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Workplace safety can be especially challenging when the workplace is…space. NASA astronaut Anne McClain, Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko are set to launch to the International Space Station on Monday, despite a rocket malfunction less than two months ago than forced them to abort a mission.

As the dim early light washed over the Appalachian countryside, Jason Kingsley began his climb up the side of an 80-foot silo. Kingsley was not a morning person. But he was also broke and unemployed. So when a dairy farmer named Ronald Wood called to ask him to help to rescue a piece of machinery that had accidentally been buried under tons of hay and legumes, Kingsley said yes.

Life expectancy in the U.S. has declined over the past few years, largely due to drug overdose deaths and suicides, according to a troubling new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Drug overdose deaths set a new record in 2017 by jumping 9.6 percent, to more than 70,000 fatalities. Suicide rates rose by 3.7 percent, continuing a trend that has seen suicides increase from 10.4 suicides per 100,000 in 1999 to 14 (per 100,000) in 2017.

In a recent safety excellence workshop, our firm facilitated a brainstorming exercise with a group of safety professionals interested in solving a particular problem they were experiencing in their safety journey. Their safety process was boring them to tears and they worried it would grow stale and become irrelevant with the workforce.

The industrial internet of things (IIoT) has significantly impacted safety for workers and entire companies, and many results are undoubtedly positive. However, since IIoT devices connect to the internet, organizations must follow cybersecurity best practices to ensure cybercriminals don't infiltrate systems and cause dangerous malfunctions.

OSHA’s General Industry’s standard for the Control of Hazardous Energy (LOTO) 29 CFR 1910.147 addresses one of the most important safety regulations to protect workers from injury: lockout/tagout. The standard requires workers to isolate energy during servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment to prevent the unexpected startup or release of energy.

United States Congressman Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) has introduced a bill that would require OSHA to issue a workplace violence prevention standard for the health care industry. The Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, H.R. 7141, directs OSHA to issue a standard requiring health care and social service employers to write and implement a workplace violence prevention plan.

Planning on traveling by air for the Christmas holiday? The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) wants to help you make it to your destination safely. You can help with that by paying close attention to what’s in your bag.

A look back at a mining disaster that led to landmark mining safety regulations; why a group of Philadelphia contractors has “Eggs with OSHA” and the benefits of the Internet of Things to oil and gas industry safety. These were among the occupational safety and health stories featured this week on ISHN.com.

Temporary workers should be protected from the sudden release of stored energy just as permanent workers are. That reminder from OSHA comes in a newly issued bulletin on lockout/tagout that explains the joint responsibility of host employers and staffing agencies to ensure that temporary employees are properly protected against this serious – potentially fatal - workplace hazard.