After an audit at a small Pennsylvania manufacturer revealed some safety complacency cropping up in day-to-day operations, the company reached out to OSHA’s On-Site Consultation Program for assistance. The result: McGregor Industries Inc. has been free of recordable injuries since September 2015, is working to find new ways of reducing injuries and has been able to secure better insurance for individual jobsites. Dunmore-based McGregor Industries Inc. fabricates, delivers, and installs light structural and metal products for buildings, artistic projects, and anything requiring the shaping and finishing of metal.

Hospital workers who used a disinfectant reported more incidents of work-related wheeze and watery eyes than those who did not use the product. Hospital workers who used a disinfectant reported more health symptoms than workers who did not use the product, reports a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) study published in the American Journal of Infection Control.

OSHA inspectors found numerous hazards at an auto auction facility, after an accident that claimed the lives of five people. The tragedy at Lynnway Auto Auction Inc. occurred on May 3, 2017, when five people died of their injuries after being struck by a sport utility vehicle. The agency issued 16 citations to the company for motor vehicle hazards, blocked exit routes, violations of the hazard communication standard, and recordkeeping deficiencies.

President Trump’s controversial choice to head up the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) was confirmed by the U.S. Senate today. The 522-46 vote to approve David Zatezalo was split along party lines. At issue: Zatezalo was chairman and CEO of Rhino Resources at a time when the company earned two “pattern of violations” notices from MSHA due to its safety violations.

At a private meeting in September, congressional aides asked Rebeckah Adcock, a top official at the Department of Agriculture, to reveal the identities of the people serving on the deregulation team she leads at the agency. Teams like Adcock’s, created under an executive order by President Trump, had been taking heat from Democratic lawmakers over their secrecy. What little was publicly known suggested that some of the groups’ members had deep ties to the industries being regulated.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that the April 3, 2016, derailment of Amtrak train 89 near Chester, Pennsylvania was caused by deficient safety management across many levels of Amtrak and the resultant lack of a clear, consistent and accepted vision for safety. A backhoe operator and a track supervisor were killed, and 39 people were injured when Amtrak train 89, traveling on the Northeast Corridor from Philadelphia to Washington on track 3, struck a backhoe at about 7:50 a.m.

Work-related cancers in member countries of the European Union (EU) annualy cost between €270 and €610 billion– or $318- $719 billion in U.S. dollars. That cost, which was tallied in a study released by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) this week, represents 1.8% to 4.1% of the gross domestic product of the EU. The study was presented at the ‘Work and Cancer’ conference held in Brussels.

It’s flu season. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducts research on protecting health care providers and other workers from infectious diseases including influenza. A significant portion of our research deals with understanding how the influenza virus is transmitted. Influenza is known to be transmitted through respiratory secretions containing the virus.

OSHA) last week issued a final rule setting November 10, 2018, as the date for employers in the construction industries to comply with a requirement for crane operator certification. The final rule becomes effective November 9, 2017.