The Communications Workers of America (CWA), Public Citizen and more than 130 other unions, and public health and allied organizations have submitted a petition (PDF) to OSHA demanding a standard to protect workers whose jobs expose them to extreme heat.
The state of Maryland is reporting its first heat-related fatality of the summer. That was the conclusion of an autopsy performed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Health officials released few facts about the victim, other than that it was a male between the ages of 18 and 44.
The family of a hotel employee who drowned in a flooded elevator during Hurricane Harvey is suing her employer for what they say was a preventable death.
A lawsuit filed this week in Texas claims that the death of 48-year-old Jill Renick, an Omni Houston Hotel employee, was due to gross negligence on the part of the hotel. The suit also names Otis Elevator as a defendant, citing the absence of flood sensors on the hotel’s elevators.
From respiratory illnesses to lower birthweight to deaths caused by the “urban heat island effect,” a special supplement recently published by the American Journal of Public Health explores the many ways in which climate change is impacting public health.
The wildfires raging throughout Southern California right now are taking life, destroying property, and endangering people who are tasked with performing response and recovery operations.
During a wildfire, workers may be caught in circumstances that require them to quickly evacuate. The Ready.gov - Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) website offers guidance on what to do during a wildfire if in a vehicle, in a residence, or out in the open.
Substandard conditions in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey have impacted workers’ health and safety on the job, as well as their wages according to a devastating new report from from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and University of Illinois Chicago that surveyed 360 workers. The report also offers recommendations for improving working conditions during post-disaster recovery operations.
Hurricanes and other disasters present a major challenge for OSHA and other local and national government agencies dedicated to protecting workers during recovery operations.
U.S. Coast Guard recovery teams in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are hard at work locating, assessing and retrieving vessels that were sunken and damaged by Hurricanes Maria and Irma. The task is an urgent one, since leaking oil, fuel and hazardous materials pose a significant threat to the environment and human health.
The EPA is assisting in the effort, coordinating with federal, commonwealth, territory, and local partners.
With wildfires posing a current and – no doubt – future threat to California’s residents and its environment, the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) is urging California Governor Jerry Brown to turn to the experts – industrial hygienists – when it comes to protecting the health and safety of residents and recovery workers.
“AIHA and its members are ready now, and we will remain ready to assist you in recovery efforts throughout the days to come,” wrote AIHA President Deborah Imel Nelson PhD, CIH and California Industrial Hygiene Council President Pamela Murcell, CIH in a letter to Brown.
Climate change is already harming human health in ways that are “far worse than previously understood,” according to a new report in The Lancet, a prestigious British medical journal.
"Climate change is happening, and it's a health issue today for millions worldwide,” said Anthony Costello, co-chair of The Lancet Countdown, the commission that produced the report.
With extreme weather and its effects increasingly in the headlines, a new survey reveals what worries workers when it comes to power outages.
An online poll among 2,072 U.S. adults ages 18 and older commissioned by Cintas Corporation found that more than a third (34 percent) would not feel very confident in their ability to navigate the building safely.
