Companies will be evaluated on their ability to demonstrate that their SH&E management system led to proven success in their SH&E practices and enhanced productivity.
Does shift work predispose you to cancer by altering the body’s response to hormones? And if so, can a dietary supplement help? Those are the questions researchers at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ)--a Center of Excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School--hope to answer through a new study, which recently received $600,000 in funding from The V Foundation for Cancer Research.
Every leader, manager, and safety professional I know hopes to see a higher level of worker awareness. But despite these wishes, there doesn’t seem to be a bull market in “awareness.” In fact, the opposite seems to hold. As external stressors pile on, people become more distracted, oftentimes so beset by personal worries—the economy? job security? retirement? effects on family relationships?—they have difficulty focusing even on simple day-in, day-out activities. So their default automatic pilot Safety programs become glitchy. And this doesn’t even begin to account for unusual events that really require split-second scoping out, decision-making, and immediate action.
Forty-five percent of employees polled believe that because of the continuing economic conditions they face greater risk that their job will change or be eliminated, and 55 percent believe the risk that their future earnings will plateau or decline has increased.
”No one’s sure why that happens, but it's thought to be influenced by limited food choices on the night shift, eating at the wrong times of day, and having limited time and energy for exercise,” the study says.
In its latest 2009 update for the 111th Congress and President Obama, the agency designated three new high-risk areas, focusing on the U.S. Financial Regulatory System, the FDA's oversight of medical products, and EPA's processes for assessing and controlling toxic chemicals.
The focus of the pact is on reducing construction and general industry hazards, including but not limited to falls, electrical operations, ergonomics, bloodborne pathogens, fire safety, egress/exit routes, and evacuation plans.
Both House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller and the bill's namesake, Lilly Ledbetter, were present for today's bill signing. President Obama hands Miller the signing pen as Ledbetter, left, looks on in this photo from the committee's Web site.
In close cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the United States Fire Administration (USFA) recently announced the appointment of two new members to serve on the Board of Visitors (BOV) for the National Fire Academy. Effective Jan. 14, 2009, Randy Novak and Adam Thiel have joined the current BOV members: Helen Johnson, Dr. Sandy Bogucki, Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran, Robert Cumberland, Chris Neal, and Columbus Fire Captain Jack Reall.
The world's unemployment rate could rise to 7.1 percent, Director-General Juan Somavia warned as the agency released its annual Global Employment Trends report. As many as 50 million more people could lose jobs this year unless action is taken, it says.
The American Industrial Hygiene Association recently sent a letter to President Obama offering support for his proposal to create more than three million new jobs for American workers.
Former Congressman Ray H. LaHood joined DOT as the sixteenth U.S. secretary of Transportation on Friday, Jan. 23, after Senate confirmation the previous day.
At age 21, women are more likely to be enrolled in college than men, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported recently. Among 21-year-olds not enrolled in college, men are more likely than women to be employed in a civilian job or serving in the military.
An interstate trucking firm has agreed to pay $2.43 million and provide other remedial relief to a class of women to settle a major sex discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced recently.
California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. filed a lawsuit to recover $4.13 million in lost wages, benefits and penalties from a drywall contractor who "cruelly and illegally" violated the rights of its workers by prohibiting them from taking rest breaks, denying overtime pay and forcing them to work without safety equipment.
Filed Jan. 16 with the clerk of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, this OSHA "statement of agency position" says the general duty clause does not preempt the Oklahoma statute barring employers from banning employees' firearms. The law is before the 10th Circuit because a federal judge in 2007 ruled the OSH Act preempts the state law.
A new survey of 300 mechanical, electrical, facilities, utilities, and plumbing professionals indicates a lax attitude toward training among employers.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released a comprehensive report to Chair Naomi C. Earp from the Federal Hispanic Work Group, titled Report on the Hispanic Employment Challenge in the Federal Government. The report contains an extensive number of practical recommendations that address a broad array of contemporary federal sector employment issues, including hiring, leadership development, and retention.
In a survey of large employers released by the non-profit Midwest Business Group on Health, 91 percent of respondents recognize that migraine headaches impact productivity, yet most don't track the costs or severity of the problem in their covered populations.
Employers now have free access to a series of 14 two-page briefs outlining the benefits (including financial) of helping their employees receive treatment for substance abuse.