Occupational Safety

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New OSHA fact sheets are now available to help protect workers in marine terminals in work safety zones for on-dock container operations, while performing hot work in certain enclosed spaces, and while servicing rim wheels.

The Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) is a US Army-based program to provide services for contingency operations using existing civilian resources. Established in 1985, the LOGCAP Program is now on its fourth iteration and has three prime contractors who are allowed to bid on contingency work in support of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, Kuwait, Oman, Djibouti, and elsewhere as the need arises.

Despite significant advancements in workplace health and safety over the past four decades, 150 people are killed on the job or die from job-related illnesses and diseases every day in the U.S, reports the 2014 edition of the AFL-CIO’s annual Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect.

Better weather means an increase in highway construction projects across the U.S., with a corresponding increase in danger for those working on those projects. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) says that highway improvement projects being performed on roadways that are open to traffic are expanding as the nation’s highway infrastructure ages and agencies focus on rebuilding existing roadways instead of building new ones.

I would look outside the EHS arena, which gets too lost in being OSHA-centric, for answers to some of the questions that confront the future of the EHS profession. I think the world of Risk Management and Insurance and the Liability Environment play a much bigger role in corporate decision-making when it comes to occupational safety.

A recent increase in mining deaths prompted the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to convene a meeting of mine industry stakeholders last week at agency headquarters in Arlington, Va. Assistant Secretary Joseph Main and his staff discussed in detail the 19 metal and nonmetal mining fatalities that have occurred since October 2013.

Eleven abstracts to be presented at the 2014 American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition (AIHce) will reveal some exciting new strategies to protect worker health.  These approaches range from advancing the safety culture in academic laboratories to minimizing the risks to workers in healthcare settings.

OSHA has produced a new seven-minute video that explains how an injury and illness prevention program (I2P2) can enhance workplace safety and health. The “We Can Do This”  video shows a variety real-life workplaces and features commentary by OSHA chief Dr. David Michaels, a strong proponent of I2P2.

Jordan Barab, deputy assistant secretary at OSHA, give a quick, 20-minute snapshot of his agency’s current priorities on Wednesday, May 7 at an event sponsored by ASSE – “Occupational Safety & Health in Global Workforce Sustainability.” The half-day meeting was held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Temp worker safety was at the top of Barab’s list. OSHA is concerned about fatalities among inexperience temps, many who will work numerous “first days on the job” in a year.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has a lot of friends. In a recent letter, more than 150 organizations that make up the “Friends of NIOSH” urged congressional leaders to disregard President Obama’s proposed elimination (in his FY 2015 budget) of Education and Research Centers (ERCs) and Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Program and maintain funding for them, as well as for NIOSH’s other programs.