OSHA steps on toes with its grain bin safety initiative, demolition specialist exposes employees to asbestos and the year ends with an upsurge in U.S. mining deaths. These are among the top EHS-related stories featured on ISHN.com this week:

According to preliminary data released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration, 42 miners died in work-related accidents at the nation's mines in 2013, an increase from the 36 miners who died in 2012.

Nine U.S. miners lost their lives in work-related accidents from July 1 to Sept. 30 – two fewer than for the third quarter of 2012. Those figures were among the information released recently by the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

Figures released Wednesday by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) revealed that 2012 had the lowest fatality and injury rates in the history of U.S. mining, along with the lowest rate of contractor fatalities since the agency began calculating those rates in 1983.