How one company put together an award-winning workplace wellness program, a vaccine for high blood pressure and a cleaning chemical dilemma were among the top stories featured on ISHN.com this week.
The Wyndham hotel is next door to Massachusetts General Hospital
May 29, 2015
Housekeepers at the Wyndham hotel say they’re being exposed to used syringes, blood, vomit and other bodily fluids while cleaning rooms used by people who stay at the hotel after leaving Massachusetts General Hospital, which is next door to the hotel.
OSH advocates gather June 2nd thru 4th to focus on worker safety, empowerment and prevention strategies
May 28, 2015
The National Conference on Worker Safety and Health, bringing together workers, safety advocates and health professionals from across the country, will take place this coming Tuesday June 2nd through Thursday June 4th at the Conference Center at the Maritime Institute in Linthicum Heights, Maryland.
The 107 employees (“team members”) of Bankers Healthcare Group (BHG) in Davie, Fla. enjoy an on-site gym, a personal trainer, group fitness classes and recreational and shower facilities as well as a variety of healthy meal options.
Workers welding stainless steel and other alloy steels containing chromium metal at a Wisconsin bulk storage tank manufacturer were exposed to hazardous levels of hexavalent chromium, which can cause lung cancer and respiratory, eye and skin damage.
“The problem for me became very severe and my head nurse actually called me into her office to discuss it… it had gotten to the point where I was so chronically sleep-deprived that I was falling asleep while I was trying to report off to the on-coming shift. So, I’m sitting there talking about very complicated medical issues, and in the middle of a sentence, I would nod-off."
A new toolkit released jointly by OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety is aimed at helping health care industry employers protect hospital staff from respiratory hazards on the job.
Investigators find serious failures in 2014 toxic release in LaPorte, Texas
May 18, 2015
Four workers killed by a lethal gas in November 2014 would be alive today had their employer, DuPont, taken steps to protect them, an OSHA investigation found.
Report from the European Trade Union Institute: An important international meeting on toxic products opened in Geneva on 4 May with, as one of the main items on its agenda, the inclusion of chrysotile in the Rotterdam Convention. In spite of the deleterious effects of this form of asbestos, lobbying by producer and importer states has so far enabled this carcinogenic substance to remain outside the purview of this instrument.
OSHA has updated its free heat illness app with some new features for iPhone users. The app, which was launched in 2011, allows workers and supervisors to calculate the heat index for their worksite, and, based on the heat index, displays a risk level to outdoor workers.