Coal mining is an important part of the U.S. economy. In 2017, about 30% of our electricity was generated by coal-fired power plants. Coal is also used to make steel and in manufacturing many types of products. And anyone who watches the news knows how important the jobs and income provided by coal mining are to our country’s coal mining regions.

More than 95,000 signatures will be on a petition delivered to Congress tomorrow, urging the EPA to “Ban Asbestos in the U.S. Now, Without Loopholes or Exemptions.” That delivery is timed for Mesothelioma Awareness Day, an effort to bring attention to mesothelioma, a lung disease caused by exposure to asbestos and the inhalation of asbestos particles.

Back when Nixon was in office, asbestos was one of the first carcinogens regulated under the Clean Air Act of 1973. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush largely banned use of asbestos in the United States.

Recent studies show that the occurrence of Pneumoconiosis, or Black Lung disease, among coal miners across the Nation has skyrocketed beyond anything ever seen before in the industry. Younger, less experienced miners are contracting the disease at an earlier age, subjecting them to a shortened and debilitating existence until they ultimately succumb to the ravages of the illness.

The International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA) has announced that Roger Alesbury MSc, Dip OH, CFFOH will be the recipient of the IOHA Lifetime Achievement Award. The prestigious award will be conferred during the 11th IOHA International Scientific Conference (IOHA 2018), hosted by the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) in Washington, DC in September 2018.

One in five working coal miners in central Appalachia who have worked at least 25 years now suffer from the coal miners' disease black lung. That's the finding from the latest study tracking an epidemic of the incurable and fatal sickness.

After reaching a low point in the late 1990s, the national prevalence of coal worker’s pneumoconiosis (black lung) in miners with 25 years or more of tenure now exceeds 10 percent and in some areas is much higher than that, according to a study published in the American Public Health Association’s American Journal of Public Health.

Many native and exotic plants are poisonous to humans when ingested or if there is skin contact with plant chemicals. The most common problems with poisonous plants arise from contact with the sap oil of several native plants that cause an allergic skin reaction—poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac.

Outdoor workers are exposed to many hazards, depending on their type of work, location, time of year, and amount of time spent outside. Outdoor workers need to be trained about hazards, including hazard identification and recommendations for preventing and controlling exposures.

European Union (EU) legislators are considering adding or updating five binding occupational exposure limit values (OELs) to the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive (CMD), in an effort to decrease the number of occupational cancers that cause more than 100 000 deaths a year in the EU.