Exposure to high levels of pesticides may cause farmers over time to lose their sense of smell, according to a study published recently in Environmental Health Perspectives. The study examined high pesticide exposure events (HPEEs) in relation to self-reported olfactory impairment (OI) in participants in the long running, multi-generational Agricultural Health Study (AHS) conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Three New York City construction workers died last week at three different worksites – two as the result of struck-by incidents. In Brooklyn, news sources report that 34 year-old Gregory Echevarria was killed when part of a crane he was helping to assemble fell on him. The incident occurred at 3:15 a.m. on Saturday at the entrance to the Holland tunnel, when a 7.5 ton counterweight fell on Echevarria.

According to the Assessment of Business Cyber Risk (ABC) report released this week by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and FICO, the level of cyber risk to the U.S. business community is holding steady for the first quarter of 2019, with a national risk score of 687. The ABC measures the aggregate cybersecurity risk faced by the U.S. business community. Based on data from the FICO® Cyber Risk Score, the ABC is intended to advance cybersecurity awareness and improve the overall effectiveness of cyber defense programs.

A worker suffered severe burns in an explosion while he was repairing a semitrailer in DeKalb County, GA. The explosion occurred at a tractor-trailer repair factory in the 4300 block of Old McDonough Road, DeKalb County Fire Rescue spokesman Dion Bentley said from the scene. Initially, officials said the fire started after the semitrailer crashed into the building.

The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) has released a report on women and safety in the modern workplace – a follow-up to its Women’s Workplace Safety Summit held last October near Chicago. The report focuses on three main challenges faced by women in the workplace and offers potential solutions. It is just one outcome of ASSP’s ongoing initiative to improve diversity and inclusion throughout the safety industry while ultimately better protecting workers everywhere.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has been able to re-construct the series of events involved in a January 3, 2019 multi-vehicle crash in Florida, although what set the tragedy in motion remains under investigation. According to the NTSB, at approximately 3:40 p.m., a 2016 Freightliner truck-tractor in combination with a semitrailer was traveling north on Interstate 75 (I-75) in Gainesville, Florida, when it struck a 2016 Acura passenger car that was also traveling north.

Last August, Higinio Romero was working on the roof of a condo in South Florida when he slipped and fell two stories, landing on rocks below. Emergency workers found him unconscious and bleeding from his ears. Romero — a father of two children, 4 months old and 10 years old — died about an hour later. According to a sheriff’s report, he had unclipped his safety harness shortly before the fall.

A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Ohio has indicted two managers at Extrudex Aluminum Inc. in Ohio for conspiracy to obstruct justice during a 2012 workplace fatality investigation by OSHA. The agency inspected the aluminum extrusion manufacturer after an employee suffered fatal injuries when a rack containing hot aluminum parts tipped over and pinned him. A second employee suffered severe burns.

Researchers from Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health have developed and evaluated a fast, accurate and cost-effective approach to assessing the carcinogenicity of chemicals—that is, whether exposure to a chemical increases a person’s long-term cancer risk. As a result, they have generated one of the largest toxicogenomics datasets to date, and have made the data and results publicly accessible through a web portal at carcinogenome.org.

Falls are the leading cause of construction-worker fatalities, accounting for one-third of on-the-job deaths in the industry. In 2017, there were 366 fall fatalities out of 971 total fatalities in construction. According to the CPWR, from 2011-2015, 61% of fatal falls in construction occurred in small businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Almost two-thirds of fatal falls were from roofs, scaffolds, and ladders.