Environmental Health and Safety

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Home working has been steadily increasing over the past decade, with the number of people working from home now reaching four million, according to the United Kingdom (UK) Office for National Statistics.

In formally requesting input from stakeholders about its bid to update chemical permissible exposure limits, OSHA is “initiating a national dialogue” about ways to prevent work-related illness caused by exposure to hazardous substances.

OSHA today announced the publication of a Request for Information (RFI) to stakeholders and others requesting recommendations on how the agency might update its permissible exposure limits (PELs) for hundreds of chemicals, many of which have exposure limits dating back to 1970. 

Rates of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest are elevated after days with high levels of air pollutants, reports a Japanese study in the October Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) says the the winners of its 2014 health and safety awards are “extraordinary people” who are helping to make workplaces safer by empowering workers and building coalitions.

Hazardous exposure to bodily fluids, bloodborne pathogens, unlabeled chemical cleaners, diesel emissions, temperature extremes and ear-splitting noise has put contracted airport workers at risk, according to a report by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH). The report confirmed the many dangerous, yet preventable, working conditions that workers at JFK and LaGuardia airports have complained about for years.

Fourteen workers renovating an old house in Quebec, Canada developed a respiratory disease from inhaling hazardous materials, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which warns employers to provide appropriate protective equipment during such work.