United Airlines baggage handlers will get some protection from ergonomic hazards in the workplace, under what the U.S. Department is calling “a precedent-setting agreement” with the airline. The agreement settles a lawsuit filed by the department on behalf of OSHA to eliminate several hazardous conditions its inspectors identified in United's baggage-handling operation at Newark Liberty International Airport, where United baggage handlers reported at least 622 musculoskeletal injuries from 2011 to January 2015.

France already has a strictly enforced 35 hour work. Now, French workers are getting even more assistance with establishing a work-life balance in the form of a new “right to disconnect” law that requires companies with 50 or more employees to grant their workers the right to not answer emails outside of regular work hours.

You may have seen water bottles labeled “BPA Free” or heard that certain foods contain BPA. BPA (or bisphenol A) has been in the news over the past several years. BPA is weakly estrogenic; that is, BPA may mimic some of the hormone-like effects of estrogen. BPA is used primarily in making polycarbonate plastic and some epoxy resins. The general population is exposed to BPA mainly through diet.

The United Steelworkers (USW) are praising OSHA for its release last week of the final rule for occupational exposure to beryllium and beryllium compounds in general industry, construction and maritime. “This has been a long time in the making,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard.

When a co-worker severed part of his thumb in July 2014, a food processor at a beef jerky manufacturing plant acted quickly, helping him apply pressure to the wound and using her cellphone to call 911. Before responders could answer, the company's owner ordered her to hang up. Two days later, she was terminated.

A steady decline over more than two decades has resulted in a 25% drop in the overall cancer death rate in the United States. The drop equates to 2.1 million fewer cancer deaths between 1991 and 2014. The news comes from Cancer Statistics 2017, the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) comprehensive annual report on cancer incidence, mortality, and survival. It is published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians and is accompanied by a consumer version of the publication, Cancer Facts and Figures 2017.

Welcome to a new year. Are you ready to set your resolutions for this year? How about starting by learning more about the international Understanding Small Enterprises (USE) Conference, which is being held in the U.S. for the first time this coming October 25-27, 2017. NIOSH is collaborating with the Center for Health, Work & Environment at the Colorado School of Public Health to host USE 2017.

Gig worker safety, U.S. mining deaths are down even as U.S. mining black lung disease cases are on the rise and public health professionals weigh in on proposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act. These were among the top stories posted on ISHN.com last week.

Just days away from its first compliance deadline, a Chicago cleaning company has asked a federal appeals court to review OSHA’s new fall protection rule for general industry. News sources say the company, which filed the petition for review Dec. 27 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, supports the majority of the provisions in the rule.