Environmental Health and Safety

RSS

Southeastern states are picking up the pieces today after a weekend of severe weather destroyed dozens of homes and killed at least 19 people -- 15 of them in Georgia. News sources report that first responders are still searching for victims amid the debris.

Workers spent 61.0 percent of the workday standing or walking in jobs surveyed in 2016, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The average maximum weight lifted or carried as required in all civilian (private industry and state and local government) jobs was about 36 pounds.

In the United Kingdom, around 2.4 million work days were lost in 2009 and 2010 due to lower limb disorders. A 2014 survey of 1,000 American adults from the American Podiatric Medical Association found that half of respondents lived with some form of foot pain. Much of this pain and discomfort could be prevented by wearing the right shoe for the job and following a daily foot care routine.

Most people know that smoking cigarettes can lead to severe lung damage, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. What they may not realize is that COPD can occur from exposure to hazardous substances at work as well. At the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), investigators are studying the causes and how to prevent COPD.

Lung disease from work-related exposure to coal mine dust can damage different parts of the lungs, including the small airways. When these airways, which resemble twigs branching off the trunk of a tree, are damaged, breathing can become significantly difficult.

Asbestos is a long, thin, fibrous mineral made of up of microscopic crystals. There are six different types that are split up into two different groups: serpentine or amphibole. Serpentine asbestos is classified by its layered structure and curly fibers. One particular type of serpentine asbestos – chrysotile – is most commonly found in building materials throughout the United States.

County Concrete Corp. of East Orange, New Jersey is facing $88,544 in penalties after OSHA inspectors found multiple safety and health violations at the company. Foremost among them: employees were exposed to silica above the permissible limit as they cleaned concrete mixers. OSHA cited County Concrete for these same hazards in 2013.

Welders exposed to airborne manganese at estimated levels below federal occupational safety standards exhibit neurological problems similar to Parkinson’s disease, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Further, the more they are exposed to manganese-containing welding fumes, the faster the workers’ signs and symptoms worsen.

European workers are angry about a recent directive from the European Commission that fails to include diesel engine exhaust among the toxins that people should be protected from in the workplace.

Cancer and hearing loss rates are down, global demand for respirators is up and France passes a law to help workers with a digital divide. These were among the top stories featured this week on ISHN.com.