The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) welcomed its new director of professional development today. Chris Ballman, PHR, MSHR, will oversee the Society’s comprehensive educational offerings that advance the careers of occupational safety and health professionals worldwide. He will also provide leadership oversight of ASSP’s largest annual event – a Professional Development Conference and Exhibition that attracts more than 5,000 industry professionals.

An unusually large wave thwarted a fishing crew’s attempts to ride out heavy weather in the Bering Sea last year, according to a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into the incident. No fatalities or injuries were reported when the commercial fishing vessel Progress was severely damaged north of Unimak Island, Alaska on January 26.

An Ohio-based construction company failed to ensure that workers used fall protection while doing roofing tasks, leading to a worker sustaining a serious injury, according to an OSHA inspection following the incident. The agency has cited Hiebert Bros Construction LLC for exposing employees to fall hazards after the worker was injured from a 26-foot fall at a construction worksite in Gainesville, Florida.

Three New York City construction workers died last week at three different worksites – two as the result of struck-by incidents. In Brooklyn, news sources report that 34 year-old Gregory Echevarria was killed when part of a crane he was helping to assemble fell on him. The incident occurred at 3:15 a.m. on Saturday at the entrance to the Holland tunnel, when a 7.5 ton counterweight fell on Echevarria.

According to the Assessment of Business Cyber Risk (ABC) report released this week by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and FICO, the level of cyber risk to the U.S. business community is holding steady for the first quarter of 2019, with a national risk score of 687. The ABC measures the aggregate cybersecurity risk faced by the U.S. business community. Based on data from the FICO® Cyber Risk Score, the ABC is intended to advance cybersecurity awareness and improve the overall effectiveness of cyber defense programs.

A worker suffered severe burns in an explosion while he was repairing a semitrailer in DeKalb County, GA. The explosion occurred at a tractor-trailer repair factory in the 4300 block of Old McDonough Road, DeKalb County Fire Rescue spokesman Dion Bentley said from the scene. Initially, officials said the fire started after the semitrailer crashed into the building.

The family of a Summerville man killed by severe burns suffered in 2015 at the Kapstone Paper Mill in North Charleston, SC, has settled their wrongful workplace death lawsuit. 43-year-old Brian Allen was on a lift performing welding work above several tanks that should have contained non-flammable sodium hydrosulfide fluid.

A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Ohio has indicted two managers at Extrudex Aluminum Inc. in Ohio for conspiracy to obstruct justice during a 2012 workplace fatality investigation by OSHA. The agency inspected the aluminum extrusion manufacturer after an employee suffered fatal injuries when a rack containing hot aluminum parts tipped over and pinned him. A second employee suffered severe burns.

Researchers from Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health have developed and evaluated a fast, accurate and cost-effective approach to assessing the carcinogenicity of chemicals—that is, whether exposure to a chemical increases a person’s long-term cancer risk. As a result, they have generated one of the largest toxicogenomics datasets to date, and have made the data and results publicly accessible through a web portal at carcinogenome.org.