IHMM Today July 30, 2024

IHMM Today is an online publication of the Institute of Hazardous Materials Management® (IHMM®).

Other than content specifically provided by IHMM, articles contained in IHMM Today are compiled from

independent sources and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of IHMM.

Inside IHMM

Creating a Collaborative Culture

There are 1,402 different conversations going on in the IHMM/HMS Collaboration platform this week.

Do you have a problem you need to solve and want the opinions of your colleagues? We created the COLLABORATION platform to enable our certificants to network, learn, and grow from one another.

This is where we collaborate with the best people in their fields, always willing to help one another lessen the stress of our jobs and where we strive as a team to make a difference of which we are proud.

You can collaborate here.

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

IHMM Proposes Changes in Government Recognition of Credentials

IHMM Signs Letter Opposing Reductions in OSH Worker’s Pay – The IHMM Government Affairs Committee has agreed to sign a coalition letter opposing reductions in pay for IH and OSH employees. Here is the coalition letter we signed.

IHMM submitted comments on OSHA Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health (ACCSH): Notice of Meetings concerning OSHA-2024-0002-0007, and highlighted the creation of IHMM’s Certified Pandemic Preparedness Specialist [CPPS] credential.

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.

Beltway Buzz – Ogletree Deakins

Biden Out, Harris In. On July 21, 2024, President Joe Biden announced that he would not run for a second term. Vice President Kamala Harris is now the presumptive Democratic nominee going into the November elections, which are 102 days away. Here is what we know about Vice President Harris, gleaned mostly from her presidential campaign and 2017-2021 time in office as senator from California.

• Traditional Labor. Labor unions are already lining up behind Harris, and the AFL-CIO has endorsed her, calling her “a true partner in leading the most pro-labor administration in history.” Harris chaired the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, which was instructed to “identify statutory, regulatory, or other changes that may be necessary to make policies, practices, and programs more effective means of supporting worker organizing and collective bargaining.” Harris also cosponsored the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 (PRO Act) during her time in the U.S. Senate.
• Equal Pay. In 2019, while running for president, Harris advocated for a plan that would require employers to obtain an “Equal Pay Certification” that would require employers to “demonstrate they have eliminated pay disparities between women and men who are doing work of equal value.” Companies that fail to comply would “be fined 1% of their profits for every 1% wage gap they allow to persist for work of equal value.” Harris would impose this plan on federal contractors via executive order if the U.S. Congress does not pass a bill.
• Paid Leave. Harris was a cosponsor of the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act, which is a version of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) that would provide paid leave.
• Immigration. Harris was a cosponsor of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which would provide a path to lawful permanent residency for certain undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.

NLRB News. It was a busy week for traditional labor-related matters.

• NLRB Finalizes “Fair Choice” Rule. On July 26, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its final “Fair Choice–Employee Voice Final Rule.” The rule rescinds a 2020 NLRB rule and, despite its name, takes away secret ballot elections from employees in certain situations. More specifically:
  • The final rule restores the NLRB’s “blocking charge” policy, which allows unions to delay or postpone elections by making unfair labor practice allegations against employers. This blocking charge policy frustrates employee free choice by delaying or denying employees access to secret ballot elections. Unions use this strategy most effectively in decertification elections to deny employees the opportunity to remove the union as their bargaining representative.
  • The rule also prohibits employees from voting in an NLRB-supervised secret ballot election to determine whether there is majority support in situations in which the employer voluntarily recognizes the union as the exclusive bargaining representative.
  • The rule undercuts employee free choice in the construction industry by allowing Section 8(f) prehire agreements to be converted to Section 9(a) agreements even without positive evidence of majority employee support.

The rule becomes effective September 30, 2024. The rule is also potentially eligible for rescission by the 119th Congress pursuant to the Congressional Review Act.

• NLRB Withdraws Joint-Employer Appeal. Late last week, the NLRB withdrew its appeal of the March 8, 2024, decision by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacating the Board’s 2023 joint-employer rule. This means that the Board’s 2020 joint-employer rule, which requires substantial control over essential employment terms for joint-employment status, remains in place.
• Chair McFerran’s Renomination. The business community continues to keep a watchful eye on a potential hearing and/or confirmation vote on the renomination of NLRB Chair Lauren McFerran. On August 1, 2024, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) will vote on the nominations of McFerran and Joshua L. Ditelberg to be members of the NLRB (as well as Mark G. Eskenazi to be a member of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission). Next week is the Senate’s last week in D.C. before breaking for its scheduled August recess. So if the HELP Committee advances the nominees, a full Senate vote isn’t expected until at least September.

