New OSHA Rule Spells Potential Trouble For Employers

Update August 20201: OSHA's electronic injury and illness reporting requirements remain in effect although many impacted companies remain unaware of this requirement. We are updating this blog to make employers aware and to answer basic questions: Last week OSHA announced a significant new rule which will mandate that virtually all employers in high hazard industries (including manufacturing and construction) submit their safety record data to electronically OSHA each year (ie: OSHA 300 logs). OSHA will then publish those records on-line [...]

By |2022-03-21T12:50:51-05:00May 18th, 2016|OSHA Texas Laws & Regulations|Comments Off on New OSHA Rule Spells Potential Trouble For Employers

Hiring A Safety Manager Is Hard!

What follows is the first part of a two part blog post: The first one will discuss the difficulties involved in recruiting and hiring a qualified safety manager, and the follow up post will discuss the fact that even if your company succeeds in making a hire, it won’t necessarily guarantee that your company will become nor maintain OSHA compliance. Both posts are based on my own experiences recruiting and managing EHS managers,  as well as my experiences in [...]

By |2024-11-15T13:04:49-05:00May 12th, 2016|Good To Know|Comments Off on Hiring A Safety Manager Is Hard!

New OSHA Confined Space Requirements for Construction

Many Texas construction companies are still unprepared, and some even unaware, to deal with OSHA's updated compliance requirements for confined space entry.  These new requirements put significant responsibilities not only on companies who execute confined space entries, but also on General Contractors who are obligated to ensure the health & safety of their projects. Here's a brief summary of the key new OSHA Confined Space requirements: The following information applies to the construction industry standard for confined space, which can [...]

By |2021-08-13T13:17:24-05:00May 1st, 2016|Good To Know|Comments Off on New OSHA Confined Space Requirements for Construction

TCEQ Environmental Compliance Fines & Penalties

  Many small Texas manufacturers struggle with understanding and managing their EPA and TCEQ environmental compliance obligations. This puts them at risk for major regulatory fines and penalties, not to mention putting their local communities at risk for environmental damage. Some common environmental compliance requirements for Texas manufacturers include Storm Water permitting, Air permitting and authorizations, Hazardous Waste Management and hazardous materials reporting. Many small Texas manufacturers are totally unaware of these requirements, let alone how to manage them. Here's [...]

By |2021-10-26T13:53:06-05:00May 1st, 2016|Good To Know, Government Regulation, Hazardous Waste Management, Texas Environmental Regulations, Texas Hazardous Materials Regulations|Comments Off on TCEQ Environmental Compliance Fines & Penalties

Texas Environmental Compliance Fines & Penalties

Many small Texas manufacturers struggle with understanding and managing their TCEQ and environmental compliance obligations.  This puts them at risk for major regulatory fines and penalties, not to mention putting their local communities at risk for environmental damage. Some common environmental compliance requirements for Texas manufacturers include Storm Water permitting, Air permitting and authorizations, Hazardous Waste Management and hazardous materials reporting.  Many small Texas manufacturers are totally unaware of these requirements, let alone how to manage them. Here's a summary of potential environmental fines and penalties that [...]

By |2022-03-21T12:51:50-05:00May 1st, 2016|Hazardous Waste Management, Texas Environmental Regulations, Texas Hazardous Materials Regulations|Comments Off on Texas Environmental Compliance Fines & Penalties

Environmental & TCEQ Compliance Risks

Many small Texas manufacturers really struggle to manage environmental and TCEQ rules, regulations and laws. Unfortunately this not only puts the environment and local community at risk, but also the company at risk for major TCEQ and EPA environmental fines and penalties that can run into the $hundreds of thousands of dollars, and can exceed a $million in some cases. We recently conducted a brief environmental assessment for a Texas manufacturer and identified the following compliance failures and risks.  This summary [...]

By |2022-03-21T12:46:32-05:00April 26th, 2016|Hazardous Waste Management, Texas Environmental Regulations, Texas Hazardous Materials Regulations|Comments Off on Environmental & TCEQ Compliance Risks