A company president heads to federal prison for occupational safety crimes, sharps injuries among health care workers benchmarked and an asbestos claim transparency victim that has victims’ rights advocates calling “foul” are among this week’s top EHS-related stories as featured on ISHN.com:

Some electrical contacts are instantly fatal, and up to 40% are ultimately fatal, according Brian James Daley, M.D, associate program director, professor, Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Critical Care at the University of Tennessee School of Medicine, Knoxville, Tenn., in his report, “Electrical Injuries.”

It’s been a long time coming. OSHA first proposed updated standards for electrical power transmission and distribution, and electrical protective equipment in 2005. Final rules were scheduled for release early in 2013. There has still been  no final publication, but electrical safety experts say the release date is approaching, based on conversations with DC regulators and the Office of Management and Budget.

Telecommunications giant Verizon has agreed to provide enhanced electrical safety training to its New York field technicians, following the fatal electrocution of a worker in Brooklyn on Sept. 14, 2011.

Electrical safety, grain bin and confined space fatalities and a black lung disease scandal at a leading hospital were among the week’s top EHS-related stories as featured on ISHN.com.

Ron Spataro, Director of Marketing, and Steve Foutch, Vice President sales and Operations, both of AVO Training Institute, Dallas, TX (www.avotraining.com) (877-594-3156; 214-330-3522) answer questions from ISHN magazine about electrical safety training.

Why should you be concerned about electrical hazards? Electricity has long been recognized as a serious workplace hazard, exposing employees to electric shock, electrocution, burns, fires, and explosions. In 1999, for example, 278 workers died from electrocutions at work, accounting for almost 5 percent of all on-the-job fatalities that year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This checklist covers regulations issued by OSHA under the general industry standard 29 CFR 1910.335. It applies to persons who are at risk of electrical shock. This checklist does not apply to qualified persons working on generation, transmission, and distribution installations; communications installations; installations in vehicles; and railway installations.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has produced a new version of Remembering When™:  A Fire and Fall Prevention Program for Older Adults. Program materials, available for download at no cost, are widely used by fire departments and other safety educators interested in reaching older adults with fire and fall prevention messages developed especially for them.