U.S. Coast Guard recovery teams in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are hard at work locating, assessing and retrieving vessels that were sunken and damaged by Hurricanes Maria and Irma. The task is an urgent one, since leaking oil, fuel and hazardous materials pose a significant threat to the environment and human health. The EPA is assisting in the effort, coordinating with federal, commonwealth, territory, and local partners.

Starting Nov. 26, the major U.S. tobacco companies must run court-ordered newspaper and television advertisements that tell the American public the truth about the deadly consequences of smoking and secondhand smoke, as well as the companies’ intentional design of cigarettes to make them more addictive. The ads are the culmination of a long-running lawsuit the U.S. Department of Justice filed against the tobacco companies in 1999.

Most general aviation fatal accidents are caused by in-flight loss of control – and many those are caused by factors related to engine failure. Between 2001 and 2010, engine maintenance errors were identified as a contributing factor in 35 of 70 randomly-selected accidents. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would like to help decrease that number.

An estimated one in five working U.S. adults use some type of tobacco product according to new research from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Of the estimated 32.7 million working adults who used tobacco, an estimated 6.9 million use two or more tobacco products “every day” or “somedays.”

A California jury today rejected claims that Johnson & Johnson and its talc supplier were responsible for the deadly cancer of a woman who blamed her illness on breathing asbestos fibers from contaminated body powders. On a 9-3 vote, the jury in Pasadena absolved J&J of negligence in the sale of Johnson’s Baby Powder and another talc product, Shower to Shower. The Los Angeles Superior Court jury also cleared Imerys Talc America, Inc., a supplier of talc to J&J.

Construction workers are much less likely to get vaccinated for the flu than people in management, healthcare and social assistance. That finding emerged from a study published in the American Journal of Infection Control. The purpose of the study was to compare flu vaccination coverage rates by industry, occupation and state. Each year, flu-like illnesses cause sickness, missed workdays, and related costs in the U.S. workforce.

Sexual harassment in the workplace is a pervasive, chronic problem that can cause enduring psychological harm, according to the president of the American Psychological Association (APA). “Sexual harassment in the workplace is a significant occupational health psychology problem,” said APA President Antonio E. Puente, PhD. “Psychological research has offered understanding into the causes of workplace harassment, as well as some strategies for preventing or reducing it."

Severe burns to a worker have resulted in safety citations being issued to a Montana general contractor and a Wyoming contractor, according to OSHA, which is proposing $249,516 against the two companies. On May 5, 2017, a Coleman Construction Inc. employee suffered third-degree burns when compressed oxygen inside an underground duct caused a fire. The subcontractor was cited for failing to provide mechanical ventilation or an underground air monitoring system, and failing to report the hospitalization of the burned employee in a timely manner. The company faces $189,762 in penalties.