Could air pollution be making us fat? A new USC study suggests that exposure to traffic pollution during childhood makes adolescents 34 percent more likely to eat foods high in unhealthy trans fats — regardless of household income, parent education level or proximity to fast-food restaurants. The findings on air pollution and obesity in teens appear in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Moving a ladder while a co-worker remained on the ladder platform led to a fall that – six months later – proved fatal, according to a Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) reportfrom NIOSH. The incident occurred on December 12, 2015, when two men employed by a municipality were dusting crown molding in a meeting room inside city hall. The 68-year-old victim had finished dusting a section of molding and the ladder needed to be moved to continue the task.

The growing demand for wireless and broadcast communications over the past three decades has spurred a dramatic increase in communication tower construction and maintenance – one that exposes workers to specific hazards. In order to erect or maintain communication towers, employees regularly climb towers, using fixed ladders, support structures or step bolts, from 100 feet to heights in excess of 1000 or 2000 feet.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has announced the availability of newly developed information on respiratory health and health care worker safety as well as an upcoming webinar series on ergonomics: The final National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) for Respiratory Health is now available. The 10 strategic objectives are organized into three sections.

An uncommon source of carbon monoxide poisoning—industrial gas-burning fryers—caused carbon monoxide poisoning among a large group of workers at an industrial kitchen, according to an investigation published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, and potentially deadly gas.

The American Industrial Hygiene Association released today its first biennial State of AIHA Research Report. The report is an analysis of the trends and issues affecting the field of industrial hygiene and occupational health, including the changing workplace landscape, big data, total worker exposure and exposure banding.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating three separate accidents from October 2018 in which children on their way to school were struck and killed by motor vehicles. The trio of tragedies had one thing in common: all occurred when children were crossing a road during early morning darkness. One occurred around 7:12 a.m., on Tuesday, October 30, 2018, near where a school bus in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana, stopped to pick up students at the designated location.

Tree trimming companies should perform hazard assessments before allowing a worker to begin a task, according to investigators who looked into the electrocution death of a tree trimmer working in the backyard of a private residence. The incident in California was unwitnessed, but occurred while the tree trimmer was trimming palm trees that were in close proximity to a utility power pole and high voltage lines.

Cal/OSHA is taking a look at how a change in OSHA’s recordkeeping regulation affects its own injury tracking requirements. The state agency that helps protect California’s workers from health and safety hazards on the job has scheduled an advisory committee meeting on the electronic.

Workers are at risk of serious injury or death when installing, repairing, and maintaining escalators and elevators, as well as when cleaning elevator shafts, conducting emergency evacuations of stalled elevators, or performing construction work near open shafts. A recent study by CPWR's Data Center found that while fatalities fluctuate year-to-year, the general trend in elevator-related deaths has been upward.