Today's Safety News

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A township in Indianapolis is mourning the loss of two volunteer firefighters who were killed in an airplane accident last night at the Marion Municipal Airport. The two Pipe Creek Township firefighters – Kyle Hibst and David Wittkamper – were taking a pleasure trip when the single-engine airplane they were in collided with a jet, according to news sources.

Internal audits are a fact of life for many environment, health and safety professionals -- especially those working for large companies. I recently had a discussion with a long-time Phylmar client about internal safety audits. There is a lot of guidance and advice available on how to prepare for such audits and how to create corrective action plans to respond to audit findings.

Recently, I did some health and safety “due diligence” consulting work for a client who wanted to acquire a small, 65-employee business. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting with supervisors and employees and touring the facility and was struck by two important findings: this small company didn’t have much by way of written programs that supported health and safety regulatory compliance AND it had a remarkably good safety record -- one that much larger companies would envy.

The Kentucky legislature this week passed a bill to exclude radiologists from the types of doctors who can diagnose black lung disease among miners seeking workers’ compensation for their illness. A radiologist uses x-rays to diagnose disease. Black lung disease is diagnosed through x-rays and an occupational history.

A commercial pilot who lost his job after complaining about violations of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations will be reinstated, under an order from OSHA. Massachusetts-based Jet Logistics Inc. (JLI) and New England Life Flight Inc. - doing business as Boston MedFlight (BMF) – must also pay the pilot $133,616.09 in back wages and interest; $100,000 in compensatory damages; and reasonable attorney fees.

Coffee causes cancer. That is the warning coffee shops in California will have to post in highly visible places, after a David v. Goliath court battle in the state ended with a win for the little guy. A small nonprofit organization, The Council for Education and Research on Toxics went up against the powerful coffee industry, led by Starbucks Corp., over a chemical called acrylamide, which is produced during the bean roasting process.

A group of U.S. senators are hoping that the 16th attempt will be the charm for legislation that would include more workers in federally mandated protections, increase OSHA civil penalties and toughen criminal penalties for unsafe employers.