Emergency visits climbed to a record high of 145.6 million patients in 2016, the most recent year available, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This is an increase from more than 136.9 million visits in 2015. And, only 4.3 percent of emergency patients went to the emergency department with nonurgent medical symptoms, a decrease from 5.5 percent in 2015. Wait times continue to improve. More than one-third (39 percent) of patients wait less than 15 minutes to see a provider and nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of patients are seen in less than one hour.

Cal/OSHA has issued serious health and safety citations to Underground Construction Co., Inc. of Benicia after two of its employees contracted Valley Fever. The workers were exposed to the fungal disease while using hand tools to dig trenches in Kings, Fresno and Merced counties—areas where the soil is known to contain harmful spores that cause the infection.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is warning of a “converging public health crisis,” as the nation’s opioid epidemic fuels growing rates of certain infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, heart infections, and skin and soft tissue infections. Infectious disease and substance use disorder professionals must work together to stem the mounting public health threat, according to a new commentary in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

A Wisconsin pallet manufacturer has again been cited by OSHA after a follow-up inspection found employees continued to be exposed to wood dust. Avid Pallet Services LLC faces penalties of $188,302 for repeated, serious, and other-than-serious safety and health violations. Inspectors determined that the Beloit, Wisconsin, pallet manufacturer failed to implement sufficient engineering controls to limit dust exposure, as well as train employees on the health hazards of wood dust.

Ergodyne continues to expand its line of heat-beating Chill-Its® products. Innovative cooling arm sleeves and two new thirst-crushing water bottles are the newest additions to the Chill-Its® lineup. Heat stress on the job site is a major concern for both safety managers and workers alike. Heat is the number one weather-related killer in the US, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Travelers Companies, Inc. reports that it has reduced opioid use by nearly 40 percent among the injured construction workers it has helped, thanks in part to the Early Severity Predictor® model, which helps predict which injured employees are at higher risk of experiencing chronic pain. Additionally, the insurance giant implemented a comprehensive pharmacy management program that monitors drug interactions, excessive dosing and abuse patterns to reduce the risk of opioid dependency.

E-cigarettes can release airborne contaminants that may affect both the people using them and those nearby. That’s one of the conclusions of a white paper (PDF) that’s just been released by the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) – one which reviews current scientific information and evaluates the impacts of chemicals used in e-cigarettes as well as those emitted from them. The resource was developed by AIHA's Indoor Environmental Quality Committee and Risk Committee.

The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) – the leading association for the construction industry - will hold its first-ever Construction Safety, Health + Environmental Conference on July 23-25, 2019, in Seattle, Washington. The AGC says the conference will “hone in on the most critical safety, health, and environmental compliance and risk issues impacting the business of construction.”

The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), in partnership with the Indoor Air Quality Association, has released the updated Indoor Air Quality Practitioners Body of Knowledge (IAQ Practitioners BoK). The BoK outlines the competencies needed in the area of indoor air quality practice. For the past 12 months a task force of highly qualified subject matter experts from AIHA and IAQA collaborated to review this document.

A Swedish review of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest data shows rates of bystander CPR nearly doubled; compression-only (or Hands-Only CPR) increased six-fold over an 18 year period; and the chance of survival was doubled for any form of CPR compared with no CPR, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.