IHMM Today June 13, 2023

INSIDE IHMM

IHMM Board of Directors Nominations – Deadline June 30th

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/

A Collaborative Culture

There are 979 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]

Hazardous Materials: Harmonization With International Standards

PHMSA proposes to amend the Hazardous Materials Regulations to maintain alignment with international regulations and standards by adopting various amendments, including changes to proper shipping names, hazard classes, packing groups, special provisions, packaging authorizations, air transport quantity limitations, and vessel stowage requirements.

FR Citation: 88 FR 34568

Read the NPRM here

Published 5/30 comments by 7/31

Docket No. PHMSA-2021-0092 (HM-215Q)

Fallout From Sackett Continues, States Grapple With Ozone Emissions

State and other officials continue to grapple with the effects of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Sackett v. EPA that scaled back the reach of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Eastern states are meeting to discuss measures to curb ozone emissions as EPA’s Good Neighbor Rule faces significant challenges.

WOTUS

The National Association of Wetland Managers (NAWM) is holding a June 14 webinar to discuss the implications of the Supreme Court’s landmark Sackett ruling for protection of wetlands and other waterbodies. In its 5-4 ruling, the high court narrowed the test for determining when wetlands are “waters of the United States” under the CWA, holding generally that the term only applies to waters that have a “relatively permanent” connection to navigable waters.

Many environmentalists have warned that the ruling will gut protections for wetlands as well as many other waters. Speakers include Jon Devine, director of federal water policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, Donna Downing, NAWM’s senior legal policy advisor who previously served as jurisdiction team leader in EPA’s Office of Water, and Pat Parenteau, professor of law emeritus at Vermont Law School.

The Environmental Law Institute will also host a discussion of WOTUS issues during its June 15 webinar on CWA “basics.”

Ozone

The Ozone Transport Commission (OTC), the group of air officials from 12 Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states, will meet virtually June 14 at its annual meeting to discuss mobile and stationary source emissions driving ozone pollution in the region. At an April stakeholder meeting, the group discussed heavy-duty vehicle standards and catalytic converter standards, emissions inventories and reasonably available control technology (RACT) for stationary sources, among other issues. Officials may also discuss EPA’s newly expanded Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which is facing significant legal challenges that are raising doubts about the agency’s ability to craft a unified national policy.

Plastics

EPA is slated to receive comments through June 16 on its “Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution,” which seeks to implement bipartisan congressional mandates for reducing plastics in waterways and overall environmental harms from that waste. Industry groups have already raised significant concerns the agency is stretching its statutory basis by focusing more on cutting use of plastic goods and reworking their design than disposal, while raising new concerns about potential tightening of controls on pyrolysis, a controversial destruction technology.

The Senate environment committee’s Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight subcommittee is holding a June 15 hearing on the impacts of plastic production and disposal on environmental justice communities.

Vehicle Standards

Comments are due June 16 on EPA’s GHG standards for heavy-duty vehicles beginning in model year 2027, one of several closely watched vehicle standards proposed in recent months.

EPA recently rebuffed multiple requests to extend the comment deadline for the truck GHG proposal, and in a similar dynamic it rejected calls for more time to comment on its separate multi-pollutant proposal for passenger vehicles. Comments are due July 5 for that plan.

Resources for the Future on June 12 and 13 will host a workshop on zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) sales mandates, discussing research for effective, efficient, and equitable policy implementation.

Lead

A special panel of EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) will meet in person and virtually in Raleigh, NC, June 13 and 14 to discuss EPA’s draft integrated science assessment (ISA) supporting its review of the lead national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). The ISA, published March 31, finds that scientific evidence for several of lead’s harmful health effects is stronger than before, in addition to identifying some new effects, even as air exposures have fallen.

Public comments on the ISA are also due by June 13.

Environmental Justice

The White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC) is meeting June 13-15 in Phoenix where its members will hear updates from EPA and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) on key issues and will also discuss draft recommendations on EPA’s pending NAAQS for particulate matter and ozone, as well as for climate planning, preparedness, response, recovery and impacts.

Capitol Hill

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee is holding a June 14 hearing entitled, “Death by a Thousand Regulations: The Biden Administration’s Campaign to Bury America in Red Tape.”

The House Rules Committee meets June 12 to again consider several bills including two that would prohibit rules affecting gas stoves and others curbing agency regulations more broadly. The House Republican majority is trying again to bring the measures to the floor after a group of conservative lawmakers last week blocked a procedural vote that would have allowed them to advance, in response to the recent debt ceiling law.

Toxicity Testing

The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) is holding a June 16 event to release a long-awaited report on chemical tests that officials hope will help build “confidence” in new approach methods (NAMs) of testing, like computational toxicology. According to the committee’s description of the report, it “reviews the variability and relevance of existing mammalian toxicity tests, specifically when it comes to human health risk assessment,” and includes “findings for data-driven and science-based expectations” for NAMs.

–Inside EPA

Billions of $$ for Hazmat Remediation Projects Nationwide

The United States faces a constant barrage of potentially dangerous hazardous material-driven events: one of the most recent being a New Jersey fire in a one-time industrial facility. Add to that, the nation faces global warming, environmental degradation, and other major ecosystem challenges.

