The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently published a studyExternal that compared the rates of health insurance coverage among workers in different work arrangements between 2010 and 2015. While rates of health insurance coverage among workers in all categories went up significantly during this time period, substantial disparities in health insurance coverage persisted for workers with non-standard work arrangements.

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.”

A fire at a Houston chemical plant yesterday morning killed one person, left two with critical injuries and caused residents living within a mile of the facility to shelter in place. It is unclear whether the victims were employees at the plant. News sources say the incident at KMCO plant began when a tank of isobutylene ignited, and the fire spread to an adjacent storage building.

A new study by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) to determine if demographic changes are behind the continuing decline in workers compensation (WC) claims has yielded some surprising results. Among them: that the aging of the U.S. workforce is not a factor. According to NCCI, WC claims have fallen by nearly one-third in the last ten years, part of a trend that’s been going on for more than two decades. At the same time, the number of workers who are at least 55 years old has doubled since 2000.

OSHA has cited C.W. Hendrix Farms Inc. for failing to protect workers from recognized hazards after lightning struck and killed an employee at the Parkland, Florida, agricultural operation. OSHA inspectors determined that Hendrix Farms exposed employees to lightning strikes as they picked vegetables in inclement weather. The company faces a penalty of $12,934, the maximum amount allowed.

Leaders of a House committee have called on the acting head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Ann Marie Buerkle, to disclose her contacts with business groups, citing a “disturbing” report by FairWarning that “suggests you are prioritizing the interests of industry over the safety of consumers.”

Law enforcement officers responding to a 9-1-1 call yesterday morning found four people dead at a North Dakota property management business, news sources report. The victims who were discovered at RJR Maintenance and Management have been identified as 52-year-old Robert Fakler, 42-year-old Adam Fuehrer, 45-year-old Lois Cobb and her husband, 50-year-old William Cobb.

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.

Publication of an ISO 45001 implementation handbook is expected by the end of the year as a follow-up to the global occupational safety and health management system standard released in 2018, according to a working group that recently met as part of a five-day ISO Technical Committee (TC-283) meeting in Dallas. The handbook will provide small and medium-sized businesses with detailed guidance on how they can apply the voluntary consensus standard to increase employee safety, reduce workplace risks and improve business outcomes.

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.