Yallourn operator EnergyAustralia has released a second statement about an internal investigation into the cause of an explosion which killed a power station worker employed at the station for more than three decades.

Work-related cancers cost between €270 ($343) and €610 ($776) billion a year in the EU-28 (the European Union including the United Kingdom, which is soon to become a non-member), according to a new book from the European Trade Union Institute.

Samsung Electronics has publicly apologized for the illnesses and deaths of some of its employees at its computer chip and display factories and agreed to pay compensation up to 150 million Korean won (~$130,000) per illness. News sources report that Samsung Electronics chief executive Kim Ki-nam, speaking at a press conference, acknowledged that the company “did not fully and completely manage potential health risks at our chip and liquid-crystal display production lines.”

According to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Market is projected to reach USD 70 billion by 2024. Personal protective equipment is used to protect body from infection, injury, and accidental hazards along with workplace safety to the employees. It includes protective helmets, clothing, goggles, gloves, respiratory protection, and footwear.

Just by putting “Congo miners” in the title here will have most readers flipping to the next page. I learned this lesson years ago writing an article about workplace safety, or the lack thereof, in China. “Why did you write this article?” asked a reader. “I don’t read ISHN for articles about China.” Another reader opined: “Everybody knows nobody values life in a country like China.”

A group of EU worker organizations are calling on the European Commission to better protect workers from the risks related to exposure to reprotoxic substances - chemicals that cause adverse effects on reproduction; including sexual function, fertility and the development of offspring.

OXEA, part of the Oman Oil Company, is a leading chemicals manufacturer with operations around the globe. Its specialist products go towards making high-quality coatings, lubricants, cosmetics, pharmaceutical products, printing inks and plastics.

Corrie discusses Safety I, Safety II, and Safety III. Safety I is the current practice—injury prevention. It is slowly evolving into Safety II, which emphasizes human performance and systems controls. Safety III holds out the promise of reinventing the profession.

Although U.S. OSHA updated its occupational silica standard in 2016 for the first time in 45 years, relatively few countries have followed suit. Aside from a handful of European countries, some Canadian Provinces and Mexico, most other countries do not have as stringent of a standard as the current U.S. Permissible Exposure Limit of 0.05 mg/m^3.

Workers in Europe are regularly exposed to racism and xenophobia at the workplace, according to experts attending a recent trade union seminar in Brussels, who said racism does not always take the form of subtle discrimination but can also include explicit abuse. Delegates at the seminar, which was organized by the European Trade Union Confederation and European Trade Union Institute, shared their experiences of discrimination and debated what unions can do to tackle the problem.