Today's Safety News

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The U.S. Department of Transportation has released the details of a comprehensive rulemaking proposal to improve the safe transportation of large quantities of flammable materials by rail - particularly crude oil and ethanol - in the form of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and a companion Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM).

Infertility is a significant health issue in the U.S. as well as globally. In addition to the large health and fiscal impacts of infertility, the inability to conceive can be devastating to individuals or couples.

U.S. workplaces may need to consider innovative methods to prevent fatigue from developing in employees who are obese. Based on results from a new study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (JOEH), workers who are obese may have significantly shorter endurance times when performing workplace tasks, compared with their non-obese counterparts.

With obesity rates continuing to rise in the U.S. (they’ve doubled since 1980), health experts are urging Americans to be more physically active, and urging policy makers to help them do that. A new report from the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion rates the progress on both those fronts, state by state.

Summertime activities can bring people into close proximity to burn hazards in the form of fire pits, campfires and outdoor grills. Dr. Richard Gamelli, director of the burn unit at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill. said burns due to fire can happen easily and quickly, especially when alcohol has been abused or children are present.

A special enforcement emphasis program launched by OSHA this month will temporarily bring additional investigators from throughout the U.S. to North Dakota, in an effort to reduce the high fatality rates in the state's oil and gas and construction industries.

The number of people overdosing from opioid prescription painkillers is staggering, killing 45 people each day. Twenty-three percent of the workforce has misused prescription painkillers, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, making opioid use a serious threat to employee safety. Even when employees are taking opioid painkillers at the correct dosage with a valid prescription, subtle impairment may compromise workplace safety.

Wildfires can strike in any state, particularly during the summer months. Fires are currently burning in Washington, Oregon, California and Utah and more states are under high watch for wildfires. Simple preparedness steps can help save lives.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) reports it has thus far found no record of a formal, industry approved inspection performed on any of the chemical storage tanks at Freedom Industries prior to the massive leak which occurred on January 9, 2014.

"The cost of providing fall prevention equipment is nominal compared with the senseless loss of life.” Casey Perkins, OSHA's area director in Austin, made that comment in reference to an accident at a condo construction site in Canyon Lake, Texas in which a worker fell 29 feet to his death.