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The government shutdown’s potential affect on public health, Academy Awards for the EHS community and the question your doctor should be asking you are among this week’s top stories as featured on ISHN.com:

Although falls continue to cause a large number of injuries and fatalities in the construction industry, two recent incidents in two different states demonstrate the variety of falls that can occur.

Soldiers from 304th Expeditionary Signal Battalion and 36th Signal Battalion came together for three days to participate in confined space training at Camp Humphrey, near Pyeongtaek, South Korea Sept. 27.

Fire prevention week may be past, but it’s not too late to reduce the risk of residential fires, according to the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), who teamed up to bring information resources to the public.

The BBC is reporting that an explosion at a natural gas storage plant in Mexico Tuesday night has killed at least five people – all employees at the facility.

With the 16-day government shutdown officially over, 450,000 furloughed federal employees headed back to work today. While it’s unclear how long it will take EHS-related agencies like OSHA, MSHA, NIOSH, the CSB and the NTSHA to get back up to speed, some consequences of the shutdown include an estimated $23 billion hit to the U.S. economy and – some say – irreversible damage to the scientific standing of the country.

Blocked fire exits, lack of foot protection and dangerously stacked merchandise were among the hazards discovered recently at a California distribution center by the state’s Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA).

A truck driver crushed by a bundle of rebar on Monday was the second worker killed at the construction site for the new San Francisco 49ers stadium. Sports Illustrated (SI) is reporting that 60-year-old Edward Erving Lake II, was severely injured by the rebar, which was being unloaded from his truck.

It’s the EHS version of the Academy Awards: a media festival taking place in Frankfurt, Germany in 2014 will honor the best media productions about occupational safety and health. The International Media Festival for Prevention will give awards to films and multimedia applications that increase risk awareness on the part of employees or provide information on comprehensive safety topics.

With many safety inspections suspended because of the federal government shutdown, observers say there's an increasing risk for workers. At least half of the staff members at federal safety agencies are furloughed, and many operations that normally keep workers safe on the job have stopped.