The NIOSH Center for Motor Vehicle Safety (CMVS) is taking up the challenge of communicating to employers and workers about the risks of driving for work and how to avoid motor vehicle crashes. Crash risk affects workers in all industries and occupations, whether they drive tractor-trailers, cars, pickup trucks, or emergency vehicles, and whether driving is a primary or occasional part of the job.

On the heels of an incident in which a worker was injected with a flammable propellant gas, OSHA has reached agreements with three Massachusetts packaging companies to correct workplace hazards and enhance safety. OSHA found that Dudley- based Shield Packaging Co. Inc. – which packages aerosol containers – failed to implement required procedures to lock out the machine's power sources or train the employee on how to recognize and avoid the hazard.

Additional scientific research and a broad sharing of existing data are needed by safety and health practitioners across the country to better protect workers in every industry, according to the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE). That’s why ASSE brought together dozens of industry leaders and safety experts recently for a research workshop aimed at creating a new wave of progress.

The man likely to become the next head of OSHA will first have to face a Senate review process – and safety advocacy groups like National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) have some ideas about the topics that should be covered during those sessions. Scott Mugno, vice president for safety, sustainability and vehicle maintenance at FedEx Ground in Pittsburgh, Pa.. has been nominated by President Trump to lead the agency.

Bringing attention to industrial hygienists - “the quiet heroes in every workplace” - through a website and videos rendered in comic book style has resulted in awards for the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA). IHHeroes.org website and the inaugural edition of its IH Heroes comic have both won Gold Awards in the category of Digital Media/Website Nonprofit and Print Media/Publications Book by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) MarCom Awards.

A 51-year-old worker in Georgia died Monday night after getting caught in a piece of machinery, according to news sources. Shaw Industries employee Jesus Pimentel was caught between a moving part of a machine and a stationary steel I-beam, said Whitfield County Coroner Greg Bates.

A common aviation practice intended to save time is putting planes and their passengers in jeopardy, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which has issued a Safety Alert 071-17 about the hazard. Intersection takeoffs – where a pilot uses only a portion of the runway instead of the entire length for takeoff – is common, but the NTSB says pilots may not fully understand the potential risks associated with conducting intersection takeoffs.

Before the end of World War II, there was little interest in fitting workplace conditions and job demands to the capabilities of the working population—a scientific practice known as ergonomics. By the 1970s, NIOSH researchers were pioneering the study of musculoskeletal health as professional ergonomists, examining physical and social components of work environments (such as conveyer belt height and lunch break routines, respectively) to mitigate musculoskeletal injury risks.

Eating spicy foods can help people eat less salt and have lower blood pressure -- potentially reducing their risk of heart attack and stroke -- according to new research in the American Heart Association’s (AHA) journal Hypertension. “Previously, a pilot study found that trace amounts of capsaicin, the chemical that gives chili peppers their pungent smell, enhanced the perception of food being salty,” said senior study author Zhiming Zhu, M.D., professor and director of the Department of Hypertension and Endocrinology at the Third Military Medical University in Chongqing, China. “We wanted to test whether this effect would also reduce salt consumption.”