OSHA is now enforcing the requirement that employers must evaluate the competency of their operators before allowing them to operate cranes independently. The agency updated its standard for cranes and derricks in construction by clarifying each employer's duty to ensure the competency of crane operators through training, certification or licensing, and evaluation.

Exposure to loud flight deck operations and noisy equipment takes a toll on U.S. Navy sailors: approximately one in four suffer from Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL). One man’s innovative and broad-based approach to the problem has earned him this year’s The Safe-in-Sound Excellence in Hearing Loss Prevention Award. The multi-tiered program to NIHL among sailors developed by Kurt Yankaskas of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the NIHL Research Program maximized the use of various funding strategies within Department of the Navy and DoD.

One worker noticed a large crack in the soft dirt of an unprotected wall of a utility trench. He and the other worker in the trench at that time were told to use caution…but continue working. The subsequent collapse of that unprotected wall killed a man and earned his employer nearly a quarter of a million dollars in fines from Cal/OSHA. Investigators for the state agency said Livermore-based contractor Platinum Pipeline, Inc. committed willful-serious safety violations by instructing employees to continue grading the bottom of the trench without providing any protection, even after identifying the soil as unstable.

It almost sounds like the plot of a movie. Alert neighbors living near a home being renovated notice that some workers are improperly removing exterior asbestos tiles from the structure. They confront the man who claims to be the homeowner. He promises to remove the asbestos correctly, but the neighbors take videos showing that his workers continue to commit asbestos-related violations. Angry that the neighborhood’s residents – and those workers – are being exposed to the dangerous substance, they contact the...

OSHA is reminding employers to take necessary precautions to protect workers from the potentially fatal effects of carbon monoxide exposure. Every year, workers die from carbon monoxide poisoning, usually while using fuel-burning equipment, tools, compressors and pumps, gas-powered forklifts, and other devices in buildings or semi-enclosed spaces without adequate ventilation.

Two nonprofit organizations have filed a federal complaint against the EPA for its failure to regulate methylene chloride, a chemical found in paint strippers that has been blamed for 50 deaths. The complaint alleges that the EPA has violated its statutory obligations by not enacting a ban on the substance in paint and coating removal products, despite determining that methylene chloride presents “an unreasonable risk of injury to health” more than two years ago.

A dropped Thermos bottle lodged between the brake and accelerator pedals could not be ruled out as a possible cause for the fatal 2017 collision between two buses in Flushing, New York, according to a report released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). On Sept. 18, 2017, at 6:16 a.m., a motorcoach operated by Dahlia Group Inc. collided with a New York City Transit Authority bus at the intersection of Northern Boulevard and Main Street in Flushing. The motorcoach was traveling 60 mph — twice the posted speed limit.

With nearly half of American adults having elevated blood pressure, it’s important for everyone to understand that some common habits may affect blood pressure, making the condition more difficult to control. That’s why the American Heart Association is providing quick reference tools for health care providers to guide their patients in discovering “BP raisers” that are often hiding in plain sight.

Long hours of sitting on machinery and working in uncomfortable positions, like kneeling and crawling, along with lifting heavy loads can lead to injuries for farmers. Because of such physically demanding environments, farmers have a greater risk than workers in many other industries of experiencing musculoskeletal disorders—soft-tissue injuries from frequent motion, force, and awkward positions—especially low back pain.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued five safety recommendations Thursday following completion of its investigation of the Aug. 27, 2016, chlorine release from a ruptured rail tank car near New Martinsville, West Virginia. There were eight injuries reported in connection with the accident in which 178,400 pounds of liquefied compressed chlorine was released in the course of two and a half hours after a DOT-105 rail tank car sustained a 42-inch long crack in its tank shell shortly after being loaded at the Axiall Corporation Natrium plant.