Workers Memorial Day produced a series of occupational safety reports and suggestions for initiatives, as well as events for remembering workers who died on – or as a result of – the job. Additionally, teen worker safety and fatigue-caused train accident were among the week’s top EHS- related stories featured on ISHN.com this week.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration today issued a final rule to increase protections for construction workers in confined spaces. “This rule will provide construction workers with protections already afforded to workers in manufacturing and general industry, with some differences tailored to the construction industry,” said OSHA chief David Michaels, who predicted that it will prevent 800 serious injuries and save five lives a year.
Publication reveals how America’s “aging house stock” poses hazards
May 1, 2015
May is National Electrical Safety Month and the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) is kicking off its annual effort to raise awareness of potential home electrical hazards and the importance of electrical safety.
According to a new report released by the AFL-CIO, 4,585 workers were killed in the United States during 2013 due to workplace injuries. An additional estimated 50,000 died from occupational diseases, resulting in a loss of nearly 150 workers each day from preventable workplace conditions.
Deane Berg’s doctor called her in the day after Christmas, 2006, to give her the crushing news. She’d had her ovaries removed, the pathology results were back, and they could not have been much worse. Berg had stage III ovarian cancer, and her prognosis was poor.
A year after an accident that left nine employees seriously injured, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has agreed to improve safety for its workers, in a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor.
On the heels of Workers Memorial Day, Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) Executive Director Pete Stafford said; “Just as we owe a debt we can never repay to the men and women who died defending our nation and our freedom, we owe a similar debt to those who died while laboring to create the prosperity we enjoy as Americans.”
OSHA yesterday unveiled a new version of its "Job Safety and Health - It's The Law!" poster. The poster informs workers of their rights, and employers of their responsibilities. "This poster emphasizes a very important principle when it comes to prevention - that every worker has a voice," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels.
A proposed bill that would allow some teenagers to work in the logging industry is drawing opposition from safety advocates. House Bill 1215 was introduced to a congressional committee last month by Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho). The bill, called the “Future Logging Careers Act,” would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to be exempt from child labor laws if they work in logging or mechanized operations under parental supervision.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) yesterday determined that operator fatigue caused a March 24, 2014 Chicago Transit Authority accident at O’Hare station which injured dozens of passengers.