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On the heels of an announcement by the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) that that organization is fast-tracking an active shooter response standard comes word that the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) is also taking steps to address the issue. The ASSE convened a working group of safety and health experts to provide insights into the development of an active shooter technical report, which could guide organizations toward safer work environments with fewer hostile events.

An equipment failure led to a Sept. 6, 2016 incident in the Houston Ship Channel that left two marine pilots with burns and discharged 88,000 gallons of low-sulfur marine gas oil – which subsequently caught on fire. That’s the finding of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The agency’s investigation into the incident found that a momentary failure of a ship’s governor actuator system caused the tank vessel Aframax River to violently strike two mooring “dolphins” - man-made marine structures extending above the water level.

OSHA’s FY 2019 budget request reflects an emphasis on compliance assistance, an increase in enforcement and the elimination of a longstanding safety and health training grant program – a move sure to draw the hire of some in the occupational safety community. The agency says its request for $549,033,000 for FY 2019 will allow it beef up its VPP initiative and restore 24 of the 33 compliance assistance positions that were lost in a five-year-long budget crunch.

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Hearing Day, which raises awareness about preventing hearing loss and promoting hearing care, is fast approaching. This year’s theme, “Hear the Future,” focuses on strategies to prevent the expected increase in the number of people living with hearing loss.

The increasing use of smartphones and recreational marijuana may be contributing to a surge in the numbers of pedestrians killed in traffic crashes, according to a new analysis. The report by the Governors Highway Safety Association estimates that pedestrian fatalities totaled about 6,000 in 2017, roughly the same as the year before, when the official count was 5,987.