On August 12, 2015, in the Chinese port city of Tianjin, a warehouse owned by a logistics company suffered massive explosions and fires that killed at least one hundred people, injured hundreds more, and released toxic fumes into the air.

Opening Session: Building Safer Workplaces with Deborah A. P. Hersman, President and CEO, National Safety Council and Former Chair, National Transportation Safety Board; Michael Abrashoff, Former Navy Commander and Author.

The Chinese government yesterday has ordered a nationwide review of workplace safety, after last week’s warehouse explosion that killed at least 114 people and destroyed dozens of buildings in the port city of Tianjin.

The summer of 2015 has scorched the western U.S. with thousands of wildfires. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), exposure to excessive wildfire smoke even at a distance can harm eyes, lungs and heart. The CDC advises that to avoid illness caused by wildfire smoke exposure, seven steps should be taken:

The Department of Homeland Security can’t verify threat level reports from thousands of chemical plants across the country, reducing Homeland’s ability to respond to a chemical attack or emergency, according to a new government report.

A county employee who works at the Lucas County (Ohio) Job and Family Services building has been hospitalized for nearly two weeks with pneumonia while some 19 others have called in sick with upper respiratory problems over the past six weeks, county officials told the Toledo Blade.

NIOSH is celebrating N95 Day on Sept. 4, 2015. N95 is a category of respirators commonly used by healthcare personnel tested and certified by NIOSH. The agency is partnering with the Joint Commission to highlight two new educational products, Hospital Respiratory Protection Program Toolkit: Resources for Respirator Program Administrators (National Toolkit), and Implementing Hospital Respiratory Protection Programs: Strategies from the Field.

A spike in mining fatalities, how anthropometric research can enhance occupational safety and a huge financial settlement over a worker fatality were among the top stories posted on ISHN.com this week.

The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer earlier this year concluded the active ingredient in Roundup, a popular weed killer, probably causes cancer. Monsanto, which manufactures Roundup, contested the findings.

An Elk Grove Village-based company is facing fines of nearly $45,000 for exposing workers to various respiratory and electrical hazards, according to OSHA.