Washington – OSHA has released a bulletin with information on how to protect workers from carbon monoxide explosion hazards related to electric arc furnaces in the steelmaking industry.

Tumwater, WA – The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries has released a hazard alert warning of the dangers of exploding tanks during metal recycling.

Safety+Health looks at the recommended safety measures for "hot work" – any activity that may produce flames, sparks and/or heat.

Chicago — People exposed to organic solvents on the job may have a greater risk of developing high blood pressure, according to a recent study of Latino workers.

Munich — The International Platinum Group Metals Association has released a guide intended to improve safety for workers who are exposed to platinum group metals.

Washington — Fires and explosions from flammable atmospheres in confined spaces are the most common causes of hot work-related fatalities among workers, the Chemical Safety Board states in a recently released fact sheet.

Chesham, England — Safe handling and disposal of metalworking fluids is the topic of a new video series and revised guide from the United Kingdom Lubricants Association.

Tempe, AZ — A recent study indicates that many welding workers believe some of their tasks don’t warrant the use of personal protective equipment.

Washington – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on April 19 rejected petitions for review for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s cross-border trucking pilot program.

Washington – A coalition of industry groups has called for OSHA to withdraw a recent letter of interpretation stating that workers at a non-union workplace may designate someone affiliated with a union as their representative during OSHA “walkaround” inspections.

Washington – The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s cross-border trucking pilot program will continue, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on July 26.

Durham, NC – The incidence of falls from heights among union carpenters in Washington state dropped more than 80 percent from 1998 to 2008, according to a new study from Duke University.

Arlington, VA – The Mine Safety and Health Administration on Sept. 25 issued a new guide for miners’ representatives.

Washington – The Teamsters union has called for a renewed commitment by Congress to maintain current hours-of-service rules for drivers to help prevent tragedies caused by driver fatigue.

Las Vegas – Members of the United Steelworkers have unanimously approved a resolution aimed at improving worker health and safety.

Silver Spring, MD – Hospitals should put in place the “highest standards” for protective equipment and hands-on training to protect health care workers from Ebola, National Nurses United said in a statement issued Oct. 12.

Washington – A lack of mandatory standards on Ebola for health care workers leaves nurses unprepared and vulnerable to infection, a registered nurse and union official testified during an Oct. 24 House hearing.

Washington – OSHA has changed its policy on allowing employees at non-union workplaces to choose a union-affiliated representative for “walkaround” inspections, according to an April 25 memo sent to regional administrators.

Washington – The Department of Labor and OSHA have an “identical” interest with labor unions in defending a legal challenge to the Improve Tracking of Workplace Illnesses and Injuries final rule, making union intervention unnecessary, attorneys representing DOL said in a legal brief issued May 30.

Silver Spring, MD – The AFL-CIO’s Executive Council has denounced efforts to roll back federal laws and regulations that “have protected working people on the job” for more than 50 years.

Silver Spring, MD — Construction firms that employ at least some union workers are more likely to perform safety best practices and undergo OSHA training than those with no union employees, according to the results of a biennial survey commissioned by the Center for Construction Research and Training – also known as CPWR.

Triangle, VA — The United Mine Workers Association is suing the Mine Safety and Health Administration and its administrator, David Zatezalo, over the legality of the agency’s removal of a Sophia, WV, mine from Pattern of Violations status.

Triangle, VA — United Mine Workers of America President Cecil E. Roberts recently called proposed legislation that would reduce the scope of mine safety inspections in West Virginia and amend the state’s underground ventilation laws “one of the most outrageous attempts to slash critical protections for miners’ safety and health on the job that I have ever seen.”

Tumwater, WA — In response to a labor union petition, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries is working on new standards for reinforcing steel and post-tensioning in construction.

Washington — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has vacated a 2018 amendment to a 2017 Mine Safety and Health Administration rule that allowed a competent person to inspect the workplace as miners began work rather than prior to a shift – a decision United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts calls “a victory for miners everywhere.”

Washington — United Steelworkers is suing the Environmental Protection Agency and its administrator, Andrew Wheeler, over the agency’s recent changes to the Obama-era Chemical Disaster Rule.

Washington — Representatives from two labor unions are bringing attention to resources intended to protect workers in “frontline industries” from exposure to the new coronavirus and are calling on the federal government to provide coordinated guidance.

