It’s February, which means that Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and love is in the air. At the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), we like to use this time of year as an opportunity to show our appreciation for the personal protective equipment (PPE) that keeps the people we love safe. In this spirit, NIOSH recently set a goal to improve the safety and health of fire fighters by reducing their exposure to harmful contaminants due to unclean or inadequately cleaned PPE.

A new analysis, published in the Lancet Public Health, raises the alarm that the rates of obesity-related cancers are rising in younger and younger adults. In the new study, six of twelve types of obesity-related cancers have significantly increased between 1995-2014 and the risk of these cancers is increasing in each successive younger age group. These cancers include colorectal, pancreatic, gallbladder, kidney cancer and multiple myeloma (a type of blood cancer).

The recent government shutdown may have delayed the release of the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) 2019 – 2020 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements, but it doesn’t appear to have downsized it. The agency today unveiled an ambitious version of its biennial wish list, one which calls for the implementation of 46 safety recommendations in just two years.

A New Jersey man has been charged with insurance fraud after being caught on a surveillance camera faking a workplace fall. News sources say 57-year-old Alexander Goldinsky was also charged with one count of theft by deception by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office. Goldinsky is seen on a video - which has been widely disseminated by the media – tossing ice on the floor of his company’s break room, and then positioning himself on the ground.

A sheriff’s deputy in Cincinnati, Ohio was killed Saturday night after responding to a report of a suicidal man. Another deputy was injured. According to a press release issued by the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office, Detective Bill Brewer, a 20-year-veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, was allegedly shot by a man who’d barricaded himself inside an apartment complex after calling 911 to report that he was armed and suicidal.

The Board of Directors of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) has ratified the 2019 Threshold Limit Values (TLVs®) for Chemical Substances and Physical Agents and Biological Exposure Indices (BEIs®). TLVs® and BEIs® are guidelines to be used by professionals trained in the practice of industrial hygiene. The TLVs® and BEIs® are not designed to be used as standards.

Following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Tuff Automation Inc. has paid a civil money penalty of $28,474 after a 17-year-old employee suffered an amputation of his right index finger while operating an unguarded band saw at the Grand Rapids, Michigan, manufacturing facility. The minor also suffered significant nerve damage to his right middle finger.

A change in what constitutes high blood pressure has led to a startling statistic: nearly half of all adults in the U.S. have some type of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The 2017 American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology hypertension guidelines updated the definition of high blood pressure as a reading of 130/80 mm Hg, from the previous definition of 140/90 mm Hg.

The newly christened House Education and Labor Committee has announced its sub-committee assignments for the 116th Congress. The Workforce Protections sub-committee which covers workplace safety and health issues, workers compensation and trade, international labor rights, and immigration issues as they affect employers and workers, will be chaired by Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-NC). Bradley Byrne (R-AL) will be the Ranking Member.

The U.S. Department of Labor is investigating whether the U.S. Department of Labor under the Trump administration is following proper procedures when making regulatory changes to worker safety regulations. In a letter to Congressional Democrats, who’d requested an audit of the DOL’s rulemaking process, DOL Inspector General Scott S. Dahl said a review of the “integrity of the rulemaking process” at OSHA was already underway.