A report by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) shows a strong correlation between hazardous jobs and opiate addiction and overdoses in that state.
The 21-page study titled Opioid-related Overdose Deaths in Massachusetts by Industry and Occupation, 2011-2015 found that there were a total of 5,580 opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts from 2011 through 2015. Of the 4,284 worker death certificates deemed comprehensive enough to study, 1,096 were found to be employed in construction/extraction.
A million dollar occupational fatality fine, a new guide for cut-resistant gloves and pregnant workers’ safety were among the occupational safety and health stories featured on ISHN.com this week.
OSHA has cited Diaz Professional Construction LLC for exposing employees to falls at a Montgomery, Alabama, residential worksite. The framing contractor faces $31,879 in penalties.
The agency initiated the inspection as part of its Regional Emphasis Program for Falls in Construction after inspectors observed employees performing framing activities without fall protection.
From the International Safety Equipment Association:
November 1, 2019
You’ll never see it coming.
Your hands will be working on a machine, or guiding a board through a saw, or just resting in the wrong place at the wrong time.
You see the blood before you even feel the cut. You can’t believe your eyes, but there it is: a big nasty gash across the palm of your hand, a deep slice across your knuckles, a jagged blood-oozing gap where you had a finger just a second ago.
A series of workplace incidents in Indiana and Illinois last week claimed the lives of two workers and left another hospitalized.
In Mooresville, Indiana, 22-year-old Sean Merrell died of blunt force injuries after being trapped in a machine he was cleaning that was re-energized before he could get out.
Thirty percent of workers who wear hand protection don’t wear the right kind of glove for the task, according to the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA), which has just released a resource designed to help safety managers select the application-appropriate impact protection gloves for their employees.
Why does hand protection matter so much?
Hand injuries accounted for more than 40% of nonfatal occupational injuries to upper extremities in private industry in 2017 that involved days away from work.
Sixty-six percent of Amazon employees at the company’s Staten Island distribution center reported working while in pain, according to a new report released by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH).
The worker safety organization timed the report, "Time off Task: Pressure, Pain, and Productivity at Amazon" to coincide with the anniversary of the Staten Island facility's opening.
A new Quarterly Data Report (QDR) from the Center for Construction Research and Training examines trends in work and non-work related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), the soft-tissue injuries caused by exposure to repetitive or sudden motions, forces, and awkward positions. In 2017, the rate of employer-reported, work-related MSDs in construction was 31.2 cases per 10,000 FTEs, less than one-quarter of 1992's level.
A collision earlier this year involving two trains owned by the same company resulted in minor injuries to both engineers and the derailment of one locomotive and more than two dozen railcars.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) preliminary report into the incident reveals that a westbound CSX Transportation (CSX) freight train collided with an eastbound CSX freight train near Carey, Ohio at 5:08 a.m. on August. 12.
Approximately 60 Amazon warehouse workers in Eagan, Minnesota walked out of their workplace last week mid-shift, to protest working conditions, pay and limits on total weekly hours that prevent them from receiving health care benefits. Among the workers’ demands: weight restrictions on the boxes they must lift, which currently can weigh up to 70 pounds.
