Traditionally, Halloween has been a time for ghosts, pumpkins, costumes and candy.  In today’s world, just like everything else, Halloween is also about laws, regulations and safety. Whether you’re dressing up the kids to take them trick-or-treating, handing out candy at home or heading to a haunted house, here are some tips to make it a safe and happy All Hallows’ Eve.

Many of our readers are certainly familiar with the American National Standards Institute (“ANSI”) and the National Safety Council (“NSC”), but did you know that both organizations also provide Halloween safety information?  ANSI provides Halloween Safety Tips and Standards, recommending flame resistant costumes, offering tips on identifying “safe houses” for trick-or-treating and even guidelines for making your lawn and porch safe if you’re expecting trick-or-treaters. NSC has also compiled a list of tips for motorists and trick-or-treaters. NSC recommends that motorists watch for children walking on roadways, medians and curbs and even darting out from between parked cars.  They also encourage drivers to not use their cell phone while driving and discourage inexperienced teen drivers from driving at all on Halloween.

All of the safety tips may seem like common sense to you, but what about your costume?  Thinking of mixing things up with a decorative contact lens?  They may seem like the perfect addition to your costume, but both the NSC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) agree that they present a risk for serious eye injury if they are purchased and used without an examination and prescription from an eye care professional. Are you planning on wearing a mask?  If you live in the City of Walnut, California, you need a permit from the sheriff for that mask.  The law, which has been part of the Code since 1959, does not contain any exceptions or exemptions for Halloween. 

If you’re planning on celebrating Halloween in Hollywood, leave the silly string at home.  Between 12:00 am on October 31st and 12:00 pm on November 1^st each year, using, distributing or possessing silly string is prohibited, even on your own private property. If dressing up as a nun, priest, rabbi or other member of the clergy is in your Halloween plans, avoid public places in Alabama.  You would be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a $500 fine or confinement in the county jail for not more than one year.

Think you can create the scariest of haunted houses? Make sure you research state and local requirements before you open the doors. In Delaware, you’ll need to apply for a permit from the State Fire Marshal, get an electrical inspection and even arrange for a fire company stand-by.  Creating a spooky or even terrifying experience for your guests may be your goal, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be punished for it. In 2000, Universal Studios was sued by a visitor to their “Halloween Horror Nights” haunted house who claimed to have suffered “extreme fear, mental anguish and emotional distress.”  Suing a haunted house for being scary?  That might be the scariest trick of all.

Happy Halloween!

With the 4^th of July right around the corner, everyone is thinking about long weekends, picnics and barbeques.  But more than all of that, the main attraction for this big summer holiday, the fireworks are on everyone’s mind.  Who will have the best display? Where do you want to park your blanket to get the best view but still be safe?  What can you get away with setting off in your own backyard?

Unfortunately with all the fireworks fun comes accidents, injuries and close calls.  The National Council on Fireworks Safety (NCFS) reports an average from 7,000 to 11,000 fireworks-related injuries per year from 1996 to 2008.  NCFS recommends several safety precautions to avoid dangerous situations with fireworks: always keep water nearby, use common sense and appoint a “designated shooter” who hasn’t consumed alcohol, another common ingredient of 4^th of July parties.

NCFS also recommends that those shooting off fireworks research and follow local laws and regulations, which vary widely from state to state and even city to city. Most state regulations impose a minimum age to purchase certain types of fireworks, from as young as 12 (in North Dakota) up to 18 years old (in Montana.)

Many state regulations also list explicitly allowed fireworks and explicitly prohibited fireworks. If you are celebrating in Nebraska, you can check the list of permissible and non-permissible items where you’ll find out if you can set off your favorites, including the “Eye Ball Buzz-Shogun,” “Snake Bite Ninja Force,” “Un Poco Loco” or “Rainmaker.”

Various statutes and regulations also contain strict requirements for larger, public displays. Washington regulations require a walk through and demonstration prior to receiving a permit for the display, readily accessible fire extinguishers and safe distances from audiences.  Pyrotechnic devices need to be no closer than fifteen feet from the audience, but additional distance may be required based on the fallout radius of the devices used in the display.

