A John Deere & Co. pipefitter who was fired after reporting several safety violations to OSHA would be reinstated with back pay, under the terms of a lawsuit filed by the agency. On three separate occasions, the worker filed complaints about the company’s Moline, Illinois facility with OSHA, each time resulting in violations against the company.

Pipeline safety, toxic toys, teaching occupational safety to schoolkids and a tale of workplace violence were among the top stories posted on ISHN.com this week.

CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden says the nation’s alarming heroin epidemic – which spans nearly all demographic groups and is causing a dramatic rise in overdose deaths, is largely due to two factors.

In November 2014, a worker was overcome at a DuPont chemical manufacturing facility when a supply line unexpectedly released more than 20,000 lbs. of methyl mercaptan, a deadly chemical. Three co-workers came to the worker's aid in an attempted rescue, but all four were asphyxiated fatally by the colorless, flammable, and highly toxic gas.

Two employees in two different incidents each lost a finger last year at a Georgia manufacturing company – injuries that OSHA says could have been avoided. The amputations occurred within a three month period at Elite Storage Solutions LLC. The company was issued 24 safety and health violations with proposed total penalties of $125,165.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) yesterday announced a new pipeline safety management system standard that was created with engagement and guidance from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), and other key stakeholders.

In a letter to Amtrak yesterday, the National Transportation Safety Board said that it should install crash- and fire-protected inward- and outward-facing audio and image recorders in the operating cabs of all of its trains, and review the recordings to ensure that crew actions are in accordance with procedures.

Asbestos has been found in several brands of children’s crayons and fingerprint kits made in China and sold in the U.S., according to tests commissioned by an environmental group. The findings are detailed in a report being released today by the Environmental Working Group Action Fund. It marks the third time in 15 years that the cancer-causing substance has been detected in crayons or fingerprint toys marketed to children—apparently, due to the use of asbestos-contaminated talc.

A move to raise the legal age at which tobacco can be purchased to 21 across the U.S. appears to be gaining momentum. A new national survey from the Centers for Disease Control finds that more than three quarters of adults support the change – including seven out of ten smokers.