The question of whether obesity should be classified a ‘disease’ – a question which has sparked controversy for decades – was answered with a “yes” recently by the World Obesity Federation (WOF).

The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) has crafted a plan for reshaping OSHA that would focus the agency on risk management and productive policies and fill legislative and regulatory gaps that limit its ability to better protect workers.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is making up to $55 million in grants available to local transit agencies that bring American-made technologies like battery electric power and hydrogen fuel cells into their bus services.

Children and teens exposed to high levels of traffic-related air pollution have evidence of a specific type of DNA damage called telomere shortening, reports a study in the May Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Sometimes, when you’re reading about the tragedies in the Weekly Toll, there are a few that you think, “Well, that’s too bad, but what are you going to do….?” Like this one in this week’s Weekly Toll:

The failure to deal with interpersonal conflicts among the people tasked with taking care of patients adversely affects patient safety and quality of care, according to a new study by VitalSmarts. More than 1,200 physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals were asked about personnel problems in their organizations. The results, says VitalSmarts VP of Research David Maxfield, show that silence about slackers, timid supervisors, toxic peers and arrogant doctors is the real problem.

An effort to overturn a rule limiting methane emissions from oil and natural gas drilling has failed in the Senate – a first in the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to repeal Obama administration rules it deems burdensome to business.

The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), the world’s oldest professional safety organization, has completed the 2017 Society elections and congratulates its new leaders, whose terms begin July 1. Jim Smith, M.S., CSP, will become ASSE’s new president for 2017-18.

When President Trump nominated me to be U.S. Secretary of Labor, I had to sit down and explain to my two daughters that if confirmed, we would have to move from Miami. They wanted to know why. I tried to explain what being the Secretary of Labor meant in words that a four- and six-year-old could understand.

With many states legalizing marijuana, the cannabis industry has seen a boom in business. However, as with any industry, employers and workers who grow cannabis need to be equipped with the proper protective equipment while doing their job. In its May 2017 issue, The Synergist magazine explores the topic of personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers in this emerging industry.