In early September 2016, researchers from Canada and the U.S. convened a workshop in Montreal to analyze current and emerging issues in the economics of worker safety and health, and to formulate potential collaborative research aiming to improve and standardize economic metrics of worker injury and illness, including metrics of the under-recognized burden for workers and their families, employers, and society.

The results are in. After the first “Hear and Now” Noise Safety Challenge event last week, hosted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety Health Administration (MSHA), inventors were recognized for submissions that aim to provide solutions to reducing hearing loss from workplace exposures.

OSHA will hold a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health (ACCSH) November 30 – December 1, 2016, in Washington, D.C. ACCSH, established under the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, advises the secretary of labor and assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health on construction standards and policy matters.

Visit any emergency department in the United States and you may find individuals who were injured or who became ill on the job. In 2013 alone, an estimated 2.7 million workers received treatment in emergency departments for nonfatal work-related injuries and illnesses.

This last full week of September is National Employ Older Workers Week. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the week “recognizes the vital role of older workers in the workforce … and aims to increase awareness of this labor segment and develop innovative strategies to tap it.”

With cleanup from the historic flooding in Louisiana likely to go on for some time, occupational safety and health agencies are warning about the hazards that workers and volunteers will face during cleanup activities.

Falls remain a leading cause of unintentional injury mortality nationwide, and 43% of fatal falls in the last decade have involved a ladder. Among workers, approximately 20% of fall injuries involve ladders. Among construction workers, an estimated 81% of fall injuries treated in U.S. emergency departments (EDs) involve a ladder.

An industrious college student recently made the news for straightening his own teeth with braces that he made on his school’s three-dimensional (3D) printer. From braces, hearing aids, and prosthetics, to military equipment, the list of products that 3D printers can make relatively easily and cheaply continues to expand.

Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health David Michael has tasked the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) with exploring how OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) might encourage more professionals to enter the occupational safety and health field.