Environmental Health and Safety

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Shift workers, especially men, may be at higher risk for type 2 diabetes compared to people not on such schedules, a new study suggests. Also at special risk are shift workers who don't work on a set schedule, with shifts moving around at various times of the day.

OSHA has proposed $53,000 in fines for 11 serious violations against a New York manufacturer that exposed its workers to multiple hazards at its Fonda, NY facility.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has announced the completion of the committee draft stage of ISO 45001, Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems—Requirements. The standard, which is available for purchase, gives stakeholders a chance to review it before its publication is finalized, which is slated for late 2016.

European workers can now access detailed information about the chemicals they use in the workplace through an online database put in place by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the Spanish Trade Union Institute ISTAS.

Workers with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are more likely to have a flat or declining "work trajectory," reports a study in the July Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

Infertility is a significant health issue in the U.S. as well as globally. In addition to the large health and fiscal impacts of infertility, the inability to conceive can be devastating to individuals or couples.

U.S. workplaces may need to consider innovative methods to prevent fatigue from developing in employees who are obese. Based on results from a new study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (JOEH), workers who are obese may have significantly shorter endurance times when performing workplace tasks, compared with their non-obese counterparts.

The number of people overdosing from opioid prescription painkillers is staggering, killing 45 people each day. Twenty-three percent of the workforce has misused prescription painkillers, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, making opioid use a serious threat to employee safety. Even when employees are taking opioid painkillers at the correct dosage with a valid prescription, subtle impairment may compromise workplace safety.

It’s not often the OSHA chief is interviewed by one of the Big 3 TV Networks. But that’s what happened recently when NBC’sSeth Freed Wessler interviewed OSHA boss Dr. David Michaels.

In what has to be the first sign that the federal government truly recognizes the problem of outdated Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs), Federal OSHA has begun an effort to provide more guidance and information to employers and workers to compare some of the many different exposure limits being used.