Earlier this year I participated in the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Summit on Green Buildings and Human Health. At USGBC’s invitation, I authored a blog that appears on their website. We are co-posting the blog on the NIOSH Science Blog. The Summit was very successful, and USGBC is open to including worker issues into their initiatives. Please share your thoughts on this important issue in the comment section below.

EHS professionals who are interested in a professional challenge – and living abroad – may want to send a resume to the steering committee of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a multi-national effort to bring about safer and healthier conditions for factory workers in Bangladesh.

Recent uneventful hurricane seasons have done little to calm Florida workers’ fear of hurricanes, according to a new study by Wayne Hochwarter, the Jim Moran Professor of Business Administration at the Florida State University College of Business.

The increase in grain bin deaths – despite a corresponding increase in official efforts to stop them – shows an “unconscionable” failure on the part of employers, according to the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH), a coalition dedicated to safe work conditions.

CSB Chairperson Rafael Moure-Eraso testified yesterday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works: Chairman Boxer, Senator Vitter, and distinguished Committee members – thank you for inviting me today. The two explosions we are discussing today – West Fertilizer and Williams Olefins – are tragedies of the kind that should be prevented. 

An explosion at an Indiana grain bin Monday afternoon claimed the life of 67-year-old James Swank, news sources report. Police believe Swank was on top of a tower when the blast – which may have been a grain dust explosion, caused him to fall approximately 175 feet.

A Pennsylvania helicopter manufacturer exposed its workers to hexavalent chromium and other hazards, according to the eight serious citations issued by OSHA. Carson Helicopters, Inc., based in Perkasie, faces fines totaling $40,500 after a December 2012 inspection of the facility was launched because of a complaint.

A series of recent chemical plant explosions – including two fatal ones in La. last week – has safety advocates once again calling for stronger federal legislation for chemical plant safety and security. A total of three workers were killed and approximately 80 others injured in the two La. incidents.