The National Safety Council applauds lawmakers for reauthorizing the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, also known as the World Trade Center Health Program, and including it in the omnibus appropriations bill. Continuing to fund the program ensures that the men and women who responded to the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Shanksville, Penn., on Sept. 11, 2001, receive the care and medical coverage they deserve.
An effort to derail OSHA’s silica rule – which is expected to be finalized in February of 2016 – was defeated in the appropriations bill released by Congress this week.
At least four million workers go to work each day in damaging noise environments, ten million people in the U.S. have a noise-related hearing loss, and 22 million workers are exposed to potentially damaging noise each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
OSHA’s fall 2015 semiannual regulatory agenda projects that the final rule for occupational exposure to crystalline silica, which has been in development for more than 15 years, will be completed in February 2016.
Some policies linked to higher or lower impact of occupational back pain
December 15, 2015
Certain workers' compensation (WC) policies explain much of the state-level variation in costs and outcomes of claims for low back pain (LBP), reports a study in the December Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).
Responding to a complaint of unsafe working conditions, OSHA inspectors observed employees at an Illinois metal fabricating shop over-exposed to noise and dust hazards while manually powder coating metal products in two of the company’s paint booths.
In response to a petition and lawsuit by environmental and open government organizations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will propose regulations requiring natural gas processing plants to start reporting the toxic chemicals they release.
When considering the imminent winter weather, safety and health managers know they have their work cut out for them. Have you considered all the necessary scenarios this winter could bring with it?
Bipartisan, industry support make 2016 likely for passage of Lautenberg Act
December 8, 2015
Chemical safety advocates are cautiously optimistic about 2016 finally being in the year when Congress takes action to reform the nation’s Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) – 40 years after it was adopted.
A salon manager who was fired after warning her colleagues about an occupational health hazard will get $165,000 from the salon, in a settlement with the U.S. Labor Dept.