Several states also have regulations that might make you wonder why they felt it necessary to put it in writing. In Hawaii, it is illegal to throw ignited fireworks “from, at, or into a vehicle” and “at a person or an animal.”  Hawaii also specifies that you should not “set off, ignite, discharge, or otherwise cause to explode any fireworks Within one thousand feet of any operating hospital, licensed convalescent home, licensed home for the elderly, zoo, licensed animal shelter, or licensed animal hospital.” 

Whether you plan to skip the fireworks and lounge by the pool or take Katy Perry’s advice to “let your colors burst” in your own backyard, please make it a safe and happy holiday weekend.

Managing Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) compliance is not for the faint of heart. It is for intelligent, responsible, dedicated people who mean business. Mismanagement of EHS compliance, or even just a little bad luck, can not only put whole companies at risk; it can destroy our precious environment and endanger or even kill the very workers that make employers successful. As far as work is concerned, most people have to worry about sustaining revenue, managing and preventing customer satisfaction issues and keeping their bosses and coworkers happy. It is a very select few, such as soldiers, surgeons, law enforcement personnel, and EHS compliance officers who bear the stress of 24/7/365 responsibility for people’s health and safety and environmental sustainability.

EHS compliance officers are special people. They aren’t really appreciated when things are running smoothly, yet they have targets on their backs when issues arise. Compliance is a team effort, so the complexity of their roles is exacerbated given the decentralized nature of managing their functions on a global scale. Although more and more companies are funding their EHS compliance practices more aggressively, it is still often the case that these dire responsibilities lay on the backs of far too few people. Technical knowledge is required to do the job well, yet people skills are paramount to success in order to solicit cooperation from dispersed and diverse personnel in varied disciplines who may or may not report to the EHS compliance person in charge. So, these people manage complex operations amidst high risk with limited resources and challenging interpersonal dynamics. They are asked to do the impossible. In short, EHS compliance officers are super heroes.

One would think that this complex set of circumstances would cause these people to be serious and lacking in humor. The pressure they bear is real, and I wouldn’t blame them one bit for being a little less fun than the rest of us. That is why I was quite surprised to read the article entitled “If You Think Accountants Are Hilarious, Try These Guys – Search for America’s Funniest Compliance Officer Is Tough; a Whoop for Dodd-Frank” in the Wall Street Journal. Not only do these hyper-responsible people have senses of humor, some of them actually participate in competitions to determine which of them is the funniest. Go figure! Perhaps good humor is the elixir that helps them survive their tension-filled days. Maybe as a result they are actually funnier than the rest of us.

Whether your EHS compliance leaders are funny or not is quite irrelevant. What matters is if they are effective despite the vast challenges they face. These are special people with critical responsibilities. If you haven’t done so lately, the next time you see your EHS compliance person, give them a great big hug and thank them profusely for what they do. If that person in your organization isn’t a hugger, I’m sure a hand shake will do.

Do you know any stellar EHS compliance professionals? Do you have any humorous stories about EHS compliance professionals, experiences, or incidents? Please respond with your stories in the comments below.

CHICAGO, IL: It is forbidden to fish while sitting on a giraffe’s neck.

ALABAMA: You may not have an ice cream cone in your back pocket at any time.

OHIO: It is illegal to fish for whales on Sunday—in Ohio!

We’ve all chuckled at them, mused about testing their enforcement, and opined as to the brainpan capacity of the legislators who passed these so-called “dumb laws”. There are many blog sites devoted to disseminating them, most showing no evidence as to the title, chapter or text of these legislative larks.

A little research reveals that most of these laws don’t exist. They are as much a part of urban lore as the lady who dried her wet poodle in the microwave. Some exist, but have been distorted so as to no longer reflect their original intent.

In Alaska, for example, they say, “It is illegal to tie a dog to the roof of your car.”

