Environmental Health and Safety

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Recently, I did some health and safety “due diligence” consulting work for a client who wanted to acquire a small, 65-employee business. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting with supervisors and employees and touring the facility and was struck by two important findings: this small company didn’t have much by way of written programs that supported health and safety regulatory compliance AND it had a remarkably good safety record -- one that much larger companies would envy.

The Kentucky legislature this week passed a bill to exclude radiologists from the types of doctors who can diagnose black lung disease among miners seeking workers’ compensation for their illness. A radiologist uses x-rays to diagnose disease. Black lung disease is diagnosed through x-rays and an occupational history.

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) may not make the headlines like more dramatic injuries do, but they nonetheless have a considerable –and negative – impact on companies’ bottom lines. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports in 2013, MSD cases accounted for 33% of all worker injury and illness cases. Work related MSDs are among the most frequently reported causes of lost or restricted work time.

Readers may be familiar with connected products (gas detectors servicing alerts) that have been around for many years. This article identifies common connected technology terms, concepts and uses that will be new to a workplace safety environment.

They won’t be getting an increase, but federal worker safety agencies will not, at least, see the slashes in funding that some were predicting. The FY 2018 budget passed by Congress recently maintains funding for OSHA, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) at 2017 levels.

Once upon a time, dangers in the workplace focused solely on equipment issues or malfunctions. In today’s work environment you must be aware of other risks such as extreme weather conditions, internal threats and updates on the location of onsite construction.

The fear that a robot or computer could put workers in the unemployment line may be directly linked to some physical and mental health issues, says three Ball State University researchers and a Villanova University professor. “County-level job automation risk and health: Evidence from the United States,” published in the journal Social Science and Medicine, found that exposure to automation risk may be negatively associated with health outcomes, plausibly through perceptions of poorer job security.

ACGIH® will present Current Topics for Managing Occupational Heat Stress on May 10, 2018 at the following times: 2:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time; 1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Central Time; 12:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Mountain Time; 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time.