Editorial Comments: Safety & Health | ISHN

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You might have missed this bizarre bit of news at the beginning of the year because it came from across the “pond,” in the United Kingdom. Prime Minister David Cameron issued a New Year’s resolution pledging, among other promises, to “kill off the health and safety culture for good.”

What’s with that perfectly round, candy yellow smile face with the black, blank eyes popping up on newsstands lately?

Brrriinnggg!!! rrriinnggg!!! “Hello? “Who’s calling? What’s that? The Society for a Sustainable Future?

Last August while trolling for votes at the Iowa State Fair, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney created a little media stir when, egged on by an irate protestor, he said, “Corporations are people, too, my friend.” 

The first thing we noticed in this year’s annual White Paper EHS State of the Nation reader survey was age. 

Distressing. Unacceptable. Mired in mediocrity. I’m paraphrasing, but that’s the essence of the American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) reaction last month to news from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that a total of 4,547 workers died on the job in 2010 compared with 4,551 from 2009. 

Just where will this new Super Committee of Congressional Budget-Cutters come up with more than a trillion bucks in federal spending savings, as mandated by that Grand Bargain reached by Congress this summer to raise the federal government debt ceiling?

 The largest human mass movement occurs each spring in China when 135 million migrant workers leave their factory jobs in China’s smog-choked industrial cities to journey to their home villages in farmlands hundreds and thousands of miles away to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Later this month you’ll see ISHN’s website at www.ishn.com has been totally redesigned for a faster, easier online research, problem-solving, best practices sharing, and news gathering.