No link between cancer and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City has been found according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which this week issued the First Periodic Review of Scientific and Medical Evidence Related to Cancer for the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program.
The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, alleging that Full Circle Enterprises Inc. of Conroe, Texas illegally terminated an employee because of complaints regarding illegal drug use and a lack of proper respirators to protect employees from paint fumes at the facility.
The National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures, a collaborative initiative by CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), recently released “Addressing Public Health and Chemicals Exposures: An Action Agenda, according to a post on the website of the American Industrial Hygiene Association.
Although the incidence of chronic beryllium disease (CBD) is decreasing, new immunological tests, particularly the beryllium lymphocyte proliferation test (BeLPT), are detecting emerging cases of subclinical disease and beryllium sensitization, according to a new report from the U.K. Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Are practices and procedures regarding confined spaces in the construction industry different than those in general industry? They shouldn’t be, but with a different OSHA standard and at different knowledge levels, they are.
As a technical support representative for a large safety equipment distributor, I take calls every day from people asking about one of our many direct-read gas detectors, or “gas monitors.”
In the past, the most widely recognized occupational exposure limits for hydrogen sulfide (H2S) have referenced an 8-hour TWA of 10 ppm, and a 15-minute STEL of 15 ppm. In February 2010, the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH®) adopted a new threshold limit value (TLV®) recommendation for H2S, lowering the 8-hour TWA to 1.0 ppm, and the STEL to 5.0 ppm.
Use of hearing protection in both occupational and non-occupational environments is intended to help reduce noise exposure levels and noiseinduced hearing loss (NIHL).