The European Commission, on advice from the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), has banned two pesticides: chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl and two organophosphates used as ingredients in a number of insecticides.
Chlorpyrifos has been on the market since 1966 and is currently in use in some 80 countries.
Even with relatively low participation rates, a comprehensive workplace health promotion (WHP) can have a moderate impact on worker health, according to an analysis of a large Finnish company published in the November Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
The study involved an eight-year evaluation of the WHP implemented at a Finnish wood supply company, one which offered health risk appraisal (HRAs) and screening, along with education and support services aimed at improving employee health.
With the U.S. increasingly dependent on foreign manufacturers for prescription and generic drugs, the Food and Drug Administration’s problem-plagued efforts to inspect overseas plants is under growing scrutiny. A recent report by the Government Accountability Office has raised serious concerns about the FDA’s foreign inspection program and whether it’s allowing overseas drug makers to conceal unsafe practices.
In a first-ever action, a company and its former managers were criminally prosecuted for institutional harassment associated with suicides among the company’s employees.
In a judgment last month, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced France Telecom to a fine of 75,000 euros - the maximum penalty – for institutional harassment that had spread from the leadership to the rest of the company in 2007-2008.
ISO 45001, finalized in 2018, replaces a previous standard, OHSAS 18001, which was developed by auditors as a health and safety complement to quality and environmental standards (ISO 9001 and ISO 14001). ISO 45001 is a conformance standard, intended for use with third-party certification.
Two teenage employees working the overnight shift at a McDonald’s in Lima, Peru were electrocuted earlier this month – an incident which has led to a national conversation about workplace conditions at various companies in the country.
News reports say Alexandra Porras Inga and Gabriel Campos Zap were electrocuted by a loose cable, possibly while mopping the floor of the restaurant.
A pilot project by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) intended to gather information on chemical substances “of very high concern” found in consumer articles has yielded some alarming results, according to the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI).
The inspectorates of 15 EU Member States checked 682 articles supplied by 405 companies.
The European Roadmap on Carcinogens – an initiative first launched in May 2016 in Amsterdam under the Dutch EU Presidency – was extended last week in Helsinki by organizations that included the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). The roadmap is a voluntary effort to raise awareness among workers and employers about the risks of exposure to carcinogens in the workplace.
With millions of passengers travelling on trains and through railway stations every day in the Netherlands, the chance that an employee of railway company Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) will have to respond to an emergency situation is high.
Medical emergencies due to sudden illness are most common, but staffers need to be prepared for more complex, and even dangerous, situations.
The recent staging of A+A – the Leading International Trade Fair for Safety, Security and Health at Work – closed in Düsseldorf, Germany to record results: 2,121 exhibitors from 63 nations showcased their innovations on 839,600 square feet of exhibit space in ten halls to over 73,000 trade visitors. Every second visitor came from outside Germany.