CDC Reports on Insufficient Rest or Sleep Among Adults

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The information below was recently published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC):

"An estimated 50-70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep and wakefulness disorders. Sleep disorders and sleep loss have been associated with mental distress, depression, anxiety, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol and certain risk behaviors including cigarette smoking, physical inactivity and heavy drinking. A new report from the CDC found that data collected from adults in all 50 United States, DC, and 3 U.S. territories found that 1 in 3 adults (30.7 percent) in 2008, reported no days of not getting enough rest or sleep in the past 30-days. However, 1 in 10 adults (11.1 percent) reported not getting enough rest or sleep everyday during the past month. Females (12.4 percent) were more likely than males (9.9 percent) and non-Hispanic blacks (13.3 percent) were more likely than other racial/ethnic groups to report not getting enough rest or sleep. State estimates of 30 days of insufficient rest or sleep ranged from 7.4 percent in North Dakota to 19.3 percent in West Virginia."

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Environmental Protection Online Salary Survey

Visit Environmental Protection Online and take the 2009 Salary Survey.  Obviously the more participation Environmental Protection gets with this type of survey, the better information they will produce and we can get a better picture of the industry we are in. 

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Safety work has more than enough pressure and stress, to make it harder without adding sexual harassment to the mix. Now we may never know what really happened.

NYC DEP Revisions to Title 15 - Asbestos Regulations, Part 1

The Autumn issue of Future Focus is now posted on our website. In Part 1 we cover the revisions in the permitting process for the NYC Department of Buildings, NYC Department of Environmental Protection, and NYC Fire Department. Most of these changes and revisions attributable to the Deutsche Bank Fire. Click on the title of this post and it will take you to Future Environment Designs newsletter page.

NYC DEP New Asbestos Regulations Go Into Effect

New York City Department of Environmental Protection's Asbestos regulations have been promulgated. The new asbestos regulations go into effect October 13, 2009 and the full regulations go into effect November 13, 2009. Visit the NYC DEP website to get a copy of the new asbestos regulations. Once we have read through it we will write a post for this blog and an article in our next newsletter on the new regulation.

Mayor Bloomberg Signs Legislation Impacting Asbestos Projects in NYC

On June 29, 2009, Mayor Bloomberg signed several pieces of legislation (introductory numbers 1001-A, 1002, 1003-A, 1005 & 1007) that will impact asbestos abatement projects in New York City (NYC). The legislation and what they regulate include:

• 1001-A - prohibits smoking on any floor where asbestos abatement activity is taking place. The regulation also prohibits tobacco, lighters, and matches at asbestos abatement work sites.


• 1002 - prohibits smoking at construction sites.


• 1003-A - establishes a permitting requirement for asbestos abatement jobs that pose the greatest risk to the safety of workers, first responders and the general public.


• 1003-A - a. creates a NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) office (Asbestos Technical Review Unit (A-TRU)) to review and permit significant abatement projects.


• 1003-A - b. NYC Fire Department will receive automatic notification for all jobs requiring a permit and will dispatch the local fire company to inspect the site.


• 1003-A - c. authorizes the NYC Fire Department to delegate to the NYC DEP authority to enforce the fire codes at abatement sites, so that NYC DEP inspector can issue violations for dangerous conditions.


• 1005 - requires NYC DEP to promulgate rules giving guidance to contractors on how to maintain safe abatement project sites. NYC DEP, NYC Department of Building (NYC DOB), and Fire Department of NY (FDNY), in collaboration with the Office of Operations, have developed new rules that will soon be promulgated to strengthen safety at abatement jobs.


• 1007 - requires NYC DEP, FDNY, and NYC DOB to establish a procedure to share information regarding violations issued as a result of building inspections that meet agreed-upon criteria.

OSHA Issues Clarifications on PPE

Sorry for the long lead time on this issue. However, this issue seems like it should be common sense. On December 12, 2008, OSHA published a final rule clarifying emloyers' duty to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and train each employee. This rule revises the OSHA standards to clarify that, for employers to be in compliance, they must provide PPE and hazards training for each employee covered by the standards. Each employee not protected may be considered a separate violation and penalties assessed accordingly. The revison is consistent with language in other standards for which per-employee citatiuons have been upheld.

In addition, realize by May 15, 2008, OSHA also required all employers to provide PPE at no cost to their employees (the employer must pay for the PPE). These requirements addressed many kinds of PPE, such as: hard hats, gloves, goggles, safety shoes, safety glasses, welding helmets and goggles, faceshields, chemical protective equipment, fall protection equipment, and other types of safety equipment. Certain safety equipment were excluded from the provision of employer payment of PPE, these excluded items are certain safety-toe shoes and boots, prescription safety eyewear, and logging boots. OSHA considers these three items personal in nature, are used from jobsite to jobsite (employer to employer), and are typically used off the jobsite.