News

Itasca, IL — Citing safety concerns about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the National Safety Council has rescheduled its annual conference for March 28-30.

Atlanta — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published a series of fact sheets for airport, airline and transit employers to help protect their workers from exposure to COVID-19.

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.

Washington — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service in April approved 15 poultry processing plants’ requests to increase line speeds 25% – despite reported cases of COVID-19 among workers and at least one fatality related to the ongoing pandemic, according to a new policy brief from the National Employment Law Project.

London — In an effort to protect workers who use scaffold towers from exposure to COVID-19, the UK-based Prefabricated Access Suppliers’ and Manufacturers’ Association has published guidelines for employers and safety and health professionals.

Washington — Washing foods with bleach, applying household cleaning or disinfectant products to the hands or skin, and intentionally inhaling or ingesting these products are among the “non-recommended, high-risk practices” nearly 2 out of 5 U.S. adults say they have tried to prevent contracting COVID-19, results of a recent survey indicate.

Memphis, TN — Is your young child feeling confused or fearful about the COVID-19 pandemic? Or maybe your teen isn’t taking the threat seriously. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has published resources to help parents teach children and adolescents how to remain healthy during the “summer of COVID-19.”

Cincinnati — Former OSHA Assistant Secretary of Labor Eula Bingham died June 13, the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine announced on its Twitter account. She was 90.

Corvallis, OR — Future safety regulations need to reward employer innovation that improves both worker safety and a business’s likelihood of survival, researchers say after finding that “organizations that do not provide a safe workplace gain an economic advantage over those that do.”

Washington — Reviewing familiar safety processes during the conclusion of a National Forklift Safety Day virtual presentation June 9, NFSD official Chuck Moratz told attendees, “There is no downside to constant, positive reinforcement.”