IHMM Today June 20, 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)

Spring 2023 OSHA Regulatory Agenda

As part of our efforts to keep you informed of OSHA’s activities, we wanted to let you know that the Department of Labor, including OSHA, has issued its Spring 2023 Regulatory Agenda. Federal agencies post their regulatory agendas on the Reginfo.gov website and Mobile.Reginfo.gov  twice a year to provide a snapshot of their rulemaking priorities.

A listing of Department of Labor (including OSHA) rulemaking in the pre-rule, proposed rule, and final rule stages is available here. Rules that are classified as long-term actions are listed here.

New Off-Site Stormwater Management Resources from EPA

EPA is pleased to announce the newest off-site stormwater management resources:

• Off-site stormwater management case studies featuring Delaware DOT, Washington, DC, Grand Rapids, MI, and St. Paul, MN
• Webcast: Off-site Stormwater Management to Promote Green Infrastructure (July 26, 2023, at 2pm ET)

 The multiple benefits of green infrastructure are most significant when nature-based solutions are installed throughout a community. Off-site stormwater management can provide options for operators of development and redevelopment projects to meet post-construction stormwater performance standards outside the right-of-way or limit of the area of development in some circumstances. This flexibility can facilitate achieving additional environmental and planning goals in the community, such as implementation of green infrastructure in areas not undergoing development. EPA recently developed several off-site stormwater management case studies to provide examples of a range of strategies used by local and state governments. EPA’s next Green Infrastructure Webcast (July 26, 2023, at 2pm ET) will feature speakers from Washington, DC, Grand Rapids, MI, and St. Paul, MN who will share their experiences developing and implementing off-site stormwater management programs. Attendees will learn about different types of off-site stormwater management arrangements and how such flexibilities can promote green infrastructure.

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

EPA Publishes Final Rule Clarifying Phase II Stormwater Regulations Related to Census Bureau Urban Area Designations

On June 7, 2023, the EPA Administrator signed its final rule, NPDES Small MS4 Urbanized Area Clarification, to clarify the designation criteria for small MS4s following the Census Bureau’s recent urban area mapping revisions. EPA provided notice of the final rule’s promulgation in the Federal Register on June 12, 2023. The effective date for the final rule is July 12, 2023.

The final rule clarifications are necessary due to the Census Bureau’s March 24, 2022 publication of final program criteria (pdf) (286.6 KB) that discontinued its practice of publishing the location of “urbanized areas” along with the 2020 Census and future censuses. The clarifications in this final rule replace the term “urbanized area” in the Phase II regulations with the phrase “urban areas with a population of at least 50,000,” which is the Census Bureau’s longstanding definition of the term urbanized areas. This change allows NPDES permitting authorities to use 2020 Census and future Census data in a manner that is consistent with existing longstanding regulatory practice.

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

EPA Delays Key Rulemakings As 2024 Election Brings Uncertainty

EPA is delaying a series of air, water, waste and toxics rules, according to the just-released Spring Unified Agenda, pushing some high-profile measures governing munitions disposal, TSCA regulation of chemicals and Superfund rules for PFAS closer to the 2024 election or beyond, which could bring new uncertainty about their fate.

In addition, the agency has dropped previous plans for a second rule defining “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), adding to the uncertainty surrounding the issue in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Sackett v. EPA.

And it has no deadline for completing a long-delayed review for Obama-era air quality standards for ozone.

However, the agenda also shows the agency is accelerating deadlines for a handful of other rules, including measures governing disposal of coal ash at legacy sites and states’ assumption of Clean Water Act (CWA) dredge-and-fill permitting authority.

Release of the agenda comes as the Biden EPA is in the midst of crafting administration-defining rules governing vehicle and truck emissions; standards for power plants’ water and air releases; rules for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under both the Superfund and drinking water laws; first-time Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) risk management rules for existing chemicals; and many others.

But the time available for completing many of these measures in President Joe Biden’s current term is slipping amidst pushback from industry groups and their congressional allies, as well as resource constraints as the agency grapples with implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.

As a result, many of the rules EPA is delaying are now slated for promulgation closer to, or in some cases after, the 2024 election.

–Inside EPA

Uncertainty Looms Over Impact Of NEPA Reforms To Ongoing Reviews

Major uncertainty looms over the impact of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) amendments enacted as part of the debt-ceiling legislation on major federal actions that are currently undergoing NEPA review, because the law was effective immediately and did not grandfather in any current projects,

Since the law is already in effect, “I think the question is what happens if there’s a project . . . in the middle of the NEPA process,” particularly a project that is undergoing a rigorous environmental impact statement (EIS) that may no longer be necessary under changes Congress just made, Mark Chertok, an attorney with Sive, Paget & Riesels, told an American Law Institute/Continuing Legal Education conference June 9.

