CPSC Safety Alert: Surviving Hurricane Lane
August 23, 2018, cpsc.gov
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is alerting consumers in the path of powerful Hurricane Lane in Hawaii to important safety tips for surviving the hurricane.There are many things consumers can do before the storm hits. Consumers need to be especially careful during power outages, as the risk of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and fire increase. That’s why the CPSC outlines a number of precautions in a public awareness campaign.
Federal Appeals Court: Chemical disaster rule must go into effect
August 17, 2018, Washington State, Office of Attorney General
Attorney General Bob Ferguson issued a statement after a federal appeals court agreed with Ferguson and 10 other attorneys general that the Trump Administration’s delay of the Chemical Disaster Rule violated the Clean Air Act. The Chemical Disaster Rule updates important safety requirements for large industrial facilities that handle hazardous chemicals. In its decision, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit used unusually harsh language to criticize EPA. For example, the court wrote that EPA’s reason for delaying the Chemical Disaster Rule “makes a mockery of the statute.” By delaying the rule, the court said, EPA “delayed life-saving protections.”
The Zipper at 50: Joy, thrills, and memories of a fateful ride and a lost friend
August 24, 2018, Kitchener Post
The Zipper has always been a rite of passage, a way of showing the world that not only are you taller than 52 inches, but childhood is someone else’s game.
The Zipper, which has always behaved like a teenager, turns 50 this year, and the Canadian National Exhibit is celebrating a milestone of the ride where “innocence is left behind and the dangerous world of wild abandon is embraced.” Chance Rides, the successor of the original Zipper manufacturer, asked for ideas to honour “our beloved Zipper” on its Facebook page. The response was as strange as the ride itself: operate 50 Zippers together in one location. Offer a 50-minute ride. Fill the Zipper with riders born in 1968.
Volkswagen to fire more staff following dieselgate scandal – report
August 24, 2018, Performance Drive
German press Handelsblatt and Bild am Sonntag are reporting the Volkswagen Group is planning on firing a handful of engineers and managers that have been implicated in the costly dieselgate scandal. Volkswagen’s previous brand development boss, Heinz-Jakob Neusser, is reportedly atop a list aimed at condemning the actions of VW employees that acted to intentionally mislead regulators and the buying public through the use of defeat devices fitted to factory vehicles. It is also being reported that prosecutors in Braunschweig, Germany, are honing in on around 39 of VW’s employees in their investigation into cheating regulators conducting emissions tests. As a result, another wave of dismissals is expected to come in the very near future, according to Handelsblatt.
Fenceless safety embraces human-robot interaction
August 23, 2018, Robotics Online
The cobots are here. Smaller and more agile. They integrate easily and are programmed in hours. They cost less and consume less space. Like most robots, they free us from dull, dirty and dangerous work. These power and force limiting robots break through the monotony without breaking the bank, or our heads. They often go where their large-payload brethren cannot. Collaborative robots are calm, they’re cool, and they’re usually fenceless. But they’re not alone.
California Supreme Court declines to hear glyphosate appeal
August 21, 2018, Wisconsin Ag Connection
The California Supreme Court on Friday declined to hear Monsanto’s appeal to remove glyphosate from the state’s list of chemicals that cause cancer or birth defects. POLITICO reports that refusal keeps in place a lower appellate decision that the listing under Proposition 65 is proper.
EPA clarifies chemical review process
August 22, 2018, Chemical Processing
The release of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 5(a)(3)(C) determination for a new polymer, P-16-0510, represents a positive step in implementing the New Chemicals Program under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act. The new chemical is intended to be used as a deodorizer in a variety of products, including floor cleaners, cat litter, fabric freshener sprays and other consumer products. This column explains why this is a significant development.
White Paper: Chemicals Management Programs and Management Systems Standards
August, 2018, Society of Product Safety Professionals
Companies are struggling to find an effective way to manage chemicals and develop good chemicals management programs (CMPs). While regulatory requirements must be met, today’s consumers are concerned with chronic exposure to presumed-hazardous substances that go beyond regulated chemicals. Typical approaches used today do a poor job of assuring the full spectrum of chemicals management. This paper suggests another, less typical option – a management systems standards (MSS) approach that addresses these concerns and leads to an alternative that may be a better fit for many companies.
Advocates say soccer players need head protection too
August 21, 2018, Dover Post
While much attention is paid to head injuries in football, the increased popularity of soccer, combined with some alarming injury statistics, has some saying that protective headgear should be a requirement in the sport. In May, the mothers of two teenagers filed suit U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh after their daughters suffered concussions playing soccer. The suit contends that the U.S. Youth Soccer Association failed to protect its players by mandating headgear of some kind, even after data showed headgear may have prevented injury.
Adventure playground lets kids build their own dangerous fun
August 21, 2018, Star Tribune
It looks like a junkyard, albeit an especially vibrant one. There’s an old rusty Honda parked in one corner. Piles of twisted rebar, wooden boards and PVC pipes sit near a cart piled with power tools. The massive, hand-built wooden spaceship has a turret seat up top, and the 12-foot-tall lookout platform is reachable only by climbing an extension ladder. Eight-year-old Simon Pluger paused halfway up the ladder’s steps. “Am I supposed to be up here?” he asked. In this “adventure playground,” the answer is yes.
Orthopedic Association: Play safe and minimize injuries on the playground
August 15, 2018, KAIT (ABC)
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in 2016, emergency departments, doctors’ offices and clinics treated: 62,114 people for playground-related injuries; 8,566 for seesaw-related injuries; 112,036 for swing and swing set-related injuries; and 107,375 for slide-related injuries. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) and the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA) encourage parents and guardians to educate kids about their risks of injuries on the playground and encourage them to play safely.
