Washington — OSHA has released a draft of its proposed rule on heat illness prevention.

Toronto – Leading indicators can be used to help prevent an incident, but little research exists on which ones are actually effective, concludes a new report from the Institute for Work & Health.

Washington – Gauging the effectiveness of federal and state-run OSHA programs is one of the Department of Labor’s biggest challenges, according to the DOL Office of Inspector General.

Indianapolis — Beginning July 2, anyone seeking the Certified Safety Professional designation must have a bachelor’s degree, the Board of Certified Safety Professionals announced April 2.

Geneva — A new guidebook from the International Labor Organization is intended to help employers compile data on key performance indicators related to safety and health.

Sydney — Need to reset your attention during a complex work task? A five-minute break is all it takes.

Washington — Stakeholders now have until Nov. 29 to comment on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s process for determining whether truck and bus companies are able to operate safely.

Workers caught in trench collapses rarely survive because soil can be extremely heavy. A cubic yard of soil can weigh up to 3,000 pounds – roughly the weight of a small motor vehicle, according to OSHA.

This past summer, the Midwest and much of the East Coast experienced an unprecedented decline in outdoor air quality. Smoke from wildfires in Canada regularly sent air quality ratings well into to the unhealthy range – an Air Quality Index for the smallest particulate matter – PM2.5 – in excess of 151.

All Encon showers can be fitted with automatic freeze or scald protection valves for use during temperature extremes. Automatic Freeze Valves open automatically when the internal water temperature reaches 35° F (2° C) and close at 40° F (4.5° C). Automatic Scald Valves open when the internal water temperature reaches 105° F (41° C) and close at 95° F (35° C).

Encon Safety Products

Do your employees have quick access to properly working emergency eyewashes and showers? To ensure equipment is available when needed, employers should make accessibility a top priority, according to Shannon Harper, ESEW product manager for Houston-based Encon Safety Products.

What are the differences between a permissible exposure limit and a threshold limit value?

TWA/STEL/PEL/WEEL/IDLH … What does this all mean?

Washington – The Mine Safety and Health Administration needs to provide better oversight of coal mine operators’ emergency response plans, according to a recent audit conducted by the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General.

Arlington, VA – The Mine Safety and Health Administration has launched its annual campaign intended to promote roof and rib fall hazard awareness among coal miners and mine operators, while also focusing on continuous mining machine operator safety.

Arlington, VA — The Mine Safety and Health Administration has issued a safety alert in response to five fatal incidents that occurred when miners situated between a longwall face conveyor and coal face were struck by falling sections of the face or roof.

Washington — Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is among five Senate Democrats who have expressed opposition to any rollback to the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s respirable coal dust rule, in a letter sent Dec. 22 to Secretary of Labor R. Alexander Acosta.

Washington — The Mine Safety and Health Administration has no immediate plans to change its regulation on respirable dust in coal mines, MSHA administrator David Zatezalo said Feb. 6 during a hearing before the House Workforce Protections Subcommittee.

Washington — Coal miners soon will have access to a series of free, confidential health screenings through the NIOSH Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program.

Washington — A “fundamental shift” is needed in the mining industry’s approach to coal dust exposure to help mitigate a surge in black lung disease among underground coal miners, according a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Arlington, VA — Top-ranking Democrats in the House Education and the Workforce Committee and the Workforce Protections Subcommittee are questioning the legality of a Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission decision to remove a Sophia, WV, mine from Mine Safety and Health Administration Pattern of Violations status.

State College, PA — Using a 3D device on a microchip that mimics the behavior of human lungs, researchers from Penn State University will use a $400,000 grant from NIOSH to study the effects of nano-scale coal dust on the lungs of underground miners, the university has announced.

Blacksburg, VA — Researchers at Virginia Tech have launched a project aimed at boosting the effectiveness of dust scrubbers in underground mining to enhance dust control and improve miner safety.

Washington — The Mine Safety and Health Administration has determined that the annual training requirements outlined in its Refuge Alternatives for Underground Coal Mines rule supply “an experience sufficient to enable miners to apply their knowledge, other training and available written instruction to effectively use the refuge alternative in an emergency.”

Arlington, VA — Criteria for the certification of coal mine rescue teams will “remain in effect, without changes,” the Mine Safety and Health Administration announced Sept. 1, after completing a requisite review under the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act of 2006.

Washington — Health care workers will be the focus of OSHA’s emergency temporary standard on COVID-19, which will be issued June 10, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told the House Education and Labor Committee during a June 9 hearing.

