Weekly news round-up
Highlights of the National Safety Council 2014 Congress & Expo, an update on OSHA’s ten most frequently cited violations and good news/bad news for aviation safety were among the EHS-related stories posted on ISHN.com this week.
Worker fatally engulfed in South Dakota grain elevator
OSHA cites Prairie Ag Partners for 11 violations
A 51-year-old worker was fatally injured when he became engulfed in flowing grain in a railcar load-out elevator at Prairie Ag Partners. The incident occurred March 15, 2014, when the worker attempted to remove a jam from a chute while the auger operated.
EPA announces new actions to curb potent greenhouse gases
Building on President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy has announced additional EPA actions to curb emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), potent greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning.
Worker who fired OSHA safety complaint gets fired
DOL seeking damages against Sandpoint Gas 'n' Go & Lube Center
The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho against Sandpoint Gas 'n' Go & Lube Center Inc., in Sandpoint, Idaho, and its owner Sydney M. Oskoui, individually, for violating the whistleblower protection provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.
AIHA goes global with new Chinese website
In its quest to connect with occupational and environmental health and safety professionals in China, AIHA has launched a Chinese website: www.AIHAChina.org.
ASSE wants tougher standard for impaired driving
Legal impairment standard would go from blood alcohol level of .08% to .05%
The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) is backing the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) effort to encourage states to reduce the legal standard of driver impairment due to alcohol consumption, as measured by blood-alcohol content (BAC), from 0.08% to 0.05%.
From 2014 NSC Congress & Expo:
How PPE companies are evolving
By Dave Johnson
San Diego CA -- It’s clear from spending days on the exhibit floor of the National Safety Congress and Expo held here in San Diego that your father’s PPE company is so last century.
From 2014 NSC Congress & Expo:
You’re going to know more about your workers than ever
By Dave Johnson
San Diego CA -- One emerging fact coming out of the annual National Safety Congress and Expo held here in San Diego – as a safety and health professional, technology will give you more information about your workers than the profession has ever had access to before.
Fewer airplane crashes in 2013
However -- first fatalities on U.S. airlines and commuters in three years
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released preliminary aviation accident statistics which show an overall decline in the number of US registered civil aviation accidents. The number of civil aviation accidents fell from 1,539 in 2012 to 1,297 in 2013.
From 2014 NSC Congress & Expo:
Top ten most frequently cited OSHA standards for FY 2014
San Diego CA -- OSHA announced at the National Safety Congress and Expo here in San Diego the preliminary top ten most frequently cited workplace safety violations for fiscal year 2014 (Oct 1 2013 – Sept 30 2014).
From 2014 NSC Congress & Expo:
Safety spending shows strong sign of rebounding
By Dave Johnson
San Diego CA -- “This year’s event is our biggest show to date, with the highest attendance ever,” said Deborah A.P. Hersman, president and CEO of the National Safety Council (NSC), at the annual National Safety Congress and Expo held here in San Diego.
From 2014 NSC Congress & Expo:
The trouble with safety case studies
By Dave Johnson
San Diego CA -- Why don’t more companies want to publicize their safety programs? On the floor of the National Safety Congress Expo, held here in San Diego, ISHN traded war stories about aborted safety program case studies with a senior marketing communications manager with one of the exhibitors.
From 2014 NSC Congress & Expo:
By Dave Johnson
San Diego CA -- More than 50 percent of employees say their company is not adequately prepared to respond to an emergency, according to a survey conducted this year by Staples, the office supply retailer, and a vendor of emergency response products exhibiting at the National Safety Congress and Expo here in San Diego.
Don’t track me down versus the need to know
By Dave Johnson
San Diego CA - Personnel tracking technology is one of the fascinating research and development progressions on display at the National Safety Congress and Expo being held here in hot and humid (unbelievably) San Diego. For two weeks temperatures in the San Diego area have hovered between 90 to 100 degrees, sending many residents in search of air conditioners, and having attendees walking to the convention center work up a good sweat.
Fairwarning Reports:
Latino workers dying at higher rates in job accidents, report shows
As Latino workers take on more and more of the nation’s toughest and dirtiest jobs, they increasingly are paying for it with their lives. Preliminary federal figures released last week showed that of the 4,405 U.S. workers killed on the job in 2013, 797 were Latinos. That equates to 3.8 of every 100,000 full-time Latino employees in the U.S. dying in workplace accidents during the year.
By Dave Johnson
San Diego CA - On the first day of the National Safety Congress and Expo here in San Diego it’s apparent by strolling the expo aisles and talking with vendors that many are adapting an approach to the broad safety marketplace that emphasizes PPE for specific vertical markets.
From the NSC Congress & Expo:
NSC presents 2014 Campbell Award, Distinguished Service to Safety Awards
The National Safety Council (NSC) today presented the 2014 Robert W. Campbell Award to Indiana-based Cummins Inc. at the NSC Congress & Expo, the world’s largest annual gathering of safety and health professionals. Campbell Award winners are an elite group of organizations committed to continuous improvement.
One killed, two injured at Louisiana natural gas pipeline
A contractor was killed and two others were injured Saturday morning while working on a Chevron natural gas pipeline off the coast of Lousiana. Two other workers sustained minor injuries.
CSB: Stop using methanol in lab, classroom demonstrations
Eight children burned Sept. 9 at Nevada museum
Last week a team of CSB investigators deployed to the Terry Lee Wells Discovery Museum (The Discovery) in Reno, Nevada, where a flash fire on September 3 injured children and adults viewing a science demonstration. Nine people – eight of them children – were transported to the hospital for evaluation of burn injuries, and one child with more serious burns was admitted to the hospital for treatment.
Two NYC fires in two days caused by overloaded power strips
In the wake of two Manhattan fires that occurred within two days - leaving one person dead and another seriously burned -- the Eletrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) is reminding the public about the dangers of overloaded circuits and improper power cord use.
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