Lung disease from work-related exposure to coal mine dust can damage different parts of the lungs, including the small airways. When these airways, which resemble twigs branching off the trunk of a tree, are damaged, breathing can become significantly difficult.

A worksite intervention using unit-level data on violent events can lead to lower risks of patient-to-worker violence and injury to hospital staff, suggests a study in the January Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

A new report identifies an “astounding” increase in worker fatalities in New York State and New York City, as well as safety violations at 90 percent of construction fatality sites. "Deadly Skyline: An Annual Report on Construction Fatalities in New York State,” released by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), alleges that that employers routinely violate legal regulations with impunity.

County Concrete Corp. of East Orange, New Jersey is facing $88,544 in penalties after OSHA inspectors found multiple safety and health violations at the company. Foremost among them: employees were exposed to silica above the permissible limit as they cleaned concrete mixers. OSHA cited County Concrete for these same hazards in 2013.

OSHA has issued Recommended Practices for Anti-Retaliation Programs to help employers create workplaces in which workers feel comfortable voicing their concerns without fear of retaliation. The recommendations are intended to apply to all public and private sector employers covered by the 22 whistleblower protection laws that OSHA enforces.

A new CDC study demonstrates that Americans living in rural areas are more likely to die from five leading causes than their urban counterparts. In 2014, many deaths among rural Americans were potentially preventable, including 25,000 from heart disease, 19,000 from cancer, 12,000 from unintentional injuries, 11,000 from chronic lower respiratory disease, and 4,000 from stroke.

A teenaged oil company employee was killed last week in Tyler County, West Virginia when he was struck by a truck, then pinned between the truck and a sand silo, according to news sources. Nineteen-year-old Hunger D. Osborn was acting as a spotter for a tractor-trailer that was backing up to off-load sand when the accident occurred Thursday morning at an oil well pad.

American Industrial Hygiene Association’s (AIHA®) efforts to grow the next generation of occupational safety and health professionals has gotten a boost in the form of an Innovation Grant from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Foundation.

A complaint of unsafe working conditions led OSHA inspectors to discover the safety and health of employees at a well-known Oklahoma truck bed fabricator being placed at risk amid nearly two dozen safety and health violations.