Pennsylvania Court Rejects Motions to Enjoin FTC’s Non-compete Ban. This week, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania rejected a tree service company’s motion to enjoin and stay the effective date of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) rule banning non-compete agreements. The court rejected the plaintiff’s arguments “that the FTC lacks substantive rulemaking authority under its enabling statute, that the FTC exceeded its authority, and that Congress unconstitutionally delegated legislative power to the FTC.” The ruling sets the stage for a potential circuit split, as earlier this month, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas enjoined the rule as applied to the particular plaintiffs. Justin A. Allen and Jack H. Robinson have the details.

Safe + Sound Week 2024

Safe + Sound Week will be held from August 12-18, 2024.

Registration is open now. Visit the Safe + Sound event archive to view participation from previous years.  

Participating in Safe + Sound Week Is Easy and Fun!

• Fill out the short registration form (takes 2 minutes or less!)
• Add your business to the Safe + Sound Week map.
• Get free resources and customizable materials.
• Hold an event.
• Take a survey.
• Get a certificate!

SIGN UP NOW!

NIOSH Mental Health Resources

NIOSH launched an Impact Wellbeing Guide: Taking Action to Improve Healthcare Worker Wellbeing. This Guide offers six concrete Action Steps that hospital leaders can take to accelerate or supplement professional well-being efforts in their hospitals. It was developed in partnership with the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation and tested in six CommonSpirit hospitals across the U.S.

Government Shutdown Threat Looms in September

EPA Finalizes Changes to the e-Manifest Regulations

On July 26, 2024, EPA finalized amendments to the manifest regulations for shipments of hazardous waste and polychlorinated biphenyls that are transported for treatment, storage, and disposal.

This rule is intended to reduce the reporting burden on industry and states, increase information availability, improve compliance monitoring, and prepare for future potential integration with biennial reporting requirements. EPA aims to modernize and streamline the manifest process, increasing expected benefits of the e-Manifest system and encouraging further adoption of electronic manifests through increased utility of the system.

Read more here.

OSHA Emergency Response Standard Hearing

The End of the Chevron Doctrine and the Reassertion of Judicial Primacy in Reviewing Federal Regulatory Actions

National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants From Hazardous Waste Combustors Malfunction and Electronic Reporting Amendments

ASSP Standards Developments

IHMM is a member of the American Society of Safety Professionals [ASSP], and works on an ASSP standards committee. We are pleased to bring you recent standards development issues here.

OSHA Heat Standard Coming

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released a proposed rule that would protect approximately 36 million workers in indoor and outdoor work settings from extreme heat. The proposed rule would require employers to develop an injury and illness prevention plan to control heat hazards in workplaces affected by excessive heat. Among other things, the plan would require employers to evaluate heat risks and — when heat increases risks to workers — implement requirements for drinking water, rest breaks and control of indoor heat. It would also require a plan to protect new or returning workers unaccustomed to working in high heat conditions.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway is a new requirement that affected employers (there’s a list of exemptions, which are mostly office and telework employee related) must develop and deploy a written heat safety plan. Once the formal proposal is published, there will be a comment period and plenty of opportunity to provide feedback to OSHA before any rule is finalized.

Federal Register Notice

Attention Transporters of Hazardous Materials: PHMSA Proposes Registration Fee Updates

PHMSA

In an NPRM, the agency, to account for what it contends are increased transport of hazardous materials as well as what it says are the burdens such transport places on first responders, proposes updates to the registration fees under the statutorily mandated registration and fee assessment program for persons who transport, or offer for transportation, certain categories and quantities of hazardous materials.

PHMSA’s proposed rulemaking would increase the annual fee by $125 for those registrants qualifying as a small business or not-for-profit organization (an increase from $250 to $375) and those registrants not qualifying as a small business or not-for-profit organization by $425 (an increase from $2,575 to $3,000).

Other proposed amendments in the NPRM include:

• Implementing an electronic-only registration fee payment process, based on changes to the payment processes implemented by the Department of Treasury
• Revising requirements to clarify that a Certificate of Registration may be carried in either electronic or paper form, for both motor carriers and those who transport hazardous materials by vessel.

