The new ISO 21931-1:2010 standard is aimed at improving the environmental performance of buildings by providing an internationally agreed framework for methods used in assessing their environmental stewardship, according to an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) press release.
Nearly all safety professionals in a survey released this week said that workers in their organizations had at some point failed to wear the necessary safety equipment while on the job.
EPA is proposing several actions to improve reporting on chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The Inventory Update Reporting Rule enables EPA to collect and make current information on volumes of chemical production, manufacturing facility data, and how the chemicals are used. This information helps the agency determine whether chemicals may pose risks to people or the environment. In addition to enhancing the information to be reported, EPA is proposing to increase the frequency of reporting.
According to a Journal of the American Medical Association report, hospital-onset methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections decreased by 9.4% per year from 2005 to 2008.
Exposure to high levels of ultrafine particles — invisible particles that can reach the smallest air passages in the lungs — may be an important contributor to the risk of coronary heart disease in firefighters, reports a study in the August Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (JOEM), official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).
The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration has filed a complaint with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission alleging that a miner was discharged from his job in retaliation for engaging in protected safety activities, according to a press relase. Ricky Lee Campbell, who worked as a shuttle car operator and bolter for several mines operated by Massey Energy Co., was fired April 23, 2010, after working fewer than three weeks at Marfork Coal Co. Inc.’s Slip Ridge Cedar Grove Mine in Raleigh County, W.Va.
During the summer of 1910, forest fires burned an estimated 3 million acres in Idaho and Montana. The incident, known as The Great Fire of 1910, killed 78 firefighters on August 20 and ranks second on the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) list of deadliest incidents in the U.S. resulting in the deaths of eight or more firefighters, according to a recent NFPA press release. (The deadliest incident for firefighters was at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.)
The Occupational Health and Safety Research Institute (IRSST) just published its second edition of “Engineered Nanoparticles: Current Knowledge about Occupational Health and Safety Risks and Prevention Measures.”
EPA is issuing final rules that will protect Americans’ health by cutting emissions of mercury, particle pollution and other harmful pollutants from Portland cement manufacturing, the third-largest source of mercury air emissions in the United States. The rules are expected to yield $7 to $19 in public health benefits for every dollar in costs. Mercury can damage children’s developing brains, and particle pollution is linked to a wide variety of serious health effects, including aggravated asthma, irregular heartbeat, heart attacks, and premature death in people with heart and lung disease.