Preliminary results released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics' National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries show a slight decline in occupational fatalities.

Here are the week’s top occupational health and safety stories from www.ISHN.com:

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has called for national action to protect workers' health and safety, following the deaths of at least 240 workers in a garment factory in Karachi, Pakistan.

A new Maine Department of Labor report indicates that more than 13 percent of healthcare workplace injuries result from patient aggression.

OSHA has cited Sodexho Inc. with safety and health violations – 12 of them serious – found while maintenance workers removed asbestos at Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi. OSHA initiated an inspection March 8 in response to a complaint. Proposed fines total $81,000.

The 21 citations received by North American Salt’s Cote Blanche mine in Louisiana in recent weeks are only a fraction of the long string of safety violations issued against it by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

Recent studies suggest that despite high unemployment rates and an uncertain economy, nearly half of the currently employed workers in the U.S. are actively seeking to switch employers.

Medical advice on staying active can have a positive affect on workers who are on medical leave due to  lower back pain, a new study finds.

U.S. workers who have disabilities are injured at more than twice the rate of workers who are not disabled, according to new research published in the September issue of the American Journal of Public Health.