Articles Tagged with ''illness''

A social services company is held responsible for an employee’s murder in the same week that a bill to prevent workplace violence in the health care and social service industries is re-introduced in Congress. These were among the top stories featured on ISHN.com this week.

The same hierarchy of controls framework used to prevent workplace injuries can help reduce the incidence or spread of infectious diseases that result from exposures at work. That is one of the key findings of a study just published by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), whose researchers reviewed nearly a decade’s worth of infectious disease investigations in workplaces across the U.S. to better understand the range of cases, the risk factors for workers, and the ways to prevent infectious disease transmission on the job.

The number of coal company officials charged in a case involving defrauding regulators about black lung disease has risen to nine, according to a recent announcement from the U.S. Department of Labor. U.S. Attorney Russell M. Coleman said Glendal “Buddy” Hardison, the former manager of all Armstrong Coal mines in western Kentucky, is the latest official from thecompany to be charged by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to defraud an agency of the U.S. government by deceit, trickery, and dishonest means.

OSHA is reminding employers to take necessary precautions to protect workers from the potentially fatal effects of carbon monoxide exposure. Every year, workers die from carbon monoxide poisoning, usually while using fuel-burning equipment, tools, compressors and pumps, gas-powered forklifts, and other devices in buildings or semi-enclosed spaces without adequate ventilation.

A long-term silicosis study yields valuable results; an OSHA trainer makes thousands selling fake training cards and a risk from wearable tech you may not have thought of. These were among the top occupational safety and health stories featured on ISHN.com this week.

In many European countries, women workers have a more difficult time than their male counterparts to get their cancer recognised as having been caused by work. That’s one of the conclusions of a report of the European Agency for Safety and Health at work (EU-OSHA) which analyses the alert and sentinel systems used in various European countries for the early detection of work-related diseases.

Silicosis is a lung disease caused by exposure to airborne silica. Generally, it causes scarring (pulmonary fibrosis) after 20 or more years of exposure. Since 1988, Michigan has been identifying individuals who develop silicosis with the goal of targeting prevention actions. Michigan’s system is both the longest running and only comprehensive surveillance system for silicosis in the United States.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has announced the availability of newly developed information on respiratory health and health care worker safety as well as an upcoming webinar series on ergonomics: The final National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) for Respiratory Health is now available. The 10 strategic objectives are organized into three sections.

It’s February, which means that Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and love is in the air. At the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), we like to use this time of year as an opportunity to show our appreciation for the personal protective equipment (PPE) that keeps the people we love safe. In this spirit, NIOSH recently set a goal to improve the safety and health of fire fighters by reducing their exposure to harmful contaminants due to unclean or inadequately cleaned PPE.