The North Carolina Department of Labor (NCDOL) has cited Smithfield Packing Co. in Clinton for 17 safety and health violations, including failing to provide workers with personal protective equipment and training to protect themselves from exposure to hazardous chemicals.

Training both workers and supervisors to recognize and anticipate hazards and perform rescues is vital, according to a panel of confined space experts speaking at the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) roundtable earlier this month.

OSHA’s long-standing VPP, born during the Reagan years and which received staunch support during Republican years in the White House (2000-2008), came under scrutiny as the Obama administration, with a more open ear to organized labor’s concerns about the VPP use of incentive and behavior-based safety programs, took the helm.

OSHA is inviting would-be app designers to develop apps specifically aimed at teaching younger workers about workplace safety.

OSHA has added a new, user-friendly online searchable course schedule for OSHA Training Institute (OTI) Education Center courses. The new course schedule allows prospective students to search for OTI training courses by organization, course title, state or date range.

To support Occupational Safety and Health degree programs at Universities’ in Summit’s home state, Michigan, Summit Training Source has donated a full library of Summit DVDs and access to Summit Streaming Video’s full library to Oakland University; a combined collection of over 200 training courses.

It’s a hot July evening, 2011. The gas well site in western Pennsylvania is a dangerous combination of humid, damp conditions, high-voltage electricity, and improper equipment.

When Sharon Chestnut, a dietary worker at a rehabilitation center in Warminster, Pa., attended a safety conference in March of this year, she never anticipated that she would soon have to use the training she received.