In Washington, D.C., a new Trump administration plan to relax safety rules for truck drivers has rekindled old heartaches for families across the country. On a sunny Labor Day morning in Oklahoma, Linda Wilburn’s younger son, 19-year-old Orbie, hopped into his 1994 red Camaro and headed east from Weatherford on Interstate 40. The college freshman, excited about his new rental house, needed to collect more stuff from his parent’s place, 10 miles away.

A shipbuilding worker with nearly four decades worth of experience fell to his death yesterday while working on the aircraft carrier USS George Washington. News sources say Tim Ewing, a construction supervisor who’d worked for Newport News Shipbuilding for 39 years, may have fallen while working in a tank.

Workers in India overwhelmingly want a “nap room” in their workplaces, according to a survey conducted by online sleep-solutions startup Wakefit.co. According to a report on the survey titled “Right to Work Naps,” a startling 86 percent of the 1,500 respondents said they wanted a dedicated space for taking naps during their work shifts.

A Missouri barrel maker is facing $413,370 in penalties after an employee suffered a life-changing injury on the job. The incident at Missouri Cooperage Company LLC, a subsidiary of Independent Stave Company, occurred in February 2019, when a worker suffered a finger amputation after her hand was caught between the belt and pulley system. This was the fifth amputation injury the company reported in a 14-month period.

A desire to go beyond regulatory compliance and increase the safety of employees is behind a Minnesota manufacturer’s use of OSHA’s On-Site Consultation Program, through the Minnesota OSHA (MNOSHA) Workplace Safety Consultation (WSC). That’s how Malco Products, Specific Benefit Corporation (SBC), achieved an OSHA Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) designation in 2004 – a designation it has maintained to this day.

The executive director of a California non-profit group advocating worker protection and justice has been nominated by Gov. Gavin Newsom to be the top administrator for California’s state-run worker safety agency, known as Cal/OSHA. The choice of Doug Parker, who has served since 2016 as executive director of Worksafe Inc. in Oakland, was announced Aug. 15 by the governor’s office.

People suffering from insomnia may have an increased risk of coronary artery disease, heart failure and stroke, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation. Previous observational studies have found an association between insomnia, which affects up to 30% of the general population, and an increased risk of developing heart disease and stroke.

If a federal agency can be frustrated, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is frustrated. The NTSB is commemorating a five decades old railroad tragedy today, and pointing out that the safety recommendation it made in the wake of that incident remains largely unadopted, mostly due to Congressional interference. After investigating a 1969 train collision in Darien, Connecticut that killed four people and injured 43 others, the NTSB issued – for the first time - a recommendation related to positive train control (PTC),

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has unveiled five proposed changes to existing hours of service (HOS) rules for commercial motor vehicle drivers. Predictably, the revisions – which FMCSA says will increase safety and save money – are drawing mixed reactions. U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao said the changes would give commercial drivers more flexibility while maintaining the safety limits on driving time.

OSHA may “broaden the circumstances” under which certain employers would be permitted to comply with its Respirable Crystalline Silica Standard for Construction, according to a request for information and comment issued by the agency last week. OSHA is looking for information on additional engineering and work practice control methods to effectively limit exposure to silica.