OSHA’s chance for a chief steps aside, pesticide hazards grab headlines and OSHA issues a rule that revises some standards. These were among the top stories featured on ISHN.com this week.

Take longer shifts, add being new on the job and lacking a routine and you get an increased risk of injuries relative to those occurring during the first eight hours, according to a study published recently in Occupational & Environmental Medicine. Furthermore, incidents occurring during long working hours were more likely to result in a death or involve multiple injured workers.

Anyone who has worked in construction knows that there is potential to suffer on-the-job injuries. The strain associated with heavy lifting or even repetitively performing the same activity, puts workers at risk of being injured every day. Exoskeletons are an emerging solution to this problem and reduce the risk of work-related injuries in highly manual environments, such as construction sites.

The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) Foundation today released a fatigue research report that shows the value of wearable technology in the workplace, encouraging employers to make a New Year’s resolution to monitor the fatigue levels of its workers to reduce injuries and increase productivity.

Driving large trucks for a living can be a daunting and dangerous task, particularly on the highway. Not only do semi-trucks weigh tons, but their drivers also have to be completely cognizant of smaller vehicles on the road. It can be difficult to remain alert and fully aware of your surroundings while driving long distances through the night.

An organization representing truckers says federal Hours-of-Service (HOS) regulations intended to reduce fatigue and improve safety have actually done the opposite. HOS rules are aimed to reducing driver fatigue that can cause accidents by limiting the number of driving hours per day, and the number of driving and working hours per week.

A National Safety Council (NSC) survey found 90 percent of America’s employers have been negatively impacted by tired employees, with half saying they’ve had an employee fall asleep on the job. Fifty-seven percent of employers have experienced absenteeism, and another 32 percent report injuries and near-misses due to fatigued employees, according to the survey released today.

June is National Safety Month, an opportunity to help prevent unnecessary injuries and deaths at work, on the roads, and in our homes and communities. With this year’s theme, No 1 Gets Hurt, we are encouraging readers to think of at least one change you can make to improve safety this month.

The two crewmembers on the lead locomotive of the striking train jumped before impact. The engineer died, and the conductor was seriously injured. Nine locomotives derailed from the striking train.

In 2018, ACGIH® published on the Notice of Intended Changes, a statement on the occupational health aspects of new lighting technologies. It describes the circadian, neuroendocrine and neurobehavioral effects of light. Over the past decade a revolution in indoor lighting has been underway, fueled partly by the new technologies of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and solid-state, light-emitting-diode (LED) lamps, and partly by efforts to reduce the consumption of electrical energy.