A spike in mining fatalities, how anthropometric research can enhance occupational safety and a huge financial settlement over a worker fatality were among the top stories posted on ISHN.com this week.
Citizen scientists, enviro groups battle industry over pesticide risks
The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer earlier this year concluded the active ingredient in Roundup, a popular weed killer, probably causes cancer. Monsanto, which manufactures Roundup, contested the findings.
No beards!
OSHA cites firm for workers with facial hair wearing respirators
An Elk Grove Village-based company is facing fines of nearly $45,000 for exposing workers to various respiratory and electrical hazards, according to OSHA.
From the CDC Director’s Desk
Keeping workers safe through anthropometric research
Safety at work can depend on an effective or comfortable fit between the physical workplace or the tools of work, and the worker. A seatbelt becomes impractical if it can’t be latched securely or comfortably. The safety that firefighters’ gloves provide is compromised if the gloves are too big, hampering dexterity and movement in a hectic and physically risky situation.
Report examines the prevalence, severity, and duration of pain
A new analysis of data from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) has found that most American adults have experienced some level of pain, from brief to more lasting pain, and from relatively minor to more severe pain.
La. trucking company hit with $156K in OSH fines
A complaint brought OSHA investigators to Transporter Maintenance and Inspection LLC, a subsidiary of L & B Holdings LLC in Port Allen, Louisiana. That inspection resulted in one willful, 27 serious and five other violations for exposing workers to various safety and health hazards, with proposed penalties of $156,800.
In the biggest-ever settlement in California over workplace safety violations involving a single victim, Bumble Bee Foods will pay $6 million in the death of an employee who was accidentally cooked in a 270 degree industrial oven.
People tasked with saving lives found their own lives endangered by infectious disease because their employer failed to protect them, according to OSHA. Agency inspectors determined that employees of Lifefleet, a North Lima, Ohio medical transport company were exposed to blood and other bodily fluids which can cause serious diseases such as hepatitis and HIV.
Wildlife strike reporting for both commercial and general aviation airports continues to increase, according to a new report by renowned wildlife expert Dr. Richard A. Dolbeer. At the request of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Dolbeer recently published the wildlife report (PDF), which shows that 47 percent of the wildlife strikes that occurred from 2009 to 2013 were reported to the FAA’s National Wildlife Strike Database.
If your dinner plate often includes fried chicken, gravy-smothered liver, buttered rolls and sweet tea — your heart may not find it so tasty. Eating a Southern-style diet is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, according to research published in Circulation, an American Heart Association journal.
The probable cause of the accident last year in New Jersey that killed comic James McNair and critically injured actor Tracy Morgan and three others was driver fatigue, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which released its preliminary findings on the incident yesterday.
The Dirty Dozen: The 12 Most Common Compliance Mistakes in Respiratory Protection
With more than five million respirator users in approximately 1.3 million workplaces in the U.S., you would expect employers to be well versed in their responsibilities for providing the necessary resources to workers in order to promote safe and healthy work environments. This webinar will explore the 12 most common compliance mistakes.
Safety guards bypassed to keep production moving
Warren Industries faces $63,000 penalty
A former Warren Industries employee’s report to OSHA that he’d been injured on the job resulted in an agency inspection of the company’s Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin facility – and some startling findings.
A NIOSH Science Blog post
Researchers from Colorado State University and the Colorado School of Public Health recently found workplaces that value employees’ safety and well-being as much as company productivity yield the greatest rewards.
AIHA takes preventive approach in new Legionella guideline
Legionnaires’ disease bacterium can thrive in homes, hospitals and hotels
The American Industrial Hygiene Association® (AIHA) announces the release of its new guideline on Legionella titled Recognition, Evaluation, and Control of Legionella in Building Water Systems. This technical document for industry professionals is an expansion of information provided in AIHA’s publication, Field Guide for the Determination of Biological Contaminants in Environmental Samples, 2nd edition.
CDC: Most U.S. middle and high schools start too early
Fewer than 1 in 5 middle and high schools in the U.S. began the school day at the recommended 8:30 AM start time or later during the 2011-2012 school year, according to data published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
MSHA calls for stepped-up enforcement after three fatalities
Deadly 24-hour period prompts closer scrutiny of mining deaths
In the wake of a deadly day in mining in which three miners lost their lives in separate incidents in Nevada, North Dakota and Virginia on Aug. 3, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is stepping up enforcement efforts and intensifying outreach and education nationwide.