Silver Spring, MD — In response to the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the nation’s largest union and professional association of direct care registered nurses is petitioning OSHA to issue an emergency temporary standard to protect frontline workers, patients and the public from the potentially deadly respiratory illness.

Washington — The AFL-CIO has outlined steps it says all levels of government should take to protect workers from exposure to COVID-19 before reopening the economy.

Washington — The AFL-CIO has filed a lawsuit against OSHA and the Department of Labor, asking a federal court to require OSHA to issue an emergency temporary standard on infectious disease amid the evolving COVID-19 pandemic.

Washington — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on June 11 rejected an AFL-CIO lawsuit calling on the Department of Labor and OSHA to issue an emergency temporary standard on infectious diseases amid the evolving COVID-19 pandemic.

Washington — The United Mine Workers of America and the United Steelworkers are suing the Department of Labor and the Mine Safety and Health Administration in an effort to compel MSHA to issue an emergency temporary standard on infectious diseases amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Silver Spring, MD — More than 3 out of 4 nurses say their employer isn’t providing a safe workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic, results of a recent National Nurses United survey indicate – a finding the labor union claims underlines the impact of businesses “reopening too soon.”

Washington — A new e-tool from the AFL-CIO is aimed at helping workers identify COVID-19 exposure risks on the job.

Washington — The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on workplace safety is among the issues explored in the AFL-CIO’s annual report on the state of safety and health protections for U.S. workers.

San Francisco — The Washington State Nurses Association is among four labor unions suing Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia and OSHA in an effort to compel the agency to move forward with rulemaking on an infectious diseases standard that would require employers in the health care industry to protect workers from exposure to harmful infectious diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola and influenza.

Silver Spring, MD — Global Nurses United is demanding stronger COVID-19 guidance from the World Health Organization, including a call for more personal protective equipment for health care workers and acknowledgement from WHO on how the virus is spread.

Silver Spring, MD — Pushing back on calls to roll back certain workplace safety rules, National Nurses United contends hospital industry cost-cutting has put health care worker safety at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the “current staffing and capacity crises.”

Washington — The full extent of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on the nation’s workforce will likely remain unclear because of the lack of a comprehensive national system to gather such information, according to the AFL-CIO’s annual report on the state of safety and health protections for U.S. workers.

Silver Spring, MD — The nation’s largest union and professional association of direct care registered nurses is urging the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to update agency guidance and reinstate the “recommendation to everyone to wear masks in public or in physical proximity to others outside their own household.”

Washington — Longtime AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka died from a reported heart attack Aug. 5. He was 72.

La Grange, IL — Unionized construction worksites may be nearly a fifth less likely to incur OSHA health and safety violations than their nonunionized counterparts, with positive effects on safety even more prevalent in the Midwest, a recent report shows.

Silver Spring, MD — The nation’s largest union and professional association of registered nurses is urging Congress to pass pending legislation that would “end the industry-created nurse staffing crisis” by setting mandated staffing levels in hospitals, as well as take other actions that would improve working conditions for nurses.

Washington — The AFL-CIO and National Nurses United are part of a coalition of labor unions and organizations that has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Labor and OSHA, petitioning a federal court to direct the agency to issue a permanent standard on COVID-19 focused on health care workers.

Silver Spring, MD — Claiming the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is “once again responding to political pressures from those desperate to remove any safety protocols during this deadly pandemic that is still causing unacceptable numbers of infections, hospitalizations and deaths every day,” the nation’s largest union and professional association of registered nurses is calling on the agency to reverse its most recent COVID-19 guidance.

Washington — “The nation must renew its commitment to protecting workers from job injury, disease and death, and make this a high priority,” the AFL-CIO says in its annual report on the state of safety and health protections for U.S. workers.

Pittsburgh — A new guide on stop-work authority from the United Steelworkers is aimed at helping workers develop and bargain for programs that allow them to halt unsafe or unhealthy operations and processes until hazards are abated.

Washington — Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) has reintroduced legislation that would reduce the standard 40-hour workweek to 32 hours.

Pittsburgh — The United Steelworkers is calling on the paper industry to protect its workers against fungal infections – one of which has proved deadly.

Washington — OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration have scheduled a national Workers Memorial Day ceremony for April 27 at the Department of Labor headquarters.