While extreme storms like tornadoes and hurricanes get most of the media attention, a far simpler weather condition – heat -- is much deadlier. Heat kills an average of 658 people every year -- more than tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and lightning combined. In the disastrous heat wave of 1980, more than 1,250 people died. In the heat wave of 1995 more than 700 deaths in the Chicago area were attributed to heat. In August 2003, a record heat wave in Europe claimed an estimated 50,000 lives.
Planning ahead for hot weather and making sure that the appropriate precautionary measures are in place before work begins are critical components in preventing workers from reaching their physical limits.
The most basic and most widely used form of cooled personal protective equipment (PPE) is vests that use phase change material (PCM) for thermal energy storage.
Goal: To prevent, reduce severity of workplace injuries and illnesses
June 6, 2013
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has announced the formation of the NIOSH Center for Workers’ Compensation Studies (CWCS) that will coordinate data in an effort to reduce the burdens of work-related injuries and illness on workers, their families and communities and the economy.
Construction workers in Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee learned about the dangers of working in summer heat at a one-hour safety stand-down today conducted by OSHA, employers and trade associations.
In addition to death toll, financial cost is enormous
April 30, 2013
A new report from the United Nations calls for “urgent and vigorous” action to address the issue of work-related diseases, which kill approximately two million people around the world each year. About 160 million more are afflicted by non-fatal occupational illnesses.
The nation’s annual food safety report card is out and it shows that 2012 rates of infections from two germs spread commonly through food have increased significantly when compared to a baseline period of 2006-2008, while rates of most others have not changed during the same period.
Last year’s national education ad campaign, "Tips from Former Smokers," was so successful that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched a new series of ads along the same lines.