"Home fire season" has started, and the U.S. Fire Administration is working to make this year's cold months safer than last years--when there was a dramatic increase in home fire deaths. According to USFA, during the "home fire season" of Oct. 2007 to March 2008, there was a 68 percent increase in the number of fatal home fires and a 67 percent increase in the number of people killed in home fires, compared to the warmer months.
Interestingly, the issue of emergency preparedness and response—previously one of the public policy issues most on members' minds—was nowhere near the top of the list of concerns in the latest survey.
According to a new survey released today by Kimberly-Clark Professional, 89 percent of safety professionals polled at the 2008 National Safety Council (NSC) Congress have observed workers failing to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) when they should have been.
Installing an effective ventilation system and ensuring compressors used to supply breathing air are equipped with a high-temperature alarm or carbon monoxide alarm are among the agency's recommendations for lowering employees' risk of exposure. Using compressors that are not oil lubricated is another.
The agency has developed a searchable database that pulls together publicly available information from various sources to help identify consumer and commercial products that contain mercury and their possible non-mercury alternatives.
EPA's new 2007 Municipal Solid Waste Characterization report shows Americans recycled and composted 85 million tons of the 254 million tons of total municipal solid waste produced last year.
The publication notes that every product has an impact on the environment during all stages of its life-cycle, from extraction of resources to end-of-life treatment, and the need to reduce the potential adverse impacts on the environment of a product is recognized around the world.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced that Federal District Court Judge Mary H. Murguia has entered a consent decree for nearly $2 million and significant remedial relief to resolve a class religious discrimination lawsuit against the University of Phoenix Inc., and its parent corporation, Apollo Group Inc.
"Because exposure to high levels of copper, lead, and zinc compounds causes a wide range of illnesses and environmental damage, communities need to know if and when these chemicals have been released," said Enrique Manzanilla, Communities and Ecosystems Division director for EPA's Pacific Southwest region.
A Monsanto facility will receive the Star Award, the state's highest workplace safety and health award, on Friday.
NFPA is publishing details of a report on the 71 large-loss (more than $5 million in property damage) fires of 2007 in its journal this month.
While noting that safety is currently not a NIST "core value," the NIST Blue Ribbon Commission on Management and Safety said that the Institute's staff is "eager, willing and ready" to embrace a stronger safety culture.
Severe or very severe impairment in role functioning was reported by 55.4 percent of these veterans for home management, 41.3 percent for ability to work, 50.4 percent for close relationships with others, and 57.7 percent for social life.
Employees, employers, and their families from the Hudson Valley and greater New York City area are invited to attend the second Hudson Valley Safety and Health Fair taking place today from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST, at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, N.Y.
The inclusion of hazardous pharmaceutical wastes in the rule is expected to provide relief in the management of P-listed pharmaceuticals by simplifying current requirements of large quantity generators.
The four states with the next-highest rates in 2008 are Montana, Ohio, Vermont, and New Hampshire. The lowest rate, $1.08 per $100 of payroll, belongs to North Dakota.
The company has agreed to pay a $725,000 penalty for discharges of jet fuel and gasoline in Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina, and for inadequate spill prevention safeguards at a Virginia facility.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently announced the winners of the Fiscal Year 2009 Intramural National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) competition. Demonstrating a high level of scientific merit and a focus on translating research into practice, awards were given to 17 projects in diverse areas covering some of the many priority needs in each of the NORA sectors.
A New York-based company that refurbishes cell phones at its factory in Long Island will pay $435,000 to settle a wage discrimination and retaliation suit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced recently.