Workers welding stainless steel and other alloy steels containing chromium metal at a Wisconsin bulk storage tank manufacturer were exposed to hazardous levels of hexavalent chromium, which can cause lung cancer and respiratory, eye and skin damage.
A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday would codify the Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP), a safety and health program overseen by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). VPP prevents workplace injuries and fatalities while increasing productivity, employee engagement and lowering costs for companies and taxpayers.
Holiday weekend kicks off with reminder of skin cancer prevention
May 22, 2015
As warm weather approaches and millions of Americans prepare to enjoy the great outdoors, the risk for ultraviolet (UV) damage of the skin increases. Skin cancer is on the rise in the United States, and the American Cancer Society estimates that one American dies every hour from skin cancer.
As part of its ongoing investigation into the devastating May 12, 2015, derailment of Amtrak Train 188 in Philadelphia, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is examining the engineer’s cell phone records, which were obtained via a subpoena by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).
"The lessons of the Rana Plaza disaster have still not been learned"
May 21, 2015
In the wake of a fire this week in a Manila shoe factory that killed 72 workers, the Philippine government is considering criminalizing some occupational safety and health and building code violations.
One fatality is too many, but there’s good news from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: the U.S. workplace fatality rate set a record low in 2013, dropping to 3.3 deaths for every 100,000 full-time equivalent workers.
Falls, other hazards found at Florida construction site
May 20, 2015
Nine contractors at the Oasis Park Square residential development in Doral, Florida learned a hard lesson when OSHA inspectors visited the work site in November 2014.
Cleanup workers using 17 vessels are continuing efforts to remove 100,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the ocean and on the land 20 miles north of Santa Barbara, California, according to news sources. As of Thursday night, some 9,500 gallons of oily water had been skimmed from the ocean. Officials say the clean-up -- which is complicated by currents, tides and the wind -- could take months.
NIH study finds varied responses to calorie restriction in obese adults
May 20, 2015
For the first time in a lab, researchers at the National Institutes of Health found evidence supporting the commonly held belief that people with certain physiologies lose less weight than others when limiting calories. Study results published May 11 in Diabetes.