But there is some good news: billions of dollars are flowing to support improvements to the nation’s environmental health. The cash comes courtesy of 2021’s federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and other related legislation.

Community leaders and environmentalists have long been seeking government funding for remediation projects, clean water, green energy, and more. In the past two years, they have seen some of their wishes come true thanks to Congressional action. Besides putting money into ports, green tech, and other high-profile projects, the legislation also targets so called “legacy” pollution involving hazardous materials.

Read more >> https://www.triumvirate.com/blog/billions-of-funding-hazmat-remediation-projects-nationwide?utm_campaign=Oktopost-Greenlight%2FAir+Monitoring&utm_content=Link&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin

–Triumverate

Scaled-Back NEPA Changes Raise Questions On Broader Permitting Deal

Lawmakers’ enactment of relatively scaled-back changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as part of the debt-ceiling bill is raising questions about whether Congress can reach a broader bipartisan deal on permitting policy, even as the move paves the way for the White House to issue a long-awaited update to NEPA implementing rules.

Possible topics that could be addressed in a subsequent permitting bill include provisions easing build-out of transmission lines needed for clean power, as well as industry requests to further streamline NEPA procedures such as limits on judicial review, as well as possible changes to Clean Water Act (CWA) requirements.

But some observers are wondering whether the initial changes to NEPA — included as part of an agreement President Joe Biden reached with House Republicans to suspend the debt ceiling — might sap momentum for a broader permitting deal:

“They did the smart and easy stuff,” said American Clean Power Association President Jason Grumet, during a May 31 event hosted by Punchbowl News and sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute (API).

But “we are not going to have a modern energy future unless we have really significant changes in the way we deal with transmission and also [pipelines],” Grumet added.

The remarks are consistent with appraisals that the NEPA changes in the debt bill are relatively modest — at least in comparison with other proposals from Republicans left on the cutting room floor.

–Inside EPA

Webpage on revocations launched

Under certain circumstances, companies can permanently or temporarily lose their REACH registration numbers. Registrations may be revoked or otherwise become invalid for different reasons. When this happens, the company is no longer allowed to manufacture or import the substance in the European Economic Area (EEA).

ECHA also implements sanctions adopted by the Council of the European Union following Russia’s unprovoked military aggression against Ukraine. We will freeze the REACH registrations of companies and individuals listed by the EU sanction legislation.

Testing proposals

We have launched 40 new consultations on testing proposals. Give your comments by 21 July 2023. There are currently 49 open consultations on testing proposals.

Intentions to harmonised classification and labelling

One intention has been received for:

2-[(1R,6R)-3-methyl-6-prop-1-en-2-ylcyclohex-2-en-1-yl]-5-pentylbenzene-1,3-diol (EC 689-176-3, CAS 13956-29-1)

Scientific article on IUCLID database on pharmaceuticals

ECHA’s scientists have co-authored an article on methodological aspects of developing a non-clinical and clinical IUCLID database for 530 pharmaceuticals. It is published in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology.

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.

Halt a Hazard

Workplace hazards can emerge over time. Setting aside time to regularly identify and rank safeguards can help keep safety and health hazards under control and keep workers safe.

1. Identify ONE hazard to control within your workplace.
2. Brainstorm potential controls using OSHA’s Identifying Hazard Control Options: The Hierarchy of Controls.
3. Choose and implement which control(s) are most effective for your workplace.
4. Download your challenge coin and share that you have completed the Halt a Hazard Challenge via email or on social media using #HaltAHazard and #SafeAndSoundAtWork!

Take the Challenge!

Beat the Heat

Under the OSH Act, employers are responsible for protecting workers from known hazards, including heat. Developing a heat injury and illness prevention plan is vital to keeping workers safe. Highlighting the dangers of heat is an important first step in educating workers and employers on how to prevent and recognize when heat is affecting workers’ health and safety. Since heat illness can be a medical emergency, planning and preparing for heat illness is essential to increase the chances of a positive outcome.

OSHA is sponsoring a Beat the Heat contest to raise awareness about the dangers and hazards of heat exposure in indoor and outdoor workplaces and to motivate workers, employers, and others to take action to prevent heat illness. To participate, stakeholders will create an awareness tool to increase worker and employer knowledge about hazardous heat in the workplace. The contest is open now, and submissions are due by June 9, 2023.

Enter the Contest!

Let Your Voice Be Heard: Safety as a Core Workplace Value Learning Conversation

OSHA is holding a National Learning Conversation that will provide a forum for OSHA to collect insights from workplaces and to identify needs, challenges, and best practices for adoption of safety and health as a core workplace value.

Registration for the National Listening Conversation is now open! The conversation will be held on Wednesday, June 14, 2023 at the US Department of Labor, Francis Perkins Building in Washington, DC. OSHA plans to use this meeting to establish an open dialogue with stakeholders and is interested in receiving feedback. You must register in advance to present comments in-person during the meeting.

Register Now!

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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