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Americans have taken big steps to be healthier – like decreasing smoking and lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels – but we still aren’t exercising enough and eating right. Those conclusions from a recent American Heart Association (AHA) report highlight a serious statistic: in spite of some improvements, cardiovascular disease still kills one American every 40 seconds.

Five out of the six safety violations issued by OSHA recently to a NJ contractor were repeat ones involving fall and scaffolding hazards while employees were applying stucco to a commercial building in Westwood, N.J.

As part of its ongoing efforts to educate workers and employers about hazards associated with cleanup work in the aftermath of weather calamities, OSHA has issued a new fact sheet highlighting the need for employers to provide their workers with appropriate personal protective equipment and the training to properly use that equipment.

Safety managers and incident commanders face the need to identify and quantify toxic or combustible chemicals on the spot, to make urgent decisions. These professionals need to rely on gas detection monitors to help them decide quickly – to prevent an accident from becoming an incident -- on the use of personal protective equipment, evacuation and cleanup.

The company whose rig crew ignored “clear warning signs” at the Macondo well site has agreed to plead guilty to violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) and to pay a total of $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines and penalties.

While a warm home and a hot meal on a cold winter’s day may conjure up thoughts of safety and security, the unfortunate reality is that winter is the leading time of year for home fires in the United States (U.S.). That’s why the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) have teamed up to help prevent home fires in the winter months.

If you need to collect belongings or do basic clean up in your previously flooded home, you do not usually need to use a respirator (a mask worn to prevent breathing in harmful substances), according to recommendations published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Times when you may want to use a respirator are explained below.

“Actively Caring for People: Cultivating a culture of compassion “is a new book edited by E. Scott Geller, Ph.D., and consisting of contributions from 40 authors writing on aspects of AC4P (Actively Caring For People).

From a toxic gas release caused by a worker's inability to understand English language labels to OSHA's update of the General Industry Digest, here are the top stories of the week from ISHN.com:

On December 14th the EPA finalized a rule updating the standards for fine particulates, including soot, setting the annual health standard to 12 micrograms per cubic meter, down from the current level of 15. EPA’s proposed rule issued in June, 2012 generated more than 230,000 public comments.