From a work-related amputation statistics to a fatigue standard for the oil and gas industry and a fracking “peace treaty,” here are the week’s top OEHS-related news stories as featured on ISHN.com:

OSHA has published a new slide presentation on the value of injury and illness prevention programs — a proactive process to help employers find and fix workplace hazards before workers are hurt.

When Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis resigned her position, the talk became what might happen to OSHA’s planned Injury/Illness Prevention Standard (I2P2). Secretary Solis had announced this initiative in early 2010. The stated purpose was to require employers to establish a plan that would prevent violations of OSHA standards and that would protect workers from violations of their workplace rights.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), in partnership with the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA), has announced the winners of the 2013 Safe-in-Sound Excellence in Hearing Loss Prevention Awards™.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), in partnership with the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA), has announced this year’s winners of the Safe-in-Sound Excellence in Hearing Loss Prevention Awards™.

Virtually all catastrophic events in man-made systems are related to technical failures made possible by organizational failures. This explains why catastrophic events continue to occur despite widespread implementation of sophisticated technical and management systems. Deepwater Horizon and Texas City disasters are examples of events caused by weak organizational safety—the context within which technical and management systems function. 

While filing reports in his 6th floor downtown office, Jeff Rucker, Dallas regional program manager for OSHA's On-Site Consultation Program, noticed several construction workers at a building across the street taking down a large holiday ornament display without proper fall protection.

Violence is not just a law enforcement problem. It is a public health problem of vast proportions. Each year, violence kills 55,000 people in the United States. Violence takes a particular toll on youth. Every day, 13 young people between the ages of 10 and 24 are killed, making homicide the third leading cause of death in this age group.

President Obama on Wednesday announced his multi-prong campaign “to do the right thing” to protect the public from gun violence. Stated the White House in a prepared statement: “There are approximately 30,000 firearm-related homicides and suicides a year, a number large enough to make clear this is a public health crisis.

The Massachusetts FACE Project—in conjunction with the national Campaign to Prevent Falls in Construction, and with input from local industry and labor safety experts, contractors, and researchers—has updated and published a series of four residential construction fall prevention brochures for contractors.