Persistent rainfall has continued rain has complicated the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into the Feb. natural-gas related house explosion in Dallas that killed a young girl. The incident claimed the life of the 12-year-old, injured several other people and destroyed a single family home.

On the heels of an announcement by the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) that that organization is fast-tracking an active shooter response standard comes word that the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) is also taking steps to address the issue. The ASSE convened a working group of safety and health experts to provide insights into the development of an active shooter technical report, which could guide organizations toward safer work environments with fewer hostile events.

An equipment failure led to a Sept. 6, 2016 incident in the Houston Ship Channel that left two marine pilots with burns and discharged 88,000 gallons of low-sulfur marine gas oil – which subsequently caught on fire. That’s the finding of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The agency’s investigation into the incident found that a momentary failure of a ship’s governor actuator system caused the tank vessel Aframax River to violently strike two mooring “dolphins” - man-made marine structures extending above the water level.

A lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet, which includes eggs and dairy but excludes meat and fish, and a Mediterranean diet are likely equally effective in reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s (AHA) journal Circulation. Previous separate studies have shown that a Mediterranean diet reduces certain risk factors for cardiovascular disease, as does a vegetarian diet; however, this was the first study to compare effects of the two distinct eating patterns.

While many Americans fear flying, violence and natural disasters, the odds of dying from preventable, everyday incidents are far greater – the greatest ever, in fact, in United States history. A person’s lifetime odds of dying from any unintentional cause have risen to one in 25 – up from odds of one in 30 in 2004, according to National Safety Council analysis.

OSHA’s FY 2019 budget request reflects an emphasis on compliance assistance, an increase in enforcement and the elimination of a longstanding safety and health training grant program – a move sure to draw the hire of some in the occupational safety community. The agency says its request for $549,033,000 for FY 2019 will allow it beef up its VPP initiative and restore 24 of the 33 compliance assistance positions that were lost in a five-year-long budget crunch.

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Hearing Day, which raises awareness about preventing hearing loss and promoting hearing care, is fast approaching. This year’s theme, “Hear the Future,” focuses on strategies to prevent the expected increase in the number of people living with hearing loss.

The increasing use of smartphones and recreational marijuana may be contributing to a surge in the numbers of pedestrians killed in traffic crashes, according to a new analysis. The report by the Governors Highway Safety Association estimates that pedestrian fatalities totaled about 6,000 in 2017, roughly the same as the year before, when the official count was 5,987.