With the oil and gas industry facing some unique safety and health challenges – such as long hours and worksites in areas at risk for vector-borne diseases -- an industry association is making available two publications to address those challenges.

In your view, what are the big issues to watch out for in 2013? I think that climate change is going to be a big issue. That’s partly for the same reasons. There’s also a growing recognition of the effects that a change in climate is going to have on business.

Hazards come in many shapes and sizes—from the physical to the behavioral and all points in between. And the efficacy with which hazards are identified to a large extent shape the overall effectiveness of your safety management system. So what happens when your personal or organizational biases prevent you from seeing things accurately and honestly?

Female smokers have a much greater risk of death from lung cancer and chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD) in recent years than did female smokers 20 or 40 years ago, reflecting changes in smoking behavior according to a Special Article published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

During February -- American Heart Month -- the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) is conducting The Heart Truth campaign to bring to light the stories of women who are actively protecting their hearts inspiring others to do the same.

In the movie “Zero Dark Thirty” a brief exchange occurs between a CIA subordinate and his boss at Langley HQ. The subordinate and his team are frustrated. The higher-ups are not with aggression pursuing leads that the team believes could track down Bin Laden. “I wonder,” says the subordinate. “how do you assess the risk of doing nothing?”

A couple months back at my University a young man, a student, was found dead in the creek that runs through a small park on campus. Apparently, he had gotten intoxicated at a party, and then went to a bar with friends.  He ended up leaving the bar at 2 am and walked home alone.  He went to the park, slipped on some of the rocks surrounding the creek and was rendered unconscious in the water where he drowned.

Many cardiac patients are not giving healthy eating a high priority because some of their medical conditions are being controlled by drugs, according to a new study, which finds that practice can increase the risk of recurrent heart attacks.

A blaze that killed at least 112 workers in Bangladesh Saturday occurred in a garment factory that was known to be unsafe by at least one of the U.S. companies that sourced goods from it.

Uncertain times make us risk adverse. And in a tenuous economic recovery it’s easy for safety professionals to play it safe.