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OSHA has cited RKM Utility Services Inc. for failing to protect workers from hydrogen sulfide after an employee died after exposure to dangerous levels of the gas while working in a trench in Dallas, Texas. OSHA inspectors determined that the company exposed employees to a hazardous atmosphere, failed to train employees on the health hazards of hydrogen sulfide, and did not drain water from the trench.

Most of the emergency responders dispatched to a serious incident involving a toxic gas exposure did not use required respirators for breathing protection, according to a NIOSH-funded investigation published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). The gas, phosphine, forms when pesticides containing aluminum phosphide mix with water.

Want to be healthier and help save the planet at the same time? A “planetary health diet” unveiled yesterday in the medical journal Lancet will do both, according to the international team of scientists who developed it. The authors of the report say changes to the way we eat - across the globe - are urgently needed amid increasing obesity and climate change made worse by population growth, which is expected to reach 10 billion people by 2050.

With the recent resurgence of the most severe form of black lung disease among coal miners, especially in central Appalachia, understanding and preventing exposure to the respirable, or inhalable, dust generated during the extraction of coal is paramount. Black lung is a form of pneumoconiosis, or scarring lung disease, caused by breathing in dust that can occur with exposure to respirable coal mine dust.

OSHA standard 1910.242(b) relating to hand and portable powered tools and other hand-held equipment is clear on using compressed air for cleaning. “Compressed air shall not be used for cleaning purposes except where reduced to less than 30 psi and then only with effective chip guarding and personal protective equipment.”

Most all of us have been around a boss or supervisor who isn’t very likeable or open to feedback. He or she is often avoided, and people may even fear approaching that boss with a safety-related concern or idea for improvement. Workers who perceive their bosses as open believe their leader really listens to their ideas and acts upon them when appropriate — or at the very least, gives their ideas a fair shake.

A foodborne illness outbreak, a worker fatality at a car dealership and the first-ever public agenda issued by AIHA were among the top occupational safety and health stories featured on ISHN.com this week.

Released in Q3 of 2018, ANSI/ISEA 121-2018, American National Standard for Dropped Object Prevention Solutions, is the first standard of its type for dropped and falling objects prevention equipment – establishing minimum design, performance, and labeling requirements for product solutions and guidelines for testing.

ACGIH® and its renowned Industrial Ventilation Committee present a popular continuing education course this spring. Fundamentals in Industrial Ventilation & Practical Applications of Useful Equations will be held April 15, 2019 at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Cincinnati-Blue Ash in Cincinnati, Ohio. Register early and save!

Standard 1910.1020 “Access to employee exposure and medical records” is the most important and far-reaching of OSHA’s regulations. When the standard became effective more than two decades ago, it could not have envisioned the explosive growth of global chemical exposure information.