With a large swath of the nation in the grip of icy cold temperatures, frostbite is a very real hazard for anyone who must spend time outdoors.
Frostbite is a serious condition that’s caused by exposure to extremely cold temperatures - a bodily injury caused by freezing that results in loss of feeling and color in affected areas.
A former OSHA inspector who worked at the 9/11 Ground Zero site, now diagnosed with a terminal 9/11 illness, is battling with the Labor Department for his workers’ compensation benefit, according to an article in the New York Daily News.
In a May, 2016 letter of interpretation, OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs answered this question:
Question: If an employee with a neatly trimmed goatee is wearing a respirator and it does not interfere with the seal of the face piece or valve function, and has passed a fit test, does this meet the intent of the OSHA’s Respiratory Protection standard?
Adults with asthma are at increased risk for pneumococcal disease, yet according to a new CDC study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, just 54 percent of adults with work-related asthma—asthma triggered by an exposure at work—have been vaccinated against the infection.
OSHA has cited R.A.W. Construction LLC for exposing its employees to trench collapse hazards. The Tallahassee-based company faces proposed penalties of $148,845.
During its investigation of the company’s Loganville worksite, OSHA identified two repeat and five serious violations, including failing to provide cave-in protection, and safe access and egress to employees installing gas lines at the excavation site, and not setting excavated materials at least 2 feet from the excavation.
Workers who were dismantling a mercury boiler in Portsmith, New Hampshire were exposed to high levels of mercury, according to OSHA inspectors who took action following workers’ complaints.
In response, OSHA cited Manafort Brothers, Inc. of Plainville, Connecticut for two willful and six serious violations concerning mercury, respirators, protective clothing, and sanitary conditions. The construction contractor faces penalties of $329,548.
COSHCON17 — The Young and the Active — The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, the umbrella group of all the nation’s COSH groups held its annual conference last week and I was privileged to be able to chair a very moving panel on “Lessons from Workplace Fatalities” with some of my heroes: family activist Katherine Rodriguez, whose father, Ray Gonzales was killed in a fire at BP Texas City in 2004, Tonya Ford, director the United Support and Memorial for Workplace Fatalities, whose uncle Robert “Bobby” Fitch fell to his death at an Archer Daniel Midland plant in 2009, and Jonathan Karmel, author of Dying to Work: Death and Injury in the American Workplace.
The 62,085 injuries to U.S. firefighters in 2016 reflected an 8.8 percent decrease from 2015, making this the lowest rate of injury since 1981 – the year the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) began analyzing firefighter injury data.
The latest data from the NFPA, released as part of the latest edition of its “U.S. Firefighter Injuries” report, show that the leading injury types in 2016 were: Strains, sprains and/or muscular pains (52.6 percent), and wounds, cuts, bleeding, and bruising (15.2 percent).
The US Department of Labor estimates that every day in the United States five to ten Arc Flash Explosions occur on the job. Arc Flashes are incredibly violent and devastating to any worker exposed to the instantaneous phenomenon. Most of the time the exposure will result in serious injury or even death. Electrical equipment is designed to withstand up to a certain amount of current.
Electrical contractors are responsible for the health and safety of employees who are exposed to a variety of hazards. Some of these hazards are obvious, such as electrical shock and electrocution. Others, such as musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), back injuries, slips and falls, or automobile-related incidents may not be as obvious.
