The Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General (OIG) plans on investigating several programs within OSHA in 2013, according to Aaron Trippler, government affairs director of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA). The OIG will be taking a look at the OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP).

The American Public Health Association (APHA) is warning that budget cuts set to take effect in January of next year will compromise efforts to protect American’s health by slashing funding for food safety, environmental protection and immunization and family planning programs.

Around 150 million Americans drag themselves out of bed each day and show up for work. You get your first cup of coffee, chit-chat a bit, punch in, and settle in for a long day on the job.

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.

A new Government Accounting Office (GAO) report raises concerns about the effect of workplace safety incentive programs on accident and injury reporting, and recommends that OSHA add the issue to the field operations manuals used by its inspectors.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has released a new toolkit to help small and medium-sized employers plan, implement, and evaluate workplace health promotion programs.

The top safety resolutions for 2012 include: 1. Perform regular audits of workplace safety initiatives: Benchmark safety programs to establish a baseline of performance.

Workers want four simple things from their employee-provided health benefit plans -- and many are not getting them, according to a new survey from Aon Hewitt, The Futures Company and the National Business Group on Health.

Rising health care costs are prompting an increasing number of companies to encourage participation in employee health management programs through financial incentives and penalties, according to new research by Towers Watson (NYSE, NASDAQ:TW), a global professional services company, and the National Business Group on Health.