Simply working in a casino does not mean dealers must gamble with their health, according to a recent post on NIOSH’s Science Blog. There is nothing lucky about developing a respiratory illness, lung cancer, or heart disease — especially if you are a healthy nonsmoker, says NIOSH. Results of new research conducted by the institute on secondhand smoke — the exposure of non-smokers to tobacco smoke — confirm that dealers at the casinos investigated were exposed to secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke, also called environmental tobacco smoke, is a combination of smoke given off by the burning end of a tobacco product and the smoke exhaled by the smoker. Secondhand smoke is made up of approximately 4,000 chemicals, of which about 40 are known to cause cancers.
A federal grand jury in the Western District of New York, has returned an indictment charging Keith Gordon-Smith, owner of an asbestos removal company, with numerous violations of the Clean Air Act, submitting false statements and obstruction of justice, the Justice Department announced, according to a press release issued by the department.
Whistleblower investigations by OSHA have found that the Metro North Commuter Railroad Co. retaliated against four employees who reported work-related injuries. OSHA has ordered the railroad, which provides commuter rail service in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, to take corrective actions and pay back wages, fees and a total of $300,000 in punitive damages.
OSHA has cited Louisiana Health Care Consultants LLC, Dean Building Holdings and Bob Dean Enterprises Inc. jointly for three alleged willful and 10 alleged serious violations of federal health and safety regulations. Proposed penalties total $112,000.
OSHA announced today that it will address problems identified in its Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) in response to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, “OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs: Improved Oversight and Controls Would Better Ensure Program Quality.” The report recommends improved oversight and additional controls to ensure participating companies maintain effective workplace safety and health management systems.
EPA today released a first-of-its-kind guide to help states save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by adopting clean energy practices in their facilities, operations and vehicle fleets.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) yesterday published a final rule in the Federal Register for mine rescue teams regarding underground coal mines, according to an MSHA press release. The final rule amends existing standards published Feb. 8, 2008, in accordance with the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act of 2006.
The global financial crisis could push an increasing number of children, particularly girls, into child labour, according to a new report issued by the International Labour Office (ILO) for the World Day Against Child Labour on June 12. The ILO report, entitled Give Girls a Chance: Tackling child labour, a key to the future, notes that while recent global estimates indicate the number of children involved in child labour has been falling, the financial crisis threatens to erode this progress.
Jessie Ngoma-Simengwa, author of the article, “Plight of a Zambian mine accident victim”, has won the journalistic prize for the best story on labour rights, awarded by the International Training Centre of the ILO (ITC-ILO), the training arm of the ILO.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) today released a new safety video showing the need for emergency response agencies, companies, and communities to work closely together to prepare for the kinds of tragic chemical accidents the CSB has investigated over the past decade.