Meatpacking workers and their employers are pushing to the front of the line for coronavirus vaccinations as state governments roll out their distribution plans to combat the pandemic, according to Bloomberg Law.

The manufacturing industry presents a lot of high-risk scenarios within day-to-day operations, from lone-worker safety concerns to the risks associated with operating heavy equipment. Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed how nearly every industry operates, there are even more safety concerns to consider.

Friday, March 13, 2020 is often viewed as the day America began to feel the impact of COVID-19. The following week, businesses throughout the country either transitioned to remote work or had to reckon with how to operate in a different manner while trying to protect workers from exposure to the virus.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Charles Dickens wrote those words more than 160 years ago, but they ring true today as we seek to protect workers in the wake of the pandemic.

While business owners and consumers closely watch how the new more readily transmittable variant of COVID-19 develops, the occupational environmental health and safety (OEHS) profession is urging business owners, schools and other organizations to continue implementing practical science-based guidelines developed by AIHA.

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, infections began spreading at the JBS USA beef processing plant in Grand Island, Nebraska, the area’s largest employer with 3,500 workers. 

Leading nonprofit safety advocate identified the most impactful changes to the working world coming out of the pandemic.

Remote work is often not an option for those with hands-on and in-person work to do, such as many of those employed in the construction, manufacturing and energy industries. Employers and employees in these and other similarly-situated industries rapidly adapted

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic through Dec. 31, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued citations arising from 300 inspections for violations relating to coronavirus, resulting in proposed penalties totaling $3,930,381.

Innovative technology is the way forward to combat the pandemic and ensure residents can lead a comfortable, safe and reassuring lifestyle