From the National Football League’s website: Advancing a culture wherein the health and safety of players is paramount requires much more than just a set of game rules. It requires ongoing education, dialogue and monitoring. It requires constant assessment and consistent reinforcement of policies. And it requires an unstinting commitment to everyone involved in the game – players, coaches, administration, medical staff sand the NFL Players Association.
OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health are warning workers and employers about the dangers of using methylene chloride-based stripping products in bathtub refinishing.
ACGIH® announced that its Board of Directors ratified the 2013 Threshold Limit Values (TLVs®) for Chemical Substances and Physical Agents and Biological Exposure Indices (BEIs®). The Board also approved recommendations for additions to the Notice of Intended Changes (NIC).
The Safety Equipment Institute (SEI) has announced that the first certifications have been issued to NFPA 1994, Standard on Protective Ensembles for First Responders to CBRN Terrorism Incidents, 2012 Edition.
The Safety Equipment Institute (SEI) has issued the first certifications to products for NFPA 1992, Standard on Liquid-Splash Protective Ensembles and Clothing for Hazardous Materials Emergencies, 2012 Edition.
In a move that could impact worker health and safety, the U.S. Labor Department (DOL) will launch a $1.9 million study on job misclassification. “The misclassification of employees as something other than employees, such as independent contractors, presents a serious problem for affected employees, employers, and to the entire economy,” according to the DOL.
A “safety stand down” to promote safety and health practices at oil and gas exploration and production sites in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas continues through Feb. 28. The program is an initiative by OSHA and the National Service, Transmission, Exploration & Production Safety Network, more commonly known as STEPS.
According to the fiscal year 2013 Congressional Budget Justification for OSHA, the agency will be more transparent in divulging information to the next-of-kin of workplace fatality victims. OSHA has long been criticized by activists such as Alabama’s Ron Hayes, whose son was killed in a grain silo, of frustrating victims’ families by leaving them out of the information loop.
The Washington Post’s Wonk Blog has a piece this week on the burgeoning costs of regulations. WaPo’s Jim Tankersley writes, “If you’re a business leader or conservative economist who worries that the federal government is strangling the economy in red tape, 2012 was a banner year. If you’re a consumer advocate or an environmentalist anxious for the government to do more to boost public health … ditto.”
The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) met with Abu Dhabi Environment, Health and Safety Center officials in the United Arab Emirates recently to assist them in developing the country’s first Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Strategy aimed at reducing work-related injuries and fatalities and building a preventative safety culture.