“Will the agency cut back on the NEPA review or” complete it because it does not want to cause further delay and then “clarify [it is] for informational purposes only?” he asked. The outcome is “unknown,” since this was only enacted about a week ago, he said.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), which is writing NEPA implementing rules, did not respond to a request seeking comment.

In addition to questions about the new law’s applicability to ongoing reviews, Chertok also noted that CEQ’s pending phase 2 NEPA proposal — which had long been expected to be released this month to pare back some changes from the Trump administration’s 2020 wholesale streamlining — “may have to be modified or cut back.”

–Inside EPA

Increasing Fragmentation, EPA Drops Use Of PFAS ‘Working Definition’

EPA appears to have dropped the widespread use of a controversial “working definition” of PFAS that has been applied to numerous toxics office actions, opting to use case-specific definitions for different actions and deepening the already-fragmented nature of its approach to defining PFAS in many regulatory programs.

“We have recently heard that EPA is saying it’s no longer using a working definition to characterize the universe of” per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) subject to the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics’ (OPPT) “testing, reporting and regulatory efforts,” Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) Executive Director Timothy Whitehouse said during a June 12 presentation at the ATMOsphere conference in Washington, D.C.

“Moving forward OPPT intends to continue to explain the rationale for identifying specific PFAS substances it believes are appropriate to include within the scope of each individual action,” Whitehouse continued. So, while the European Union is trying to provide a broad definition of PFAS, “things are getting less and less clear as we move forward with EPA in terms of what they mean by PFAS,” he said.

EPA did not respond to a request for comment on whether OPPT is changing its approach to using the “working definition.” The toxics program has used that definition in several Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) actions, including to identify chemicals it will target for mandatory testing under the “National PFAS Testing Strategy” and to define the scope of its PFAS reporting rule.

–Inside EPA

EPA Seen Facing Range Of Options For Revising WOTUS Rule After Sackett

As EPA grapples with how to proceed after the Supreme Court narrowed the definition of “waters of the United States,” environmental lawyers and other observers say officials face a range of rulemaking and guidance options, ranging from targeted excisions of provisions that are no longer operative to a full-scale overhaul to reflect new legal standards.

Some are even questioning whether the Biden administration could adopt provisions in the Trump administration’s 2020 navigable waters protection rule (NWPR), which prescribed a narrower approach than the Biden rule, with some warning that the Trump rule’s assessments could signal the kinds of protections that will be lost as a result of the ruling.

While the options are not exclusive, and many expect the agency will issue guidance before proceeding to any new rulemaking, how the agency proceeds could have a significant effect on: when regulators will resume making key permitting and other decisions; how jurisdictional waters are defined; and the likelihood that any decisions will be challenged given continuing legal uncertainties.

But the observers also note that the administration does not have long to make such decisions as President Joe Biden prepares for re-election and the end of his current term.

–Inside EPA

ECHA adds two hazardous chemicals to Candidate List

The Candidate List of substances of very high concern now contains 235 entries for chemicals that can harm people or the environment. Companies are responsible for managing the risks of these chemicals and giving customers and consumers information on their safe use.

New intention to identify a substance of very high concern

New intention has been received for:  2-(dimethylamino)-2-[(4-methylphenyl)methyl]-1-[4-(morpholin-4-yl)phenyl]butan-1-one (EC 438-340-0, CAS 119344-86-4)

SEAC draft opinion consultation on medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCP)

We are looking for comments on the draft opinion of the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis (SEAC) concerning the restriction proposal from ECHA on:

• Medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCP) and other substances that contain chloroalkanes with carbon chain lengths within the range from C14 to C17

Have your say by 14 August 2023

Call for evidence: screening report on sixteen 1,3-dioxanes

We are looking for comments on a draft screening report, and for relevant information on sixteen 1,3-dioxanes (also known as ‘Karanal’) in products (articles).

As required by REACH Article 69(2), we are investigating whether the use of these substances in articles is adequately controlled, and if a restriction is needed.

Have your say by 31 July 2023.

Consultation on harmonised classification and labelling

We are looking for comments on the harmonised classification and labelling proposals for:

• trihydrogen pentapotassium di(peroxomonosulfate) di(sulfate) (EC 274-778-7, CAS 70693-62-8)
• piperonal; 1,3-benzodioxole-5-carbaldehyde (EC 204-409-7, CAS 120-57-0)

Have your say by 11 August 2023

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!

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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