OSHA has prepared a fact sheet providing crowd control guidelines for retailers to protect workers during major sales events. Last year a worker was trampled to death while a mob of shoppers rushed through the doors of a large store to take advantage of an after Thanksgiving Day "Black Friday" sales event. The store was not using the kind of crowd control measures recommended in OSHA's fact sheet.
The fees for training and courses provided by the commission's Safety Section take effect Dec. 1 in three categories: per-person specialty courses/workshops, flat-rate full or half days once per month for a year, and hourly rates for as-needed training.
Patients should avoid using the stomach acid reducer Prilosec/Prilosec OTC (omeprazole) with the anti-clotting drug Plavix (clopidogrel), the Food and Drug Administration warned on Nov. 17.
OSHA issued $1,592,500 of the $1.6 million in fines against Tempel Grain Elevators LLP of Wiley, Colo., in connection with the May 29 engulfment death of a 17-year-old worker.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Gorilla Inc., of Flushing, Mich., has announced a voluntary recall of approximately 90 EXO-Tech safety harnesses. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.
Rapid influenza diagnostic tests used in doctors' offices, hospitals, and medical laboratories to detect H1N1 are virtually useless and could pose a significant danger to public health, according to a Loyola University Medical Center researcher.
The Z359 Accredited Standards Committee said that an interpretation was not necessary because the scope of the committee and its projects and standards has always included rolling stock and therefore it is not exempt from the standard.
States are required to notify OSHA whether they intend to adopt policies and procedures identical to today’s Instruction or adopt or maintain different policies and instructions for conducting inspections to minimize high to very high risk occupational exposures to the virus identified as 2009 H1N1 influenza.
"An unprotected trench is a potential grave, since its sidewalls can collapse in an instant, crushing and burying workers before they have a chance to react or escape," said Brenda Gordon, OSHA's area director for Boston and southeastern Massachusetts.
"This is a clear example of the grave consequences that can result when basic electrical safeguards are not provided and used," said Arthur Dube, OSHA's area director in Buffalo.
Needle. For some people, the word--almost as much as the sight of one sliding into skin--is enough for people to cringe, cry, even swoon if they're standing in line waiting for one.
Even while noting that "great progress" is being made in reducing tobacco use in the United States, the American Cancer Society says smoking continues to account for $193 billion in health care expenditures and productivity losses.
At a Town Hall meeting held in New York City, Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum was joined by parents and consumers to talk toy safety. The discussion centered around new federal safety rules that are in place for toys that will give American consumers greater confidence when they go shopping this holiday season.
For the first time in nearly 40 years, the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to strengthen the nation's sulfur dioxide (SO2) air quality standard to protect public health.
Sleep apnea is common in individuals who receive a kidney transplant and is associated with increased risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, or stroke, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).
Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology have found that previous influenza infections may provide at least some level of immunity to the H1N1 "swine" flu. "The question we asked was, 'Is the swine flu more like the seasonal flu or like a totally new strain of influenza where there would be no immunity?,'" said Alessandro Sette, Ph.D., an internationally recognized vaccine expert and director of the La Jolla Institute's Center for Infectious Disease. "What we have found is that the swine flu has similarities to the seasonal flu, which appear to provide some level of pre-existing immunity. This suggests that it could make the disease less severe in the general population than originally feared."
OSHA welcomed the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) recent report on the under-reporting of workplace injuries and illnesses and OSHA's audit process. The report identifies a number of factors that may contribute to the inaccuracy of employer injury and illness records, as well as problems with the audits that OSHA conducts to ensure their accuracy.
The revised standard updates references for the provisions addressing piping systems, as well as acetylene generators and filling acetylene cylinders and requires that in-plant transfer, handling, storage, and use of acetylene cylinders comply with Compressed Gas Association Pamphlet G-1-2003, titled Acetylene.
Across the street from the site of OSHA's Dec. 14 meetings in Washington, D.C., John Astad will lead group discussions of OSHA's proposed rulemaking.
OSHA has cited bridge and water tower painter UCL Inc. in Cincinnati with alleged willful, egregious, and serious violations of federal workplace safety and health standards for exposing workers to lead. Proposed fines total $321,000.