Safety+Health Magazine

MSHA: 27 miners died last year, second fewest on record

Arlington, VA — Twenty-seven miners died on the job in 2018, one fewer than in 2017 and the second lowest total recorded by the Mine Safety and Health Administration since it began publishing such data more than a century ago, the agency announced Jan. 9.

Lawmakers request audit of DOL proposal to allow teens to operate powered patient lifts

Washington — The chair of the renamed House Committee on Education and Labor, along with a likely 2020 presidential candidate, are among the lawmakers asking for an audit of the Department of Labor’s proposal to allow unsupervised 16- to 17-year-old workers to operate powered patient lifts.

FMCSA grants trucking industry request for federal pre-emption of California meal and rest break laws

Washington — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Dec. 21 granted a petition to pre-empt California’s meal and rest break rules for commercial motor vehicle drivers, stating that the rules are incompatible with current federal hours-of-service regulations and cause “a disruption in interstate commerce.”

This Month in Safety+Health

Shift worker health and safety

Shift work is a way of life for nearly 15 million Americans, spurring numerous studies that link the practice to health problems and chronic conditions. “It’s really important to recognize these risks, and we need to understand them and we need to treat them,” a leading researcher says.

The ROI of safety

"When improving safety for the merit of just having a safer workplace is not enough, it's often a very powerful argument with leadership to help explain the cost of safety by showing the economic benefits of safety," one expert says. The challenge: lack of a universal formula.

OIG report: Underreporting of injuries remains obstacle for OSHA, MSHA

Washington — OSHA’s efforts to require employers to report occupational fatalities and certain injuries in a timely manner lack “sufficient guidance on how to detect and prevent underreporting,” the Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General states in its semiannual report to Congress.

Technology, ‘big data’ and worker safety

Advances in technology are expected to turn a stream of data into “a giant flash flood.” That future is arriving sooner than you think, but what might it mean for the world of occupational safety? Five experts weigh in.

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