When thinking of workers’ compensation insurance, we typically think of the money and other benefits provided to workers injured on the job. When public health researchers think of this same insurance, they may also see a potential opportunity to learn more information about work-related health and safety hazards.

A 46-year-old hockey-playing oilfield worker nearly died last December connecting a hose to a valve at a rural Saskatchewan production operation in February, 2014. His face was sprayed with a mix of gas, water and oil. He inhaled and swallowed it.

As oil field-related jobs draw people to Reeves County, Texas, owners of one RV park receive up to 30 inquiries per day. “It is a big problem to find housing here,” said one of the owners. “It’s either extremely expensive, or mostly it’s just not available.”

Did you know that more people have hearing loss than diabetes, cancer or vision trouble? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, occupational hearing loss, which is caused by exposure at work to loud noise or chemicals that damage hearing, is the most common work-related illness.

The second issue of the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s (AIHA) IH Heroes comic, On the Fly, has won a Platinum Award by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) MarCom Awards.

Is one of your colleagues deserving of special recognition? Does he or she inspire others in the industrial hygiene and occupational and environmental health and safety professions to reach the next pinnacle in their careers?

The American Industrial Hygiene Association® (AIHA) has released the updated Consultants Listing, a searchable print and online directory of its consultant members. Users can search for industrial hygienists and other occupational and environmental health and safety (OEHS) professionals by state and specialty. This list is free of charge for the public and provides users with access to 370 companies who specialize in over 32 OEHS practice areas.

An OSHA health compliance officer (an industrial hygienist -- IH) recently put me in an ethical dilemma. While conducting “side-by-side” air sampling as the employer’s representative during an OSHA inspection, I observed that the OSHA IH was not sampling for asbestos correctly.

From the oil industry to mining, agriculture to research, any working environment that puts employees in close proximity to occupational hazards such as potentially harmful chemicals must make workplace safety a priority. The food processing and packing industries are no exception.

The study, by Clear Seas Research, was conducted to understand the PPE hearing market by identifying brand usage, exploring important attributes of brand selection for PPE and identifying purchase process trends.