The next decade of NIOSH's research for the fastest-growing, most diverse sector of the U.S. economy should tackle big, persistent hazards: lifting, chemicals, diseases, stress, and violence in facilities and nonhospital settings, including home care.
"Too many farm family members and hired workers are getting hurt and dying on farms," said ASSE Director of Member/Region Affairs and agricultural safety specialist Terry Wilkinson, Ph.D., CSP, CAE. "A combined effort by the safety professionals and agricultural community can lead the industry into a new direction to prevent future traumatic injuries and illnesses."
Every day, an estimated 1,200 eye injuries occur in the workplace, and about 120,000 of these injuries per year are disabling. Thousands of people are blinded each year from work-related eye injuries that could have been prevented with the proper selection and use of eye and face protection.
Vision issues are safety concerns when an employee cannot see his work because of an incorrect prescription, improper lighting, effects of dry eye, or age-related factors. As an eye care professional, I have worked with prescription PPE for the past 30 years and recommended to my clients they establish a comprehensive vision policy for their workforce.
We've focused mostly on regulations and PPE--things that are usually pretty visible. Let's move on and look at reducing the need for PPE.
Bringing new technologies to market with a goal of keeping costs where less-affluent countries can afford them, MedPro Safety Products Inc. wants to address the home health market, as well.
Workplace safety is a major concern of every employer — more now than ever before. Through the years, stringent regulation and an ever-growing concern for the health and well-being of employees have brought advancements in processes, safety procedures, and first aid protocols to treat the injured. This movement has had a profound impact on emergency equipment, including eye irrigation and personal hydration.
"One wrong step can end a worker's career or life," said Kay Gee, OSHA's acting area director in Manhattan. "We want to emphasize to all contractors the importance of supplying effective fall protection safeguards and training to their workers."
The intensive weeklong event, Feb. 14-20, will include more than 50 seminars ranging from one to three days in length on all manner of safety and health topics.
The Sept. 2-3 meeting will produce new treatment guidelines and guidance on identifying surge capacity for hospitals during a severe outbreak, said Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer.
Company officials announced Aug. 26 that the Institute, W.Va., plant will reduce its average inventory of highly toxic methyl isocyanate by 80 percent.
Managers at the cited companies in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi "have displayed a systemic indifference to the safety and health of their own employees, resulting in a dangerous work environment," said Cindy Coe, OSHA's regional administrator in Atlanta.
The fourth annual event will offer sessions on occupational safety and health management, OSHA compliance, risk reduction, crisis communication, environmental safety, hazards associated with stress-induced sleep deprivation and fatigue on the job, and more.
Among the citations contributing to the proposed penalties totaling $133,000, the firm is charged with two willful violations for failing to electrically test rubber insulated gloves at intervals not exceeding six months and failing to ensure that workers do not approach energized electrical equipment closer than two feet.
"There is an endless possibility of things that could have gone wrong here," said Petty Officer 2nd Class John Brooks, a boat coxswain at Coast Guard Station Gloucester. "But most likely they could have been run over by their own boats or their vessels could have collided with other mariners."
Comment are now due by Nov. 4 on EPA's proposed rule, which would change the familiar NRR labels on hearing protection devices. The rule takes new technologies and Internet sales of HPDs into account.
The Worker Protection Standard, part of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, contains requirements for the provision of pesticide safety training, decontamination supplies, and emergency medical assistance, as well as the notification of recent pesticide applications and the use of protective equipment.
Featured speakers at the IAFC event will include DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano; FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate; Ltc. Greg Gadson, a decorated Iraq war veteran and double amputee; and recently confirmed U.S. Fire Administrator Kelvin Cochran.
The repeat violations contributing to the proposed penalties totaling $144,900 included failing to provide guardrails on scaffolds at different working levels, provide access ladders and toe boards, and ensure all working levels were fully planked.
The Health and Safety Laboratory study, posted today by the Health and Safety Executive, included outdoor and indoor workers, laboratory measurements of real-world attenuation, and some premises visited without warning.