Environmental Health and Safety

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The Labor-Health and Human Services (HHS) appropriations bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee earlier this month falls far short of expectations, said the American Public Health Association (APHA).

With occupational cancers the primary cause of work-related deaths in the European Union (EU), occupational exposure limits (OELs) were a big topic at the recent 12th annual European Trade Union Institute seminar on chemicals and worker protection.

Just over a third of non-supervisory manufacturing production workers in the United States and half of the nation’s manufacturing workers hired through temporary agencies rely on at least one public assistance program to support themselves or their families, according to research by the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education.

With summer in full swing, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) are joining forces to remind boaters, marina operators and swimmers to be aware of the potential electrical hazards that exist on board boats and in the waters surrounding boats, marinas and launch ramps.

Veterans of the Gulf War are more than twice as likely to have medically unexplained symptoms known as "multisymptom illness" (MSI), compared to Iraq/Afghanistan War veterans, according to an updated research review in the July Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

The EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice have announced a $425 million settlement with subsidiaries of Tesoro Corp., and Par Hawaii Refining that resolves alleged Clean Air Act violations and protects public health by reducing air pollution at six refineries.

Federal safety and health investigators found Altamont Ambulance Service Inc. failed to follow specific guidelines to protect emergency healthcare workers from exposure to bloodborne pathogens and other hazards while providing patient care.

In a report released on corrosion inside diesel fuel underground storage tanks (USTs), the EPA found moderate or severe corrosion that could affect metal components inside both steel and fiberglass underground tank systems.

According to the International Labour Organization, globally, 6,300 people die as a result of occupational injury or work-related diseases every day – more than 2.3 million deaths per year. This has a tremendous impact on the global community- individuals, families, and employers.