The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA®) announced today that it has joined the Ambassador Program of the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The program builds upon OSHA's Alliance Program and will be used to improve workplace health and safety by sharing information and guidance and providing access to vital training resources.

The respiratory disease caused by a novel (new) coronavirus that was first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China has now been detected in 32 locations internationally, including cases United States. The virus has been named “SARS-CoV-2” and the disease it causes has been named “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated “COVID-19”).

OSHA has cited Garick LLC – operating as Smith Garden Products – for exposing employees to safety hazards at the Cumming, Georgia, facility. The manufacturer of specialty mulch products faces $148,867 in penalties. The agency cited Garick LLC for failing to ensure energy control procedures contained clear and specific steps to limit the release of hazardous energy.

The EPA has proposed “regulatory determinations” for two chemicals whose presence in drinking water has raised alarm among the public and health experts. The agency is proposing to regulate two contaminants perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) – but not six others: 1,1-dichloroethane, acetochlor, methyl bromide, metolachlor, nitrobenzene, and RDX.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is calling for a comprehensive effort to improve aviation safety in Alaska, a region with a higher accident rate than the rest of the country. The NTSB issued a safety recommendation to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) seeking the formation of a safety-focused working group to better review, prioritize and integrate Alaska’s unique aviation safety needs into the FAA’s safety enhancement process.

Fatalities caused by falls from elevation continue to be a leading cause of death for construction employees, accounting for 320 of the 1,008 construction fatalities recorded in 2018 (BLS data). Those deaths were preventable. The National Safety Stand-Down is an effort to raise fall hazard awareness across the country and prevent fall fatalities and injuries.

The growing problem of plastic pollution in the environment is receiving an increasing amount of attention (see article in Nature). Small particles of plastics are often referred to as microplastics (plastic particles smaller than 5 mm [1]) and nanoplastics (the nanoscale fraction of plastic particles). Nano- and microplastic particles (NMPPs) can be formed through environmental and mechanical degradation (the top-down mechanism).

The National Safety Council (NSC) released its first Work to Zero research report, Safety Technology 2020: Mapping Technology Solutions for Reducing Serious Injuries and Fatalities in the Workplace. With workplace deaths in the U.S. on the rise, this new report indicates employers may not be doing enough to protect their workforce.

Four workers who were performing maintenance at the Waupaca Plant in Tell City, Indiana were transported to the University of Louisville Hospital’s burn unit on Monday after being injured at the facility. Officials have released few details about the incident, which occurred at 10:30 a.m. in the company’s cupola, according to news sources.

A popular and long-running Oregon music festival turned deadly last summer when two a boom lift tipped, killing two workers. That incident at the Pickathon Music Festival, an annual three-day extravaganza outside of Oregon that has been held every August since 1999, led to a state OSHA investigation and fines for the workers’ employer.