The National Safety Council released its annual list of states with the lowest and highest rates of unintentional injury-related deaths[i], which include poisonings – largely from drug overdoses – car crashes and falls. For the second straight year, Maryland has the lowest rate of unintentional injury death, with 26.9 deaths per every 100,000 people – far below the national rate of 40.6. West Virginia has the highest rate for the third time in four years.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to find under the Clean Air Act that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from commercial aircraft contribute to the pollution that causes climate change, endangering the health and welfare of Americans.

After years of inaction, federal regulators are trying to crack down on the use of cheap novelty helmets linked to thousands of motorcycle crash deaths and injuries in recent years. The novelty helmets do not comply with federal safety standards, and provide little or no protection against head injuries in a crash.

As part of its ongoing investigation into the May 12, 2015, derailment of Amtrak Train 188 in Philadelphia, the National Transportation Safety Board said an analysis of the engineer’s cell phone records showed that no calls, texts, or data usage occurred during the time the engineer was operating the train.

Boating season is underway, with thousands of people taking to the water for fun and fishing. When it comes to boating-related hazards, sunburns and drowning come to mind, but Electrical Safety Foundation International says boaters should also be mindful of electrical dangers.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Christopher Hart opened his speech at Safety 2015 by thanking the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) for supporting two important initiatives: changing the impaired driving limit from .08 to .05, and banning the use of personal electronic devices while driving.

EHS professionals can raise their profiles within their company by transforming themselves into what John McBride calls, safety business partners. “I’m not talking about a title,” said McBride, SPHR, of Consentium Search in Wesley Chapel, Florida. “We’re talking about a role, a level of participation.”

Determining why a worker decides to accept risk goes to the heart of behavior-based safety. Dave Fennell, CRSP of ExxonMobil said the brain’s risk assessment process works in three ways; Exposure (hazard recognition), Perception (knowing what impact a risk might have) and Decision (accepting, mitigating or rejection the risk).