The proposed update to fees will generate the estimated $6.4 million dollars necessary to fund PHMSA’s Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grants program at newly authorized levels in accordance with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (2021).

Comments are due no later than August 22^nd, 2024. See details and how to comment here.

Federal Register Notice

Notice of Public Meetings: International Standards on the Transport of Dangerous Goods

PHMSA’s OHMS will be hosting public forums in advance of four international meetings to allow the public to give input on current proposals being considered by the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP) and the United Nations Sub-Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (UNSCOE TDG). The international meetings include:

• ICAO TDG Working Group 24 (WG/24), tentatively scheduled for October, in Montreal, Canada.
• The 65th session of the UNSCOE TDG, scheduled for November 25 to December 3, 2024, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Each of these public meetings will be held approximately two weeks before the corresponding international meeting at U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Headquarters in Washington, DC (1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building), with a remote participation option available. Specific information for each meeting, including date, time, conference call-in number, and details for advance registration will be posted when available on PHMSA’s website under “Upcoming Events.”

Federal Register here.

2024-2025 Hazardous Materials Registration Brochure

Offerors and transporters of certain quantities and types of hazardous materials are required to file an annual registration statement with DOT and pay a designated fee. These fees are used to fund PHMSA’s Emergency Preparedness grants, which support hazardous materials emergency response planning and training activities by states, local governments, and Native American Tribes.

This brochure, updated for the 2024-2025 registration year, details PHMSA’s Hazmat Registration program by explaining who must register, and when and how to register, and providing key dates, registration cost, and other important information.

Link: https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/registration/registration-mail-brochure

Note: Each registration year spans from July 1 to June 30, with early registration beginning May 1. Completed registration statements and payment must be submitted before July 1, 2024, or before engaging in any of the activities requiring registration, whichever is later.

Contact [email protected] for more information.

Federal School Safety Clearinghouse External Advisory Board

This week, the Department of Homeland Security announced the inaugural members of the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse External Advisory Board. The NCSS is honored to be part of this dedicated group of experts working to enhance K-12 school safety and security nationwide. Learn more here.

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Creating a Culture of Support: Enhancing Staff Resilience in Emergency Situations Webinar

In this webinar on 9/12, presenters from the Colorado School of Public Health will discuss improving systems around emergency drills through tailored training, gathering staff feedback, and identifying local resources. Participants will learn to customize training for their districts, lead effective feedback sessions, and implement changes based on staff input. Registration coming soon.

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Understanding Firearm-Related Injury and School Violence

In this 5-part podcast interview series released earlier this year, experts cover crucial topics like youth suicide prevention, anonymous reporting systems, and community engagement. Listeners will gain a comprehensive understanding of how school safety strategies intersect with firearm-related injuries.

Episode 1 – Contributing Factors for Firearm-Related Injuries

Episode 2 – Firearm Safety, School Violence, and Youth Suicide

Episode 3 – Extreme Risk Protection Orders

Episode 4 – Anonymous Reporting Systems

Episode 5 – Community Engagement

Learn More Here

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8 Lessons Learned From a Real-Life Swatting Incident

Last fall we hosted a live webinar with staff from the city of Franklin, New Hampshire, and the Franklin School District. The discussion highlighted their response to a swatting incident in 2022.

With these crises becoming more common nationwide, preparation is crucial. Our latest blog post shares valuable insights from the Franklin team that may help school districts address potential security issues.  Learn more here.

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• 8/7 – Preventing Mass Attacks in Our Communities Webinar
  Hosted by the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center
• 9/25-26 – 2024 National Summit on K-12 School Safety and Security

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Explore Our School Threat Assessment Toolkit:

Now Available in Interactive Web Format!

Resources to Update Your Aerosol Acumen

Understanding aerosol physics, biology, instrumentation, and control strategies can make you a more effective industrial hygienist. Whether you are a newly minted IH or a seasoned pro, learning more or refreshing your knowledge can give you the background to address current and emerging threats. AIHA Aerosol Technology Committee members and colleagues have produced free video resources to share with AIHA members and others who would like to be better informed about aerosol science and technology. Investigate these videos by top-notch aerosol scientists to take advantage of this learning opportunity that could be considered for certification maintenance points.

Read more here.

IHMM-HMS Event Calendar