A better understanding of smokers' "compensatory smoking behavior" is behind the change, the agency said.
"The placement of sharps containers, as well as the measures used to maintain them in an upright position during use, must be based on the site-specific hazard assessment of the area of intended use," wrote Richard E. Fairfax, director of OSHA's Enforcement Program Directorate.
According to Richard E. Fairfax, director of OSHA's Enforcement Programs Directorate, the agency does not take enforcement action with regard to professional athletes in most cases.
The U.S. Fire Administration has completed a project with the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) to study what important areas of safety and technology discussed in the USFA manual Fire Department Communications Manual - A Basic Guide to System Concepts and Equipment (FA-160) needed to be updated or revised, as well as what topics and technology related to fire department communications not discussed in the manual needed to be added since its development in 1996.
The agency clarifies that a cylinder that contains 20.9 percent oxygen and 79.1 percent nitrogen, which is essentially compressed air, presents no greater oxidation hazard than that of the atmospheric air already present in the workplace and would therefore not be considered an oxygen cylinder or an oxidizing compressed gas for the purposes of 29 CFR 1910.101.
AIHA says its first Fundamentals of Industrial Hygiene training course in Shanghai was a success, and ASSE President Warren K. Brown delivered a speech about key skills for today's safety professionals at the 4th China International Forum on Work Safety in Beijing.
To help raise awareness regarding the seriousness of influenza and the importance of annual vaccination throughout the influenza season the Department of Health and Human Services, National Influenza Vaccine Summit, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and other partners are conducting activities during the third annual National Influenza Vaccination Week, starting today and running through Dec. 14, 2008.
The United States government recently announced that there is no food or feed safety concern from an incident in which a small portion of an unauthorized genetically engineered (GE) cotton variety was harvested along with commercially available GE cotton.
A new study finds the use of light exposure therapy, dark sunglasses, and a strict sleep schedule can help night-shift workers create a "compromise circadian phase position," which may result in increased performance and alertness during night shifts while still allowing adequate nighttime sleep on days off.
"Employees who were removing asbestos-containing materials at this site lacked basic safeguards that must be in place before performing such work," said Robert Kowalski, OSHA's area director in Bridgeport, Conn.
The holiday season is usually a time of joy but it also brings the potential for poisonings, according to the Drug and Poison Information Center (DPIC), a service of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
In explosive blast tests at the Pittsburgh Research Laboratory Lake Lyon Experimental Mine, an 8-inch-thick wet-laid solid concrete-block stopping coated on one side withstood the strongest pressure, according to this report.
The mundane seasonal chore of snow shoveling combines heavy lifting and cold weather can result in possible injuries to the back, shoulder muscles if shovelers do not take the proper precautions, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and WebMD have announced a collaboration that expands consumers' access to the agency's timely and reliable important health information. This joint effort reflects FDA's emphasis on using innovative, technology-based strategies to carry out its foremost mission, which is to promote and to protect the public health.
An NIH funded multi-center clinical trial found no benefit from "maintenance therapy," low-dose peginterferon used for hepatitis C patients who have not responded to an initial round of treatment. In addition, the study showed a surprising health decline in patients with liver disease over the course of four years.
At least two of the four states that are not being recommended by DHS may challenge the decision, the Associated Press reports.
But 17 percent of workers in the first-ever National Hazard Exposure Worker Surveillance survey said their employers do nothing to shield them from loud noise on the job, and 22 percent said nothing is done to dampen vibration of equipment or vehicles to which they are exposed.
Presbycusis, or age-related hearing loss, accounts for 30 percent of all hearing loss, according to a recent online study release in the journal Human Molecular Genetics.
The association says that at other times when fuel costs have risen, it has seen a corresponding increase in heating-related fires, and with today's combination of much higher energy costs and much higher unemployment, "we fear that . . . more people who are unable to pay for heating oil or utilities [will] use more dangerous ways of heating their homes."
As part of the plea agreement, the company was ordered to pay a $350,000 fine and issue a public apology in an appropriate trade journal regarding the conviction.