Empowers You

The echoes of the gavel are beginning to ring across state capitols, marking the official start of the 2024 legislative sessions. For occupational and environmental health and safety professionals, this signals a renewed call to action: a chance to influence policies that impact worker well-being across the nation.

State legislatures will introduce thousands of bills that will impact the OEHS profession in the coming months. In this crucial landscape, AIHA stands as your unwavering advocate. Through our robust State Team Program and the comprehensive resources of the AIHA Grassroots Advocacy Center, we equip you with the tools and knowledge to effectively engage with your state legislators and make a tangible difference.

Read more here.

EPA Updates

High Court’s Chevron Decision Expected To Drive New Litigation ‘Flood’

The Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on the fate of EPA and other agencies’ deference under the Chevron doctrine is almost certain to drive reams of new litigation and result in conflicting circuit decisions, legal observers say, given widespread expectations the justices will overturn or significantly cabin the doctrine.

Mayors Recite Fears Over High Costs Of EPA PFAS Drinking Water Limits

Mayors from cities around the country are reiterating their concerns to EPA that they will lack the funds to comply with an upcoming rule expected to strictly limit PFAS in drinking water, and argue that the agency should redirect its focus from water systems to instead aggressively stem the sources of these chemicals.

Industry Makes Case For EPA To Set 3-Year Implementation For PM Limits

The wood products industry is pressing EPA to delay implementation of any tougher limits it may soon finalize for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), making the legal case for a three-year delay of the rule’s effective date, echoing similar calls from Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) and the United Steelworkers union in seeking a delay of any tighter limits.

EPA Floats Methane Fee Proposal, Including Key Exemption Parameters

EPA has released long-awaited proposed implementing rules for the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) methane fee, outlining how to calculate payments by oil and gas facilities, when such payments must be made to the Treasury, and when and how officials would grant several exemptions to the fee required by Congress.

EPA Toughens CERCLA, RCRA Soil-Lead Screening Levels In New Guide

EPA is lowering recommended screening levels and strengthening guidance for cleaning up lead-contaminated soil at Superfund sites and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) corrective action facilities in new guidance, a move the agency expects will drive evaluation and cleanup at a “significant number” of residential properties.

EPA Urges Court To Deny State, Industry Plaintiffs’ Bid To Block 401 Rule

EPA is charging that Republican states and energy industry groups challenging its Clean Water Act (CWA) section 401 water quality certification rule lack standing to win a preliminary injunction against its application, arguing that plaintiffs fail to show they will suffer irreparable harm and are unlikely to succeed on the merits

–Inside EPA

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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