During the summer months, many workplaces find themselves dealing not only with heat, but destructive tornadoes, voracious hurricanes, and suffocating wildfire smoke.
The tools offered on Commit to C.A.R.E. are free of cost. Home and business owners in particular may benefit from the assistance of these resources in improving air quality within buildings where they live, work, and do business.
The wildfire smoke spreading across the United States and Canada shows the need for urgent action to protect workers from the ongoing effects of climate change.
Here is a discussion of the short and long-term health risks wildfire clean-up crews face and how local and federal governments are working to make their jobs safer.
In the United States, the number of acres burned each year from wildland fires has grown, increasing work-related risks to wildland firefighters. One invisible risk is carbon monoxide (CO), produced from the burning of fuels, such as in fires or from gasoline-powered engines. In a recent study led by Scott Henn, NIOSH industrial hygienist, he describes conditions that increase this risk.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is calling the deaths of three American firefighters in New South Wales “a terrible tragedy.”
The three, who were in Australia helping fight that country’s ongoing wildfires, were in a C-130 Hercules firefighting aircraft carrying a load of retardant when the plane went down in New South Wales, according to news reports.
Safety success at one manufacturing facility, a city sued after a construction incident and a closer look at the impact of industrial exoskeletons on workers were among the top stories featured on ISHN.com this week.
Wildland fire fighters are required to pass an “arduous duty” physical fitness test annually to help ensure that they are prepared for the physical nature of the job. Unlike structural fire fighting, wildland fire fighting often requires long work shifts that may last up to 14 continuous days, and often takes place in environments that are challenging with regard to temperature and terrain.
Residents of Arizona are reeling from the deaths of nineteen firefighters yesterday -- members of an elite firefighting team who perished while battling a fast-moving wildfire.
Dozens of fires sparked by high temperatures, severe drought conditions and strong winds have blanketed the western part of the U.S. including Washington, Montana, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada and California in recent months, making this fire season one of the worst in history.