Employees with depression have higher costs related to short-term disability and absenteeism — even after receiving antidepressant therapy, reports a study in the February Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).
According to an OSHA press release, the agency has fined the C.A. Franc construction company $539,000 following the investigation of a roofing worker who fell 40 feet to his death at a Washington worksite. The Valencia, Pa.-based roof installer — whose owner is Christopher A. Franc — was cited for 10 per instance willful citations for failing to protect workers from falls.
One day after Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc, announced it will conduct a voluntary safety recall on approximately 133,000 2010 Model Year Prius vehicles and 14,500 Lexus Division 2010 HS 250h vehicles to update software in the vehicle’s anti-lock brake system (ABS), Toyota President Akio Toyoda wrote the following op-ed piece that was published in the Washington Post on February 9, 2010. The apology and vow to rebuild consumer trust over a safety issue includes several strategies that safety and health pros will find interesting. We have boldfaced them in the text, which was also posted on Toyota’s corporate website.
Grainger, one of the nation’s largest distributors of safety products, reported for the year ended December 31, 2009, sales of $6.2 billion were down 9 percent versus 2008.
OSHA has issued a proposed rule to align the agency’s Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) with provisions of the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). Published in the Sept. 30, 2009 Federal Register (74 FR 50280), the proposal requested interested parties to submit comments by Dec. 30.
A significant majority of U.S. employers believe health care reform, if enacted, would lead to higher costs for both employer-sponsored benefit programs and health care services overall, according to initial results from an employer survey conducted by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health.
The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) President C. Christopher Patton, CSP, said in a recent press release that ASSE is saddened by the sudden loss of Chris Walters, an ASSE member since 1981 who worked as a safety professional for more than 20 years. He was not only dedicated to protecting people, property and the environment, but to his wife, Fran, and their three children.
The National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) Fire Safety Educational Memorial Fund Committee has selected the Chautauqua County Hazardous Materials Response Team from New York as the recipient of the 2010 Warren E. Isman Educational Grant, according to an NFPA press release.
A Portland, Conn., asphalt company has agreed to pay $68,400 in penalties for failing to comply with federal regulations designed to prevent oil spills from reaching waterways, according to a press release from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
More than 175 organizations issued the following letter of support to the President, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to strongly support comprehensive health reform efforts, emphasizing the need to modernize and increase funding for disease prevention, wellness, and public health in the United States, according to a press release from the non-profit, non-partisan organization Trust for America’s Health.
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