Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Loren Sweatt spoke at the Pennsylvania Governor's Safety and Health Conference on October 28, 2019.

The National Safety Council (NSC) has received a $125,000 sponsorship from Amazon to support women in safety. The sponsorship will go toward bolstering three NSC initiatives: the Council’s Marion Martin Award, Women in Safety Scholarship program and Women’s Division. Although women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, they comprise only 19% of employees within the safety industry.

As of the end of October, there were 1,888 confirmed and probable lung injury cases associated with use of e-cigarette, or vaping, products reported to the CDC by 49 states (all except Alaska), the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Approximately 70% of patients are male; the median age of patients is 24 years and ages range from 13 to 75 years and 79% of patients are under 35 years old.

Heart attacks killed 33 of the 82 firefighters who died while on duty in the U.S. last year, according to a report from the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). “Firefighter Fatalities in the United States” is compiled annually by the USFA to identify and analyze all on-duty firefighter fatalities to increase understanding of their causes and how they can be prevented.

A report by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) shows a strong correlation between hazardous jobs and opiate addiction and overdoses in that state. The 21-page study titled Opioid-related Overdose Deaths in Massachusetts by Industry and Occupation, 2011-2015 found that there were a total of 5,580 opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts from 2011 through 2015. Of the 4,284 worker death certificates deemed comprehensive enough to study, 1,096 were found to be employed in construction/extraction.

OSHA has cited Diaz Professional Construction LLC for exposing employees to falls at a Montgomery, Alabama, residential worksite. The framing contractor faces $31,879 in penalties. The agency initiated the inspection as part of its Regional Emphasis Program for Falls in Construction after inspectors observed employees performing framing activities without fall protection.

Every flu season, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) gets questions from pregnant workers about the flu and flu vaccines. Here are the answers to some of your most frequently asked questions, including getting the flu shot at work and administering flu shots to patients.

Nourishing yourself is smart for your heart and an effective way to take control of your health during the holidays. During Eat Smart Month this November, the American Heart Association, the leading voluntary health organization devoted to a world of longer, healthier lives, offers its latest recipes and science-backed tips to help you be Healthy for Good™.

Given the expanding international market in chemical substances and mixtures, a global system of classification and labeling was proposed at the 1992 Earth Summit by the International Labour Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and many other governments and stakeholders. In response, the United Nations developed the ‘Globally Harmonised System’ (GHS) which is a single worldwide system for classifying and communicating the hazardous properties of industrial and consumer substances and mixtures.

Next time you think about getting a burger or some other meat-containing meal from Burger King, Arby’s, Olive Garden, Domino’s pizza, Buffalo Wild Wings, Starbucks or Applebees, you may want to consult a recent report that gave those restaurant chains an “F” for using beef that contains large amounts of antibiotics.