UT- County Technical Assistance Service is teaming with UT-Center for Industrial Services to offer a 10 hour OSHA Safety Training Course.  The course will cover an introduction to OSHA; OSHA Act/General Duty Clause; inspections; citations, and penalties; walking and working surfaces; means of egress and fire protection; and electrical safety.  Students will receive course completion cards from the OSHA Training Institute.

Through sponsorship with the TCHOA and the COCTP program, this course will be offered for FREE for county officials. Yes, that means you county solid waste directors!   If you are enrolled in the COCTP program you will receive 10 credits for attending this day and a half course.

The course will be held in three locations statewide–Nashville, Knoxville, and Jackson.  Classes are scheduled for 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the first day and 8 a.m. to noon on the second day. Directions to the facilities can be found on the ctas website (www.ctas.utk.edu) under “COCTP Training Information”.

To register, please fill out the linked registration form and return it to CTAS by August 31, 2008.

The enrollment form is linked here–osha-registration-08 and must be submitted to the registration folks by AUGUST 31st.  For additional information contact CTAS.

EPA released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) soliciting public input on the effects of climate change and the potential ramifications of the Clean Air Act in relation to greenhouse gas emissions.

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads/ANPRFactSheet.pdf

According to LGEAN:  “The ANPR solicits public input as EPA considers the specific effects of climate change and potential regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. In the advance notice, EPA presents and requests comment on the best-available science, requests relevant data, and asks questions about the advantages and disadvantages of using the Clean Air Act to potentially regulate stationary and mobile sources of greenhouse gases. The ANPR also reviews various petitions, lawsuits and court deadlines before the agency, and the profound effect regulating under the Clean Air Act could have on the economy. The notice’s publication in the Federal Register begins a 120-day public comment period.”
See the LGEAN website for other Environmental News impacting Local Governments.

Our own Dr. Richard Buggeln recently provided a short fact sheet on the “Amerimulch Blog” addressing safety concerns and proactive steps to avoid fires caused by spontaneous combustion in mulch and compost operations.

Visit the blog post here to get the basics, or download the full document from our website.

–In the Las Cruces Sun-News–

The state’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau has waived a proposed fine against the city of Las Cruces for safety violations found following an industrial accident that killed a man at the city’s recycling facility.  State inspectors had proposed to fine the city $27,450 because of seven safety violations found during an inspection after the death of a contract employee killed while trying to clear a paper jam from a paper baler.

OSHA found during the inspection that lock-out procedures that were not followed contributed to the accident. Lock-out procedures call for power to a machine to be cut before maintenance is performed.

See the full article here.

Methane ‘cooks’ are using empty propane tanks from the propane gas cylinder exchanges available at Wal-Mart, Kroger, and other chains. These contaminated cylinders have been found in many states at cylinder exchange and refilling locations as well as in hotel rooms and mobile laboratories, where the manufacturing of this illegal substance takes place.

Anhydrous ammonia is very corrosive and weakens the structure of the tank. It can be very dangerous when mixed with propane and hooked up to our backyard grills. As observed in the illustrations, a blue-green stain on any brass portion of a service valve is evidence that it may have been in contact with anhydrous ammonia. The pungent odor of ammonia on or near the cylinder is also an indication. If you suspect that a propane cylinder contains or has contained anhydrous ammonia, exercise extreme caution and restrict access to the area.

If you have any of these tanks contact your Fire Department, Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Unit or the nearest office of the United States Department of Justice’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for information on properly disposing of the cylinder. The National Propane Gas Association has posted more information here.

I would like to know if anyone else has a Comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure Manaual for their Public Works or Solid Waste Department. We developed ours last year and want to give our employees some examples of others to see how they can be done and some better ideas of doing various tasks. We are going to review and update ours every year and would like comments and other examples if available. I know of a few other departments across the state that are also developing their SOP and I am sure we would all benefit from sharing this information. Shawn Lindsey

 EPA is providing a consolidated website to review federal environmental regulations.  This is to aid in providing more transparent information as soon as the agency begins the development of a new rule.  Action Initiation Lists (AILs)  will be posted on the EPA website at the end of each month, describing actions that were approved for commencement.

Formerly, EPA posted a Semiannual Regulatory Agenda with new regulatory actions, which was updated only every six months.  The AILs provide summaries, agency contacts, and other information about the rules EPA approved for development.   Here is the link to the March AIL list.

–Forwarded by Louis Bordenave–

This USGS link asks web visitors to fill out a short survey on last week’s quake.   Tennesseans who felt the quake last week might want to fill out the info.  This helps further researcher’s understanding of Earthquakes and Earthquake impact.

The latest addition of the CIS “Wrap Sheet” is published at found at this link. In this issue, the “Wrap Sheet” covers issues regarding Pollution Prevention, Outreach and Regulatory Compliance.

SB1774 was discussed in committee today.  The Fiscal Note and the Proposed bill are attached as ‘PDF’s’

sb1774_fiscal_notes_pdf.pdf

sb1774_bill_text_pdf1.pdf