Washington — Proposed legislation that would ease access to health care and other benefits for coal miners who have black lung disease is advancing in the House.

Washington — A new law permanently restores a recently expired excise tax rate increase on coal production, which will help fund health care and other benefits for coal miners who have black lung disease.

Arlington, VA — The “collective effort” of mine industry workers and stakeholders in 2022 contributed to a 21.6% decrease in worker deaths over the previous year, Mine Safety and Health Administration head Chris Williamson said during a recent conference call.

Washington — A new software training module from NIOSH is intended to assist mine operators, miners and industry stakeholders with emergency decision-making during coal mine rescues.

As we look ahead to the coming year, it is a good opportunity to reflect on the learning moments of 2017 ― the areas where the security industry learned, grew and shifted thinking to better provide products and solutions for buildings of all types, across all industries.

The Israel Nature & Parks Authority (INPA) is using PowerG™ technology from Visonic Ltd., Tel-Aviv, Israel, a developer and manufacturer of wireless home security and safety systems and components, to enable research that will help protect the griffon vulture population in Israel.

360 State Street, New Haven, Conn. — the state’s greenest and largest residential development — is the first new major residential construction in New Haven in more than 15 years. 

Approximately 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles, in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains, the National Audubon Society’s Starr Ranch Sanctuary rolls across 4,000 acres. SoCal’s sprawling development is not far from the sanctuary borders, reminding everyone of the critical need to balance development with open spaces.

Brent Street runs through a diverse, tree-lined neighborhood in Dorchester, Mass. At 81 Brent Street stands a three-story, traditional New England home. However, its basic design is the only traditional thing about the home, which is adorned with 30 solar panels on its roof, native and drought-tolerant plants and trees in its yard, and a home automation system fit for the Jetson’s.

The Johnson Controls headquarters campus at Glendale, Wisconsin has the largest concentration of buildings on one campus to ever receive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification.

The tallest LEED certified green office building in the United States, the Comcast Center in Philadelphia, has more than 2,500 openings equipped with door and hardware products from ASSA ABLOY Group companies.

The University of British Columbia (UBC) Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS), a living laboratory for researchers to teach, test and study the long-term impact of sustainable practices and technologies, features advanced building controls, sensing technology and management software from Honeywell.

With a nearly 10,000-foot perimeter to secure at its newly constructed solar farm in the Midwest, an independent power producer turned to SmarterFence and SmarterBeam solutions from SmarterSecurity Inc. Systems integrator MidCo Inc. took on the task of installing the solutions to help secure the owner’s investment and operations from intruders to allow the site to be routinely unmanned.

While most people like the idea of conserving energy and going green, moving from theory to practice in their daily lives requires more than just a philosophy. “Everybody likes being green if it’s not too much work,” explains Gene Jordan, president of Advanced Security Engineering, an Alarm.com dealer located in Pleasanton, Calif.

The Surfrider Foundation San Diego Chapter partnered with CoastalCOMS to install digital cameras networked with Milestone XProtect® Corporate to monitor wave breaks and sand lines.

After experiencing an increase in crime, The University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine, Trinidad, home to more than 39,000 grad and undergrad students, was in the market for a professional grade CCTV surveillance system to improve the security of its students and assets.

Throughout the channel and around the industry, security just keeps getting greener all the time.

For Thomas Marino, president of Advanced Technologies, Baton Rouge, La., “green” projects were nothing new. He had done projects that involved low-power, solar or other green elements. But when he ran into local attorney Joe Simmons at a trade show, the extremely environmentally conscious lawyer asked him to do the security and home automation for the custom home he was building. The home was new construction in a community of older homes and would feature as many green elements as possible, from the material in the countertops to the security and audio elements.

What environmental, health and safety processes can integrate with the “incidents application” to reduce the number of an organization’s incidents quickly and effectively?

Once you’ve finished an incident investigation, how do you use investigation data to prevent similar incidents from occurring again?

Cleveland – Health care workers frequently contaminate their skin and clothing when removing gloves or gowns, and researchers from the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center are recommending additional education and redesigned personal protective equipment.

Detroit – Night-shift workers who experience insomnia but report low levels of sleepiness have higher levels of cognitive impairment than those with insomnia who say they experience “excessive” sleepiness, according to a recent study from the Sleep Disorders and Research Center at Henry Ford Hospital.

Washington – NIOSH is offering a free online training program to help educate nurses and supervisors about reducing the health and safety risks of shift work and long hours.