An alarming leap in excavation and trench-related fatalities has made reducing them an Agency Priority Goal for OSHA for 2018. The agency plans to accomplish this by increasing awareness of trenching hazards in construction, educating employers and workers on safe cave-in prevention solutions, and decreasing the number of trench collapses.

OSHA has cited a Palatine, Illinois-based contractor for multiple safety violations after agency inspectors observed employees exposed to fall hazards on half a dozen Chicago-area residential roofing projects between August and November 2017. The company faces $281,286 in proposed penalties.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has begun offering a series of free, confidential health screenings to coal miners as part of the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program (CWHSP). The screenings are intended to provide early detection of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), also known as black lung, a serious but preventable occupational lung disease in coal miners caused by breathing respirable coal mine dust.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced the creation of a Compliance Assistance Program to help regulated entities - including vehicle and trailer manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, and dealers - comply with safety regulations as a means to promote safety on our highways.

Las Vegas hotel housekeepers negotiating new union contracts with their employers are seeking something New York City hotel housekeepers have had for five years: “panic buttons” they can use to summon immediate help in case they’re assaulted.

Persistent rainfall has continued rain has complicated the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into the Feb. natural-gas related house explosion in Dallas that killed a young girl. The incident claimed the life of the 12-year-old, injured several other people and destroyed a single family home.

On the heels of an announcement by the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) that that organization is fast-tracking an active shooter response standard comes word that the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) is also taking steps to address the issue. The ASSE convened a working group of safety and health experts to provide insights into the development of an active shooter technical report, which could guide organizations toward safer work environments with fewer hostile events.

An equipment failure led to a Sept. 6, 2016 incident in the Houston Ship Channel that left two marine pilots with burns and discharged 88,000 gallons of low-sulfur marine gas oil – which subsequently caught on fire. That’s the finding of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The agency’s investigation into the incident found that a momentary failure of a ship’s governor actuator system caused the tank vessel Aframax River to violently strike two mooring “dolphins” - man-made marine structures extending above the water level.

A lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet, which includes eggs and dairy but excludes meat and fish, and a Mediterranean diet are likely equally effective in reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s (AHA) journal Circulation. Previous separate studies have shown that a Mediterranean diet reduces certain risk factors for cardiovascular disease, as does a vegetarian diet; however, this was the first study to compare effects of the two distinct eating patterns.