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The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has awarded eight grants totaling more than $21.2 million that invest in highway-rail grade crossing safety, Positive Train Control (PTC) implementation, and passenger rail. FRA awarded the grants as part of a Notice of Funding Availability it issued in July 2014 to distribute new FY14 Omnibus funding as well as unobligated funds from the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program.

On April 17, Brasfield & Gorrie was recognized by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of Alabama at their Safe Day awards banquet in Birmingham. The contractor earned four honors for its exceptional safety program and performance. The firm received the Diamond Safety Training and Evaluation Process (STEP) Award, the highest honor ABC bestows on members for their safety efforts.

The global consultancyORCHSE has announced that Frank White, co-owner and president, will retire from his position on April 30. For more than 20 years of the firm’s 42-year history – originally as Organization Resources Counselors, Inc., through its acquisition by Mercer, and now in its current independent status as ORCHSE Strategies, LLC – Frank has been the leader of the firm’s Occupational Health and Safety and Environmental services.

An investigation by OSHA has determined that management of the Union Pacific Railroad added insult to injury when it blamed a worker in Roseville who was hurt on the job for his injury and then retaliated against him for reporting the injury in February 2011.

The founding of Earth Day in the U.S. in 1970 was, according to many, the beginning of the environmental movement – a recognition of environmental issues and problems and the need for actions taken to address them.

A Chicago-based manufacturer ignored safety requirements and put workers at risk for debilitating injuries because dangerous machines with moving parts lacked proper safety mechanisms.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has voted to update the status of sixteen recommendations resulting from twelve accident investigations including key safety improvements resulting from the 2006 CAI/Arnel fire and explosion in Danvers, MA and the 2005 BP Texas City refinery fire and explosion.

A new employee working on a machine that forged parts lost a fingertip in a November, 2014 accident that could have been prevented, according to OSHA, if his company had trained him properly to operate the upsetter machine and if the machine had proper safety mechanisms.

The National Safety Council is accepting nominations for the 2015 NSC Rising Stars of Safety, presented by DuPont Sustainable Solutions. Awarded annually, this recognition honors individuals younger than 40 who have a track record of demonstrating leadership, innovation and involvement in their organization’s safety culture while promoting continuous safety improvement in the workplace.

At the first All-Russian OSH Week last week, nearly 3,000 occupational safety and health practitioners, experts, scientists and private sector representatives from Russia and abroad discussed new trends and prospects for promoting safety and health at work, ensuring safe working conditions and protecting workers’ health.