In a letter to members of Congress yesterday, the American Public Health Association strongly opposed attempts to repeal or weaken the Affordable Care Act. "Any effort to repeal the ACA without ensuring a viable and immediate replacement plan is unconscionable and will put the health of the American people at an unacceptable risk," wrote APHA Executive Director Georges C. Benjamin, MD.

January is National Radon Action Month, when the EPA encourages all Americans to test their homes for radon. Exposure to radon in indoor air is the second leading cause of lung cancer. Test your home and make 2017 a safer and healthier year. “January is the time when we remind everyone to ‘test, fix and save a life.’ That’s because lung cancer due to radon can be prevented by testing, and if needed, fixing your home. It’s a simple and important way to help safeguard your family’s health,” said Jon Edwards, Director of EPA’s Office of Radiation and Indoor Air.

While changing an overhead ballast in a light fixture, an employee of New Jersey Medical Center received an electrical shock that caused him to fall from a ladder. He was hospitalized and died several weeks later from the injuries he sustained in the fall.

Who is looking out for workers in nonstandard work arrangements? As the prevalence of nonstandard work arrangements (such as temporary agency, contract, and “gig” arrangements) rises, so do concerns about workplace safety and health among this workforce. A recent article, “Nonstandard work arrangements and worker health and safety” published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine describes the major standard and nonstandard work arrangements and the potential managerial, legal, and health and safety challenges associated with nonstandard arrangements.

The Society for Industrial and Organization Psychology (SIOP) asked its members – who study workplace issues of critical relevance to business, like talent management, coaching, training, organizational development, performance, and work–life balance – about their predictions for workplace trends in 2017. Based on 800 responses, the SIOP says Big Data will still be important, but so will employees’ needs and differences.

More than 616,000 drones – otherwise known as unmanned aircraft – were registered last year under the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) registration system – which became web-based on Dec. 21. Drones received as Christmas presents may contribute to significant registration numbers in January.

Nobody would want to drive a vehicle that wasn’t properly maintained and lacked important safety features. Yet at one shipping company that operates nationwide, Central Transport LLC, workers were required to operate unsafe forklifts.

Heart-related deaths spike during Christmas, but the effect may have nothing to do with the cold winter season, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

A federal investigation prompted by the death of a 17-year-old worker at a Columbus metal fabrication facility has resulted in multiple safety and health violations. OSHA issued 16 serious and one other-than-serious safety and health violations to G.D. Roberts & Co. Inc., for violations the agency's inspectors found after a machine pinned and injured the teenaged worker on June 27, 2016.

Memory loss, weakness, irritability, and fatigue are just some of the obvious health effects of exposure to lead, but what about hidden risks? Of concern are the possible consequences of lead exposure on the thyroid gland and the hormones it produces, which are critical to cell function.