International Safety


European Commission Sets New Chemical Exposure Limits as Part of Cancer Prevention Effort

The new limits set for these three substances are part of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.

The Second Wave: Who is Vulnerable and What Can We Do?

The Second Wave: Who is Vulnerable and What Can We Do?

Are you worried about a second wave of COVID-19?

Safety Applies to Traveling Too: How Small Business Travelers Can Stay Healthy

Safety Applies to Traveling Too: How Small Business Travelers Can Stay Healthy

NIOSH recently released a resource guide that helps employers and managers ensure the safety of their employees before, during, and after their work travel trips.

Nuclear Safety Standards Amped Up: IAEA Adjusts Safety Publications

Nuclear Safety Standards Amped Up

Ensuring safe and controlled use of nuclear technologies in various, global settings is the robust job of the IAEA. This year, the IAEA is changing its safety publications to make nuclear technology standards even more regulated.

Health Canada Issues New Reporting Requirements for Hospitals

Hospitals will be required to report serious adverse drug reactions and medical device incidents to Health Canada within 30 days after the incidents are documented within the institutions.

ISO Publishes First International Standard for Passenger Lifts

Dr. Gero Gschwendtner, chair of the ISO technical committee that developed the standards. said the harmonization of the existing standards removes the barrier to international trade and ensures the same safety level for stakeholders all over the world.

WorkSafeBC Strengthens PFD Regulations for Fishing Vessels

"Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in British Columbia, and drowning is the leading cause of death among B.C. fishermen," said Patrick Olsen, manager of Prevention Field Services for WorkSafeBC. Between 2007 and 2018, there were 24 work-related deaths in the commercial fishing industry, and 15 of those were drownings, the agency reported.

WHO Launches Antimicrobial Resistance Campaign

"Antimicrobial resistance is an invisible pandemic," said Dr. Mariângela Simão, WHO's assistant-director general for Access to Medicines. "We are already starting to see signs of a post-antibiotic era, with the emergence of infections that are untreatable by all classes of antibiotics. We must safeguard these precious last-line antibiotics to ensure we can still treat and prevent serious infections."



New Health Canada Requirements to Improve Medical Products' Safety

The new requirements will direct manufacturers to, if requested, assess the safety of their products and do further safety testing when issues are identified, and also prepare annual summary reports of all known adverse effects, reported problems, incidents, and risks.

IAEA Opens New Linear Accelerator Facility

The new facility at IAEA laboratories in Seibersdorf, Austria, will significantly increase the agency's capacity to provide dosimetry services and support cancer control worldwide.

WHO Launches Snakebite Prevention and Control Strategy

WHO reports that poisonous snakebites affect from 1.8 million to 2.7 million people each year, killing as many as 138,000 people and causing 400,000 cases of permanent disability annually.

Health Canada Restricts Alcohol Content of Flavored Purified Beverages

Flavored purified alcoholic beverages are a new and growing class of beverages in Canada that pose an increasing public health risk, especially to younger Canadians, Health Canada reports.

WHO Issues Dementia Prevention Guidelines

"In the next 30 years, the number of people with dementia is expected to triple," said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "We need to do everything we can to reduce our risk of dementia. The scientific evidence gathered for these guidelines confirm what we have suspected for some time, that what is good for our heart is also good for our brain."

British Columbia Work Zone Campaign Under Way

In 2018, two British Columbia roadside workers died as a result of being hit by a motor vehicle, and 29 others were injured. Between 2009 and 2018, 13 roadside workers were killed and 213 were injured under similar circumstances.

Canada to Require TIH Railcars Be Made of Normalized Steel

The head and shell of tank cars transporting Toxic Inhalation Hazard substances will be required to be made of normalized steel, with the requirement taking effect on July 2, 2021.

London Fire Brigade Trying to Change Minds on Sprinklers

Sprinklers are present in just 1 percent of the incidents at care homes, retirement homes, and hostels to which Brigade fire crews respond; of the 428 fires responded to by London firefighters at such facilities during 2017, only five of the facilities had fire sprinklers.

This memorial wall was erected to honor the 29 miners who died in the Upper Big Branch Mine South explosion on April 5, 2010. (MSHA photo)

Many Organizations Marked Workers' Memorial Day 2019

ASSP is encouraging widespread involvement in upcoming workplace safety campaigns that began April 28 with the observance of Workers' Memorial Day. "We often take for granted that our families will be safe and healthy at the end of the work day," ASSP President Rixio Medina, CSP, said. "But that assumption is far from reality, given the many who are lost every day around the world as a result of work-related incidents."

Railroad Settles Transportation of Dangerous Goods Case

New Brunswick Southern Railway pleaded guilty to two of the 24 charges of violating Canada's Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act. Through a settlement, New Brunswick Southern Railway agreed to pay $10,000 in fines and $40,000 to be invested in improving the safety of the transportation of dangerous goods in Canada.

British Columbia Assessing Safety Progress Following Sawmill Explosions

British Columbia provincial officials have hired Vancouver lawyer Lisa Helps to assess how WorkSafeBC implemented worker safety recommendations following two dust-related sawmill explosions in 2012 and 2014 at Babine Forest Products and Lakeland Mills.

Transport Canada Investing $16.5 Million in Rail Safety Projects

"We have taken many steps to strengthen rail safety and will continue working on ways to make our railway system safer for Canadians. Our renewed commitment to the Rail Safety Improvement Program demonstrates our dedication to modernizing the railway system so that Canada continues to have one of the safest rail systems in the world," Minister of Transport Marc Garneau said.

Featured

Artificial Intelligence

Webinars