The most dangerous jobs in the U.S.; good news and bad news about opioid use and evidence mounts about the hazards of e-cigarettes. These were among the top stories featured on ISHN.com this week.
Logging is not only the most dangerous job in America – it’s 31 times more dangerous than the average job nationwide. That’s one of the findings of a study recently completed by AdvisorSmith, which used data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and the Current Population Survey to determine the most hazardous jobs, based on fatal injury rates.
OSHA has cited ammunition manufacturer AMTEC Less Lethal Systems Inc. for exposing employees to explosive hazards after an explosion fatally injured two workers at the company’s Perry, Florida, facility. The company faces $188,290 in penalties for multiple serious violations, and a willful violation that carries the maximum penalty allowed.
One of the deadliest industrial disasters in the history of the country – the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire - occurred in New York City on this day in 1911. The fire claimed the lives off 146 garment workers – many of whom jumped to their deaths from the 7th, 8th and 9th floors of the building in order to avoid the smoke and flames sweeping through their workplace.
Thirty-four Congressional Democrats are calling for the reinstatement of the original Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses rule published on May 12, 2016, which required companies with 250 or more employees to electronically submit OSHA forms 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) and 301 (Injury and Illness Incident Report) each year. The Trump administration’s final rule, which was published during the government shutdown, only requires employers to submit a 300A – a summary of work-related injuries and illnesses.
Early in 2019, OSHA cited a pet food company in Florida for failing to provide protective gear for workers handling corrosive chemicals, a Pennsylvania hair salon for exposing workers to hazardous materials, an Ohio musical instrument factory for exposing workers to toxic copper dust, and a Texas indoor gun range for exposing workers to unsafe levels of lead.
In a landmark case, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) has ruled that Integra Health Management, a social service employer, is accountable for failing to protect workers from workplace violence.
Integra was cited for safety violations following the tragic death of an employee who was stabbed nine times, then left bleeding on a front lawn after a December 2012 home visit to an agency client with a history of mental illness and violent criminal behavior.
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.
Rollover protective structures, or ROPS, saved more than $4 million in prevented deaths and injuries among New York State farm workers from 2007 to 2017, according to a NIOSH-funded study published in the American Journal of Public HealthExternal.
ROPS, which became standard tractor equipment in 1985, help prevent injuries from tractor overturns –the leading cause of farm-related deaths.
The growing demand for wireless and broadcast communications over the past three decades has spurred a dramatic increase in communication tower construction and maintenance – one that exposes workers to specific hazards.
In order to erect or maintain communication towers, employees regularly climb towers, using fixed ladders, support structures or step bolts, from 100 feet to heights in excess of 1000 or 2000 feet.