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One momentary decision in a hazardous workplace forever changed the lives of a worker who suffered grievous injuries and the co-worker whose actions inadvertently led to that injury. It also led to more than a quarter million dollars in fines against the company that employed them.

Nearly three years ago, President Barack Obama responded to long-standing concerns that workers exposed to toxic chemicals at the country’s nuclear weapons labs were not receiving proper compensation. Obama created an advisory board to be composed of scientists, doctors and worker advocates. Their recommendations have led to significant changes, including the repeal of a rule that made it more difficult for workers who’d been injured in the last two decades to get compensation.

People who suffer from some forms of depression may be able to get some non-pharmaceutical relief for their symptoms from mindfulness meditation training. A study appearing in the Annals of Family Medicine looked at primary care patients with subthreshold depression – something more than ordinary feelings of sadness but less than severe depression. The researchers found that in certain patients, mindfulness mediation proved to be a feasible method of preventing major depression.

An OSHA investigation into a worker’s partial thumb amputation has resulted in safety citations and thousands of dollars in proposed fines against his employer. The injury occurred when the employee was clearing a jam on a bag sealing machine.

A Florida computer company is facing a $63,750 fine for trying to send hundreds of lithium ion batteries by air from Miami to Buenos Aires, Argentina. According to the U.S Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), J&J Tech Group of Miami allegedly violated the Hazardous Materials Regulations when two passengers affiliated with the company offered three checked bags containing 318 lithium ion batteries for the February 22, 2017 flight.

Employees at a Pennsylvania carpentry framing company performed their work without fall or head protection, according to OSHA, which has cited Strong Construction, Inc. for two willful and five serious safety and health violations. The Bensalem company, which specializes in commercial and industrial construction, faces $213,318 in fines.

Mine operators with safety violations have failed to pay millions of dollars they owe in penalties – a state of affairs David G. Zatezalo calls “unacceptable.” In a recent op-ed piece in The Intelligencer. Wheeling News-Register, Zatezalo said uncollected fines combined with continued violations “show disregard for the law and our nation’s miners.

Longer-term prescribing of opioids causes substantially longer duration of temporary disability among workers with work-related low back injuries, according to a new study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI). Temporary disability is time that workers spend away from work recovering from their work-related injuries.

As most parts of the country prepare to turn clocks ahead one hour, the National Safety Council is cautioning employers that workers in certain positions and industries who already have a higher risk of being drowsy may be even more tired than usual next Monday. According to a new NSC report, Tired at Work: How fatigue affects our bodies, shift workers, medical staff, emergency responders, military personnel, any worker over age 40, and transportation professionals – especially those who work rotating or night shifts – always are at increased risk for circadian misalignment, which occurs when we force ourselves to stay awake at hours when our bodies believe we should be sleeping.