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A fatality earlier this month involving a hydraulic breaker represents a sharp uptick in U.S. mining industry deaths caused by machine accidents, according to the Mine Safety and Health Admininstration (MSHA). The 32-year-old general manager/owner and the excavator operator were in the process of positioning the excavator for a motor exchange when the hydraulic breaker attachment fell off the excavator and hit the victim.

Despite a dozen OSHA inspections in the past four years, the Fuyao Glass America Inc. plant in Moraine, Ohio is still exposing employees to a variety of safety and health hazards. That’s according to the most recent OSHA action, which found that in addition to electrical safety violations, the company has failed to:

In the study, “Suicide and drug‐related mortality following occupational injury,” published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, researchers found that workplace injury significantly raises a person’s risk of suicide or overdose death. Earlier studies have shown that injured workers have elevated rates opioid use and depression.

A fatality that occurred when an Atlanta transit train struck equipment that was on the train tracks was the result of a flagperson moving the on-track equipment (OTE) outside of the restriction area without authority and on-track protection. That’s the conclusion of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigated the incident.

In 1970, the Occupational Safety Health Act created a government body tasked with nothing more or less than helping ensure safe workplace conditions for all. The most recent report from OSHA shows that the organization is struggling in that mission. There are several reasons for the downturn in workplace safety OSHA describes in its most recent report on inspections and fatalities in U.S. workplaces. But first, we need the details:

This week, Aug. 12 – 18, is Safe + Sound Week, an annual, nationwide event that recognizes the successes of workplace safety and health programs and offers information and ideas on how to keep America's workers safe. According to OSHA, last year more than 2,700 businesses participated in the program, which is aimed at helping employers get their programs started, energize an existing one, or recognizing their safety successes.

More Americans than previously estimated live within a city block of aged, underground natural gas storage wells, some more than a century old and most of them lacking modern designs to prevent major leaks, according to researchers from Harvard University.

OSHA has cited U.S. Nonwovens Corp. – a home and personal care fabric product manufacturer – for repeat and serious safety violations after an employee suffered a fractured hand at the plant in Hauppauge, New York. The company faces $287,212 in penalties. Investigators determined the employee’s injury occurred when his hand became caught in a fabric-softener sheet-cutting machine.

When the temperature goes up in the summer months, exercising outside can become challenging. Even heat-loving, sun-seeking exercisers can become overheated when the sun is beaming down in the heat of the day. Ample sunshine, longer days and warmer temperatures provide more opportunities for the whole family to get outside and get active!

After learning that a warning of a missile headed to Hawaii was a false alarm, the most anxious local Twitter users calmed down more quickly than less anxious users, according to a study of tweets before, during and after the event, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).