OSHA currently has the lowest number of health and safety inspectors in the agency’s 48-year history, according to an analysis of recent government data by the National Employment Law Project.
Conversely, the number of OSHA investigations following work-related fatalities reached a 10-year high, climbing to 929 inspections in FY 2018, up almost 100 from the previous year. This is the single-largest increase in such investigations in a decade.
A NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation report presented findings of an agency investigation at an engine machining plant where employees were exposed to metalworking fluids, or MWFs. The union representing the employees had requested the evaluation because of concerns that exposure to MWFs had caused respiratory symptoms and dermatitis among workers.
Seventeen years out from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, nearly 10,000 first responders and others who were in the World Trade Center area have been diagnosed with cancer. More than 2,000 deaths have been attributed to 9/11 illnesses.
By the end of 2018, many expect that more people will have died from their toxic exposure from 9/11 than were killed on that terrible Tuesday.
Early in 2019, OSHA cited a pet food company in Florida for failing to provide protective gear for workers handling corrosive chemicals, a Pennsylvania hair salon for exposing workers to hazardous materials, an Ohio musical instrument factory for exposing workers to toxic copper dust, and a Texas indoor gun range for exposing workers to unsafe levels of lead.
Ethylene oxide (EtO) is a common, highly hazardous industrial chemical linked to breast cancer and immune system cancers like non-Hodgkin lymphoma and lymphocytic leukemia (see EPA IRIS Exec Summary, Dec 2016).
Concerned community members in Illinois made it a 2018 campaign issue after two federal agencies released studies showing elevated cancer risks outside Chicago.
After the temporary shutdown of the Sterigenics facility in Willowbrook (IL), La Grange trustees say they will continue to actively participate in efforts to protect public health.
The Sterigenics facility in Willowbrook, suspended operations after the Feb. 15 issuance of a seal order from the Illinois EPA. The seal came after the facility’s refusal to voluntarily shut down after the EPA released a report that reflected elevated levels of ethaline-oxide in the surrounding area of the facility.
Justin Miller was 16 when he took his first ride on a recreational off-highway vehicle, or ROV. He came home missing a hand.
The powerful 1,100-pound machine tipped over and landed on the Northridge, California, teen, mangling his hand so severely that seven surgeries couldn’t save it.
At the time of the accident in 2008, similar reports of gruesome injuries and deaths were piling up at the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will be assisting the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in its investigation of a fatal, Feb. 23, 2018, natural gas-fueled explosion in Dallas, Texas.
The USACE began taking soil samples this week in the area of Espanola Drive and Durango Drive in Dallas, to help the NTSB evaluate the technical accuracy of the preliminary geotechnical assessment report.
The new kid on the block – Tesla – is tops when it comes to equipping its vehicles with automatic emergency braking (AEB), although several other manufacturers aren’t far behind, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
An OSHA investigation into a worker’s burn injuries has led to safety citations issued to the operator of a Chili’s Grill and Bar restaurant in Florida.
The employee of Brinker Florida Inc. suffered the injuries at the company’s Doral location when he fell from an unguarded platform into a hot water bath.