An insurance company Web site quotes the above law as being CAC 9.36.150, the actual text of which reads quite differently:

No person driving a motor vehicle shall transport any animal in the back of the vehicle in a space intended for any load on the vehicle on a street unless the space is enclosed or has side and tail walls to a height of at least 46 inches extending vertically from the floor, or the animal is cross tethered to the vehicle, or is protected by a secured container or cage, in a manner which will prevent the animal from being thrown, falling or jumping from the vehicle.

To make a sales pitch, the insurance company racked a tortured interpretation out of the original meaning of this regulation, and its torn remains were tossed onto a number of Dumb Law blog sites.

As opposed to mythical regulations, statutes and ordinances, I would like to know what’s behind the actual dumb laws that pass through many state legislatures.

Very recent examples are:

WISCONSIN: The state has been experiencing a fiscal crisis that includes collective bargaining protests, fleeing senators and recall petitions. Yet, the Badger State just passed legislation declaring the cream puff as the “official state dessert”. A Republican Senator introduced the bill, which outraged the Democrats, who failed in their attempt to name Lactococcus lactis, responsible for cheddar, as the “official state microbe”.

FLORIDA: With 11.1% unemployment, you might think that the legislature would have plenty to deliberate, and you would be right. On the governor’s desk is Senate Bill 228, which forbids school students from “wearing clothing that exposes underwear or body parts in an indecent or vulgar manner or that disrupts the orderly learning environment.” The lawmakers’ hidebound obsession with baggy pants, boxer shorts and butt cracks would indicate that this ebbing fad is somehow devastating the Sunshine State. Maybe we should start calling it the Moonstruck State!

When the nation is undergoing economic hardship, high unemployment and unprecedented weather emergencies, do lawmakers really have time for this nonsense?

Is spending time on such fatuous legislation a sign that elected officials are avoiding their duties, that they are not up to the task, or is it a signal that they are totally out of touch with their constituents? Certainly, legislative bodies will always have their share of inane proposals, but what does it say when they give those bills attention over and above issues that profoundly impact the welfare of those they represent?

St. Patrick’s Day is this week, and with it comes many traditions.  Wearing green, eating corned beef and cabbage and, in some people’s eyes most importantly, drinking (green) beer.  While all of this may seem outside the scope of what Citation Technologies is all about, it is worth noting that CyberRegs does include regulations on beer and alcoholic beverages.  From these regulations we can glean some interesting information. 

We should first start with the definition of what beer is.  According to Lousiana’s regulations, beer is “beer, porter, ale, or any malt beverage obtained by alcoholic fermentation of an infusion, or concoction of barley, or other grain, malt and hops in water.”  As Homer Simpson would say, “Mmmm, beer.” 

Washington, home of over 50 microbreweries, has its own Beer Commission.  The commission is authorized to collect an assessment of 10 cents per barrel of beer for up to 10,000 barrels per location.  That isn’t as fun as I imagined a Beer Commission to be (which was something along the lines of people sitting around “testing” beer for “quality control”). Washington also regulates how much of an alcoholic beverage a private individual can bring into the state for personal or household use.  The answer there, if you want to avoid tax and markup, is 288 ounces of beer no more than once per calendar month (if it’s coming from inside the U.S.).  It is important to note that if you come into a windfall of alcoholic beverages through an inheritance or estate settlement that you will be granted a one-time exemption from payment of taxes and markup. You know what that means…Party!

In Ohio statutes (Health, Safety and Morals division) it states that “No person shall have possession or control of, or be under the influence of, any intoxicating liquor, beer, or controlled substance, while on the premises of a fireworks plant.”  I’m glad they laid that out there.  And I always wonder, what brought about a law like this in the first place?  Did something really bad happen at a fireworks plant?

In Indiana, retail establishment owners that sell alcoholic beverages by the drink for consumption on the premises must be the proprietor of a restaurant located on the premises and must be prepared to serve a food menu consisting of not less than: hot soups, hot sandwiches, coffee, milk, and soft drinks.  You have to have something on hand to help soak up the alcohol.  Soup isn’t the first thing to spring to mind, but I hope they have nachos on the menu!

We hope that wherever you are, and however you choose to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, that you have fun (and obey the laws and regulations)!