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Firefighters aren’t the only workers who are exposed to smoke from California’s wildfires. Employees who are working in outdoor areas in proximity to wildfire smoke – which can contain chemicals, gases and fine particles that can harm health – must also be protected, according to Cal/OSHA.

Workers at a Birmingham, Alabama framing company were wearing fall protection harnesses when OSHA inspectors visited the sight, but the harnesses were not tied off to prevent a fall. Structural Subcontractors Service, LLC was cited for exposing workers to fall hazards and faces proposed penalties totaling $102,669.

In March 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed into the French Alps, killing all 150 people onboard. An investigation found that the co-pilot deliberately steered the plane into the mountainside. It also revealed that he had a history of depression, although the airline company was unaware of this crucial information.

Back from vacation and checking in with people to see what’s going on at the agency charged with assuring the safety and health of American workers. And the answer is not much…and a lot. The Mysteriously Missing Assistant Secretary: The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee yesterday approved the nominations of a Deputy Secretary (Patrick Pizzella), the head of Wage & Hour (Cheryl Stanton), and the head of MSHA (David Zatezalo), all on identical party line votes (all the R’s voted for the nominees, and all of the Dems voted against.)

Six construction workers were injured last week – four seriously – at a Brooklyn, New York worksite. According to news sources, the injuries occurred when a two-story brick building that was under construction collapsed after a load of cinder blocks was placed on its roof.

Nearly half of American workers are concerned about the changing nature of work, and although most report that they have the skills they need to perform their current job well, those without supervisor support for career development are more likely to distrust their employer and plan on leaving within the next year, according to a new survey released by the American Psychological Association.

A South Jersey construction company owner with a long history of workplace safety violations was cited by OSHA for exposing workers to serious scaffold hazards at a job site in Philadelphia. The owner, Vyacheslav Leshko faces $191,215 in proposed penalties. OSHA inspectors responded to a complaint of unsafe working conditions at DH Construction LLC., and discovered employees performing masonry and bricklaying while working on a scaffold that was dangerously close to power lines.

In updating its long-standing aviation safety agreement with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cited the importance in international partnerships between aviation regulators in securing safety in the global aviation market. The revised agreement, which was signed on September 22, 2017, includes changes to enhance the risk-based approach to safety by optimizing reliance on each authority’s expertise in aircraft certification through Revision 6 of the Technical Implementation Procedures (TIP).

While many of us think of bullying as something that happens in school, for many workers bullying remains a persistent problem in the workplace. At NIOSH, researchers study how to prevent work-related bullying, particularly in the nursing profession.