Industrial Safety & Health Top Stories

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There was plenty in the complex deal to benefit bankers, lawyers, executives and hedge fund managers. Patriot Coal Corp. was bankrupt, but its mines would be auctioned to pay off mounting debts while financial engineering would generate enough cash to cover the cost of the proceedings.

Want to see what your state-level OSHA agency has been up to? OSHA has a new webpage that shows state plan enforcement cases with initial penalties above $40,000, on a state by state basis. Site visitors can click on a map to get information about citations issued starting January 1, 2015.

The American Industrial Hygiene Association® (AIHA) has submitted a letter of support for legislation proposed by U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, (D-New York-6th District). The legislation, H.R. 3384, the "Quiet Communities Act of 2015," would reestablish and reauthorize funding for the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Noise Abatement and Control.

OSHA is urging North Carolina residents - emergency workers, employers and the public – who are struggling to clean up from the impact of Hurricane Joaquin to be aware of the hazards they may encounter and take steps to stay safe.

Doubling or quadrupling the minimum federally recommended levels of physical activity lowered the risk of developing heart failure by 20 percent and 35 percent, respectively, according to research published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.

In the United States, about 82,000 chemicals are available to use, often in the workplace. Since little is known about the harmful effects of these chemicals—either alone, or combination—research is needed to determine safe chemical exposure levels for workers.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) today released a report on heavy equipment thefts in 2014. This report, co-produced with the National Equipment Register (NER), examines heavy equipment theft data submitted by law enforcement to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and profiles that data according to theft state, theft city, theft month, equipment manufacturer, equipment style (type) and year of manufacture.

CDC has launched its redesigned Healthy Pets Healthy People website, with expanded information about diseases people can catch from pets, farm animals, and wildlife. Users can now search alphabetically by animal and learn which zoonotic diseases they may carry.

A leading supplier of fast food and supermarket chicken is facing more than $1.4 million in fines this year for worker safety and health violations, including several that led a teenaged worker to suffer the amputation of his lower leg.

At OSHA, we gather a lot of numbers. They tell us about the health and safety of U.S. workplaces and help us measure our progress in reducing injuries and illness. But numbers don’t always tell the whole story, and that’s definitely true in the case of inspections.