Activity trackers and mobile phone apps are all the rage, but do they really help users increase and maintain physical activity? A new study has found that one mobile phone app designed for inactive women does help - when combined with an activity tracker and personal counseling.

The construction industry, by its nature, can be dangerous. SangHyun Lee, an associate professor in the University of Michigan’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, says wearable sensors can improve construction worker safety and also reduce costs through better data on worker health. He answers questions about his research.

A New Jersey food manufacturer has reached a region-wide settlement with OSHA and agreed to pay $152,934 in penalties for a range of safety citations. The settlement with Pennsauken-based J&J Snack Foods Corp. will affect the company’s eight food manufacturing and warehouse facilities in New Jersey and New York.

In March 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed into the French Alps, killing all 150 people onboard. An investigation found that the copilot deliberately steered the plane into the mountainside. It also revealed that he had a history of depression. Among workers, untreated depression can affect the ability to perform tasks and—as the Germanwings incident shows—in rare instances, can result in devastating consequences.

Charter flight operators need to follow the same safety measures that major passenger airlines comply with, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is in the process of investigating a string of recent accidents involving for-hire aircraft. The latest incident occurred May 13, 2019, when a mid-air collision between two floatplanes near Ketchikan, Alaska killed five people and injured ten others. Both aircraft were conducting “flightseeing” tours that allowed passengers aerial views of scenic attractions.

The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have renewed a partnership agreement that outlines how the organizations will collaborate on advancing workplace safety and health over the next five years.

The Alaska Occupational Safety and Health Division issued 14 citations and $270,723 in penalties to Trident Seafood Corporation after two workers were seriously injured by unguarded machinery. Inspectors found that the company failed to provide machine guarding on augers, conveyors, sprocket wheels, and chains.

Improved air quality in the Los Angeles region is linked to roughly 20 percent fewer new asthma cases in children, according to a USC study that tracked Southern California children over a 20-year period. The research expands on the landmark USC Children’s Health Study, which found that children’s lungs had grown stronger in the previous two decades and rates of bronchitic symptoms decreased as pollution declined throughout the region.

Two federal agencies are taking steps to speed up the introduction of vehicles equipped with automated driving systems (ADS) on U.S. roads. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) have issued advance notices of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) “on the removal of unnecessary regulatory barriers” to the use of ADS in the U.S.

OSHA’s recent enforcement actions against DDG Construction Services Inc. must have been like déjà vu all over again for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company. The agency cited DDG for failing to provide workers with fall protection at a commercial building site in Springfield, Missouri – bringing the number of fall violations the company has been cited for since 2014 to 15. Proposed penalties for the latest round of citations: $98,693.