Influenza: WI employee letter

A letter to State of Wisconsin employees on influenza guidance, released today.

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To All State Employees:

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security declared a public health emergency in response to recent Swine Influenza A (H1N1) outbreaks in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. At this time there are no reported cases in Wisconsin.

State officials, led by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), have been monitoring the situation since Friday and continue to observe this situation very closely.

The following advice is from the Department Health Services:

It is important that everyone remain calm, use common sense and continue simple good health practices like washing your hands. Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food.

If you have flu-like symptoms, stay at home and contact your physician. Symptoms include:

• fever greater than 100 degrees
• body aches
• coughing
• sore throat
• respiratory congestion
• and in some cases, diarrhea and vomiting

More information may be found at: http://pandemic.wisconsin.gov/

We will continue to provide new information as it becomes available.


Michael L. Morgan
Secretary of Administration

Toxics Release Inventory Form A Eligibility Revisions

EPA is amending its regulations on the eligibility criteriafor submitting a Form A Certification Statement in lieu of the moredetailed Form R submitted by facilities subject to TRI reporting undersection 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Actof 1986 (EPCRA) and section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act of1990 (PPA). This action is being taken to comply with the ``OmnibusAppropriations Act of 2009'' enacted on March 11, 2009. As this actionis being taken to conform the regulations to a Congressionallegislative mandate, notice and comment rulemaking is unnecessary, andthis rule is effective immediately. Upon publication to the FederalRegister, the provisions of the Toxics Release Inventory BurdenReduction Final Rule will be removed and the regulations in place priorto its implementation will be restored as described below. DATES: This final rule is effective on April 27, 2009. (More....)

Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Wisconsin; Finding of Attainment for 1-Hour Ozone for the Milwaukee- Racine, WI Area

PDF Version (2 pp, 82K, About PDF)
[Federal Register: April 24, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 78)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 18668-18669]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24ap09-20]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R05-OAR-2008-0683; FRL-8895-9]
Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans;
Wisconsin; Finding of Attainment for 1-Hour Ozone for the Milwaukee-
Racine, WI Area
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve a July 28, 2008, request from the
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) that EPA find that the
Milwaukee-Racine, Wisconsin (WI) nonattainment area has attained the
revoked 1-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS).
DATES: Comments must be received on or before May 26, 2009.

(More.....)

Comm 10 Clarification

Several questions have been posed relating to the overfill requirements on USTs. The Comm 10 Spill and overfill prevention requirement applies as below:
Heating oil tanks (Comm 10.310 (5)) refers to Comm 10.505 for USTs 4,000 gallons or greater. Comm 10.310 (3) requires overfill prevention for heating fuel tanks less than 4K, but via other methods.

Comm 10. 350 Hazardous substance tanks overfill prevention is not addressed due to the specific compatibility issues and hazardous substance properties and characteristics.
Comm 10.505 applies to USTs that take delivery via a tight connect with the delivery hose. This applies regardless of the tank being "12,000 gallons, but being filled no more than 50% of capacity."

For USTs that routinely take delivery by hand-held nozzle and the fill pipe is not equipped with a tight connect fitting auto-shut-off is not required. Maintaining a tight connection with a hand-held nozzle poses a challenge, even with the gasket collar, and in many situations where a drop is via a "hand held nozzle, if the tank had a flapper type auto shut-off, when the shut-off activates it would produce a safety concern from blow back at the person fuelling and the surrounding area.

PEI RP 100-05-7.3.2 includes the following: "Shut-off devices that are designed for use with underground tanks should only be used with gravity deliveries and where there are liquid-tight connections between the delivery hose and the fill pipe."

Sheldon Schall, Chief
Storage Tank Regulation Section
Wisconsin Department of Commerce

US Mail: PO Box 7837, Madison, WI 53707-7837
UPS/FedEx: 201 W. Washington Ave., Madison, WI 53703
(608) 266-0956Fax: (608) 261-7725
Web site: http://commerce.wi.gov/

Think Outside the Recycling Bin

Think Outside the Recycling Bin
~DEP offers eco-friendly tips for reducing, reusing and recycling non-traditional items at home and in the office~
TALLAHASSEE- As the winter season comes to an end and Floridians begin to think about spring cleaning, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) encourages residents to apply the 3 R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle –and discover ways to recycle items that may not normally be considered recycle-friendly.
“We all understand the importance of recycling,” said Mary Jean Yon, Director of DEP’s Division of Waste Management. “Reducing waste can also help keep our landfills from filling up. Most people think of recycling newspapers, cans and bottles, but your closets, desks and drawers are filled with items that can also be recycled.” (More.....)

Power tool noise level database

NIOSH developed an informational database of power tools commonly used in the occupational setting. The database includes data gathered by NIOSH researchers, and could be helpful in determining the "real-world" noise level of power tools as they are used on the job. The database contains such information as sound power levels, sound pressure level and downloadable exposure and wave files. Further, links to the NIOSH Hearing Protector Compendium are included to assist in choosing appropriate hearing protection.

Link: http://wwwn.cdc.gov/niosh-sound-vibration/

Campus Fire Safety Right-to-Know

Requests about the status of the Campus Fire Safety Right-to-Know (RTK) trickle in from our UW System campuses. Campus-Firewatch.com has a comprehensive update that Ed Comeau does a great job with.

A podcast is also available, which goes a bit more into the public safety background of the Clery Act. It's actually two separate interviews, and I think is worth your listening time (over 30 minutes). Here are some of the things I noted:

• Campuses should be making a good faith effort now to put systems in place to collect the data, and begin collecting data.
• Expect that regulations will require formal reporting beginning October 2010.
• Suggests partnering with campus security offices that already have Clery Act reporting requirements.
• There is a lot of agreement to simply add the fire reporting regulatory compliance to the already existing Clery Act reporting system.
• Reporting requirements will only cover on-campus student housing facilities (definition to be determined). There was discussion about collecting all fire-related incidents, even though only the student housing items would be reported.
• Discussion on "popcorn in the microwave" alarms.

And those of you that want to see the progress of the draft rule drafting, the April 7 draft is available here. The first four pages incorporate the reporting into the existing public security sections already required by the Clery Act. The section that is specific to fire safety begins at the bottom of page four.


Links:
http://campus-firewatch.com/reprints/rtkreprint.html
http://www.radiofirehouse.com/broadcast/wp-content/2009/cfw_033009.mp3
http://www.campus-firewatch.com/resources/rtk/rtk%20regs%20040709.pdf