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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that the May 28, 2013 train/truck collision, 15-car derailment, and subsequent explosion in Rosedale, Md. was caused by the truck driver’s failure to ensure that the tracks were clear before traversing an un-gated highway-rail grade crossing. Contributing to the accident was the truck driver’s distraction due to a phone conversation on a hands-free device at the time of the crash.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced yesterday that public health authorities will begin active post-arrival monitoring of travelers whose travel originates in Liberia, Sierra Leone, or Guinea.

An employee was severely injured when he became caught in unguarded arbor rollers at Kloeckner Metals Corp. on April 22, 2014. OSHA has cited the Cincinnati manufacturing plant with one repeat and three serious safety violations, carrying proposed penalties of $56,000.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB has determined that the pilot in a fatal 2013  plane crash in Thomson, Georgia lacked adequate system knowledge for the airplane he was flying. Consequently -- according to the NTSB’s report into the accident -- the pilot did not adhere to the airplane’s flight manual procedures for antiskid failure in flight and did not retract the lift dump -- a critical system to assist in stopping the aircraft -- immediately after making the decision to perform a go-around.

This morning, Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez announced the release of the department’s “Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor” report. The report is prepared annually by the department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs, and it assesses efforts by more than 140 countries to eliminate the worst forms of child labor.

Innovative measures have limited the spread of Ebola in a part of Liberia where Firestone Liberia Inc. had established an effective health care infrastructure, according to a report in this week’s CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Similar measures may be helpful in slowing the Ebola epidemic in other parts of West Africa.

A 39-year-old tree trimmer was killed when the mechanical arm supporting the bucket of an aerial lift suddenly collapsed, striking the cab of the truck and ejecting the worker onto the pavement. As a result of the fatality, OSHA cited Advanced Tree Service in Newberry for five safety violations.

The World Health Organization said tremendous progress was made on its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) at a recent conference in Moscow, despite significant opposition from the tobacco industry.

“I had a reporter call me,” said an attendee at this week’s American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) annual Fall Conference, held in Arlington, VA. “He said he had spent three hours at the Congressional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hearing last week, where CDC Director Tom Frieden was grilled, and not once was OSHA or NIOSH mentioned, according to this reporter. He wanted to know why.”

USA Today reports that “Hospital workers treating Ebola patients should wear double sets of gloves, disposable hoods with full face shields and special masks, according to strengthened guidelines issued” last night by the CDC. CDC Director Thomas Frieden “said all health workers also should undergo ‘rigorous training’ and practice in putting on and taking off PPE in a systematic way that reduces their risk of infection.