One of the strangest – and deadliest – incidents in U.S. history occurred on this day in 1919, when millions of gallons of molasses poured into Boston’s North End, killing 21 people, injuring 150 more and laying waste to two city blocks.

For the first time in U.S. history, a person is more likely to die from an accidental opioid overdose than from a motor vehicle crash, according to National Safety Council analysis. The odds of dying accidentally from an opioid overdose have risen to one in 96, eclipsing the odds of dying in a motor vehicle crash (one in 103). NSC unveiled the analysis on Injury Facts – the definitive resource for data around unintentional, preventable injuries, commonly known as “accidents.”

A foodborne illness outbreak, a worker fatality at a car dealership and the first-ever public agenda issued by AIHA were among the top occupational safety and health stories featured on ISHN.com this week.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed an appropriations bill to fund the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Included in this bill is funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), school meals, and other critical nutrition programs, which were set to lose funding next month due to the partial government shutdown.

The E. coli outbreak in the U.S. linked to romaine lettuce appears to be over. That’s the judgement of the CDC, which has issued a final update on the case, which resulted in 62 people in 16 states becoming ill from eating contaminated lettuce. Twenty-five people of them were hospitalized, including two people who developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome.

A field test that involved placing an N95 respirator-wearing manikin at multiple sites and testing exposures using a nanoparticle counter found that while the respirator reduced exposures, in many situations it did not provide 95% protection.

A steady, 25-year decline has resulted in a 27% drop in the overall cancer death rate in the United States, translating to approximately 2.6 million fewer cancer deaths between 1991 and 2016. The data come from Cancer Statistics, 2019, the American Cancer Society’s widely-quoted annual report on cancer rates and trends. The article appears early online in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, and is accompanied by a consumer version, Cancer Facts & Figures 2019.

78% of disasters recorded in the United States each year are weather-related. Still, when asked what type of incidents they expect to respond to over the next year, Emergency Management Personnel (EMP) and public safety officials underestimate the number of weather-related disasters that will occur.

Occupational exposures to pesticides and metals are associated with an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among Hispanics/Latinos, according to a study published online Dec. 11 in Heart. Catherine M. Bulka, Ph.D., from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and colleagues analyzed cross-sectional data from 7,404 employed Hispanic/Latino individuals aged 18 to 74 years.

An unpredictable, anything-but-steady income – a common feature in today’s gig economy and one that is often experienced by younger workers – may be hard on your heart as well as your bank account. New research published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation shows that sudden, unpredictable drops in personal income during young adulthood are associated with an increased risk of developing heart disease and/or dying from any cause.