Emergency visits climbed to a record high of 145.6 million patients in 2016, the most recent year available, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This is an increase from more than 136.9 million visits in 2015. And, only 4.3 percent of emergency patients went to the emergency department with nonurgent medical symptoms, a decrease from 5.5 percent in 2015. Wait times continue to improve. More than one-third (39 percent) of patients wait less than 15 minutes to see a provider and nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of patients are seen in less than one hour.

A Michigan man is hospitalized with critical injuries after he was struck by a co-worker who was backing up in a construction zone. News sources say Daniel Clark Jr. has collapsed lungs, broken ribs, a fractured pelvis and other injuries. The incident occurred Wednesday morning along I-75, in Troy, a suburb of Detroit. Troy police responded to the accident at around 9:30 a.m. Clark had reportedly started working for the company on Monday.

Cal/OSHA has issued serious health and safety citations to Underground Construction Co., Inc. of Benicia after two of its employees contracted Valley Fever. The workers were exposed to the fungal disease while using hand tools to dig trenches in Kings, Fresno and Merced counties—areas where the soil is known to contain harmful spores that cause the infection.

In 1735, Benjamin Franklin wroteExternal that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” We might think he was referring to health and medicine—not so. Mr. Franklin was recommending a metal enclosure to prevent bits of hot coals from starting a building fire. He also recommended training and equipping firefighters.

The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) have formalized a memorandum of understanding that outlines how the organizations will collaborate on advancing workplace safety and health over the next five years. ASSP President Rixio Medina, CSP, CPP, and KOSHA President Dooyong Park signed the agreement at a global workplace safety and health sustainability event in Paris.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is warning of a “converging public health crisis,” as the nation’s opioid epidemic fuels growing rates of certain infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, heart infections, and skin and soft tissue infections. Infectious disease and substance use disorder professionals must work together to stem the mounting public health threat, according to a new commentary in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

A Wisconsin pallet manufacturer has again been cited by OSHA after a follow-up inspection found employees continued to be exposed to wood dust. Avid Pallet Services LLC faces penalties of $188,302 for repeated, serious, and other-than-serious safety and health violations. Inspectors determined that the Beloit, Wisconsin, pallet manufacturer failed to implement sufficient engineering controls to limit dust exposure, as well as train employees on the health hazards of wood dust.

The Travelers Companies, Inc. reports that it has reduced opioid use by nearly 40 percent among the injured construction workers it has helped, thanks in part to the Early Severity Predictor® model, which helps predict which injured employees are at higher risk of experiencing chronic pain. Additionally, the insurance giant implemented a comprehensive pharmacy management program that monitors drug interactions, excessive dosing and abuse patterns to reduce the risk of opioid dependency.

E-cigarettes can release airborne contaminants that may affect both the people using them and those nearby. That’s one of the conclusions of a white paper (PDF) that’s just been released by the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) – one which reviews current scientific information and evaluates the impacts of chemicals used in e-cigarettes as well as those emitted from them. The resource was developed by AIHA's Indoor Environmental Quality Committee and Risk Committee.

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.