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The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced a proposed rule to establish a drug and alcohol clearinghouse for all national commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders. The agency said the clearinghouse would help improve roadway safety by making it easier to determine whether a truck or bus driver is prohibited from operating a commercial motor vehicle for failing to comply with federal drug and alcohol regulations, including mandatory testing.

After six workers were killed in a massive gas explosion at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown, Connecticut four years ago, federal investigators tallied hundreds of violations at the site and issued $16.6 million in penalties against more than a dozen companies — the third-largest workplace-safety fine in the nation's history.

Overweight and obese people who feel their physicians are judgmental of their size are more likely to try to shed pounds but are less likely to succeed, according to results of a study by Johns Hopkins researchers.

OSHA has cited Artbeats Inc. for repeat and serious violations of workplace safety standards at its Cheshire facility. The company, which manufactures reproductions of prints and paintings, faces $56,430 in proposed fines following an inspection by OSHA's Bridgeport Area Office begun Dec. 3, 2013, in response to a worker complaint.

If you plan to comment on OSHA’s propsed rule to change tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses, you should do it soon. The agency has announced that the comment period on the proposal, which is says will help imrove workplace safety and health, will close on March 10, 2014.

The public comment period on OSHA’s proposal to reduce worker exposure to silica dust ended this week, leaving the agency with more than 2,700 responses to process. The rule would decrease the permissible exposure limit for crystalline silica dust – a substance that causes cancer, silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and kidney disease in those who are exposed to it.

The first step in developing your strategic plan for a year’s worth of safety training starts with the assessment phase. You want to assess the current state of your training activities. Use worker focus groups and perception surveys for larger groups to learn how satisfied the workforce is with what you have been doing in training in the past year.

A Dec. 2013 train derailment that killed four people and injured dozens of others has produced a flurry of safety recommendations by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is calling for the use of inward and outward facing audio and image recorders, among other things.

Deepwater Horizon cases and Walmart’s hazardous waste policies were among the cases pursued by the EPA last year. The agency’s annual enforcement report shows a focus on major violators that have the most impact on public health.

While pilots and co-pilots are prohibited from using cell phones and other personal electronic devices (PEDs) inflight, the jury is still out on whether passengers will get to wirelessly chat while en route to their destinations.