Weekly news round-up
Threats to health from air pollution, how (and why) to hold on to aging workers and the long term effects of black lung disease were among the week’s top occupational safety and health stories featured on ISHN.com
U.S. mining deaths dropped to new lows in 2015
Work-related accidents claimed 28 miners’ lives
January 8, 2016
Preliminary data released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration indicate that 28 miners died in 2015 in work-related accidents at the nation’s mines, down from 45 in 2014.
January 8, 2016
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has released an app that tells users where they can operate (or not operate) their drones, otherwise known as unmanned aircraft system (UAS).
First-of-its-kind assessment delivers on President Obama’s National Pollinator Strategy
January 8, 2016
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a preliminary pollinator risk assessment for the neonicotinoid insecticide, imidacloprid, which shows a threat to some pollinators. EPA’s assessment, prepared in collaboration with California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation, indicates that imidacloprid potentially poses risk to hives when the pesticide comes in contact with certain crops that attract pollinators.
January 8, 2016
The public comment period for OSHA's updated Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines* ends on Feb. 15, 2016.
Susquehanna Supply Company Inc. has an extensive OSHA history of violations
January 7, 2016
An employee working on the outside of a bridge abutment in a 12-15’ trench in Milllville, Pennsylvania died when the adjacent trench wall collapsed, burying him in soil. The worker was in the trench shoveling soil off the base of the abutment wall because it was not reachable by an excavator.
January 7, 2016
A new white paper predicts that upcoming dramatic shifts in workforce demographics will leave many companies with vacancies that will be difficult to fill with younger, less experienced workers.
January 7, 2016
The federal government has released its “2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines,” which it says focuses on the big picture with recommendations to help Americans make choices that add up to an overall healthy eating pattern.
January 7, 2016
To help employers comply with new requirements to report severe worker injuries, OSHA has created a streamlined reporting webpage and now offers the option of reporting incidents online.
January 6, 2016
A study utilizing investment simulations for 17 publicly held companies with strong health or safety programs for employees suggests that employers that invest significantly in health and safety programming can outperform other companies in the marketplace.
January 6, 2016
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) will get an update on the investigation into last year’s blast at the ExxonMobile Refinery in Torrance, California at its upcoming meeting.
Want to fly your drone legally? There’s an app for that
EPA releases info on insecticides that may be harmful to bees
Time running out to comment on S&H management guidelines
Fatal trench collapse earns Pa. company ‘severe violator’ status
Strategies for engaging and retaining mature workers
Feds release new(est) dietary guidelines
Injury reporting webpage simplified, online filing now available
Stock market performance linked to employee health & safety programs
CSB’s initial findings in ExxonMobile explosion to be made public
From NIOSH Research Rounds:
Black lung disease affects both current and former coal miners
January 6, 2016
A new study at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) underscores the importance of anticipating respiratory disease, including black lung disease and loss of lung function, in former coal miners to allow them to receive an appropriate diagnosis and medical care.
January 6, 2016
After a series of tornadoes struck parts of north Texas last week, causing at least 11 deaths and extensive destruction of property, OSHA coordinated with local officials to ensure the safety of recovery workers and responders.
From NIOSH Director John Howard
January 5, 2016
Don’t assume there is no need to prepare for working safely in the cold this year, because of the moderate temperatures in much of the country so far. According to the National Weather Service , the long-range weather forecast predicts chillier temperatures than average in January and February in the Southern Plains and the Southeast.
January message from ASSE President Michael Belcher
January 5, 2016
Latinos are the largest minority group in the U.S., and statistics show that only Mexico has a higher number of Latinos. Latinos now comprise 17% of the population, a figure expected to grow to 31% by 2060, according the U.S. Census Bureau. This increase will have significant demographic and business implications.
January 5, 2016
In 1981, a worker at the Maxwell House coffee factory in Houston died from what was reported at the time to be "bronchial asthma." She was 46, a mother of three. In 1982, another worker at the plant died — from the same thing.
January 5, 2016
Although survival rates for people who suffer cardiac arrest outside a hospital are extremely low in most places, emergency physicians propose three interventions to improve survival rates and functional outcomes in any community and urge additional federal funding for cardiac resuscitation research in an editorial published online last Wednesday in Annals of Emergency Medicine (“IOM Says Times to Act to Improve Cardiac Arrest Survival … Here’s How”).
January 4, 2016
Ghostly underwater images of the doomed cargo ship El Faro have been released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as part of its ongoing investigation into the sinking of the ship.
28,600 ordered to halt operations
January 4, 2016
Thick smog continued to engulf China’s largest cities on December 26, 2015, just a day after authorities canceled more than 200 flights from Beijing due to limited visibility. Children and elderly were also warned to avoid outdoor activities as officials raised the air pollution alert in Beijing to orange, the second-highest on the city’s four-grade scale, on Christmas.
January 4, 2016
Until December, 2015, the Chinese government had never issued a "red alert" for severe smog levels in any of its cities. But in December it issued two of them, closing schools, stalling freeways, and leading some environmental policy experts to believe that, with respect to air pollution, the recent alarms may represent a national turning point.
January 4, 2016
A report published by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that inhalation of nanomaterials is the exposure route that provides the most significant health effects to consumers and others.
Cleanup worker safety in the aftermath of a tornado
Preparing for working in cold
Supporting our Latino community
Workplace surveillance fails to detect respiratory diseases
Doctors: How to improve cardiac arrest survival in three easy steps
El Faro’s underwater grave seen in NTSB images
China shutters 17,000 firms for pollution offenses
Fighting dirty air: How Chinese citizens try to “wash their lungs”
Report: Inhalation of nanomaterials causes "most significant" health effects
“Habitual” safety violator again exposes roofers to fall hazards
January 4, 2016
Falls, broken bones, and death. These were the hazards faced by Force Corp. employees as they performed a roofing job on July 7, 2015, at 2-4 Johnson St. in North Andover. An OSHA inspector driving by the work site saw three employees on a roof exposed to falls of up to 18 feet without fall protection.
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