Emerging construction safety research, hearts that age faster than we do and New York City’s construction industry claims another life. These were among the occupational safety and health stories posted on ISHN.com this week.

Feds distribute $10.5M in workplace safety and health training grants

OSHA has awarded $10.5 million in one-year federal safety and health training grants to 80 nonprofit organizations across the nation for education and training programs to help high-risk workers and their employers recognize serious workplace hazards, implement injury prevention measures and understand their rights and responsibilities.

Using social media to prevent construction falls-

-and other CPWR research on construction safety

 “One of the greatest challenges in occupational safety and health is ensuring that promising research findings become safer practices on the jobsite,” according to Pete Stafford, Executive Director of the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR).

US Court of Appeals holds serial OSHA violator in contempt

Lessard Roofing and Siding Inc. and Lessard Brothers Construction Inc., both located in Greene, Maine, were cited by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration for safety violations 11 times at 11 different work sites in Maine between 2000 and 2011.

Most Americans’ hearts are older than their age

That means higher risk of heart attacks and stroke

Your heart may be older than you are – and that’s not good. According to a new Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Vital Signs report, 3 out of 4 U.S. adults have a predicted heart age that is older than their actual age.

MSHA proposes rule to prevent crushing, pinning deaths in mines

Rule would require proximity detection devices on coal-haulage equipment underground

Haulage machinery in underground coal mines – such as shuttle cars, ram cars and scoops – would have to be equipped with technology that prevents miners from becoming struck, pinned or crushed, as per a proposed rule from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Two amputations less than two weeks apart at Ga. manufacturer

In separate incidents less than two weeks apart, two employees sustained disabling injuries at Primex Plastics Corp. in Oakwood. Both workers had their middle and ring fingers amputated as they removed material jammed in shearing machines that cut plastic.

Ten years later: Oil rig safety lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina

According to government data, Katrina destroyed 46 oil platforms and damaged 100 pipelines in August 2005. Massive waves sunk entire platforms and snapped seabed anchors. Hurricane Rita dealt a second blow less than a month later.

NIOSH to study injuries and accidents in oil fields

The oil boom in North Dakota and elsewhere has claimed the lives of dozens of oil field workers. Fatalities from the boom are drawing renewed attention from government scientists.

Physicians group slams tobacco industry claims

Dr. Robert Wergin is angry that tobacco manufacturers have begun using the terms “additive free” and “natural” on their cigarette labels.

NYC construction worker killed in fall

In the latest construction fatality in New York City, a worker fell 30 feet to his death last week after a platform in an elevator shaft collapsed.