News

Washington — Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao on Dec. 3 signed a final “rule on rules,” a 98-page document that provides guidelines for the department’s rulemaking, guidance and enforcement.

Wigston, England — The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health has released a pocket card intended to help protect workers from diesel exhaust fumes.

Washington — Patient care aides – workers who provide basic care in health care settings – are more likely than other health care workers to smoke, be obese, get insufficient sleep and have lower levels of health care access, results of a recent NIOSH study show.

New York — Retail employees injured on the job miss an average of 24 days of work as a result, according to recent report from AmTrust Financial Services Inc., an insurance provider for small businesses.

Washington — In response to a petition for rulemaking, the Federal Railroad Administration is seeking to further delay by 16 months the implementation dates of its proposed Training, Qualification, and Oversight for Safety-Related Railroad Employees regulation.

Washington — Of the 803 unbuckled rear-seat passengers 8 or older who died in motor vehicle crashes in 2018, about half would have survived if they had worn a seat belt, the Governors Highway Safety Association contends in a recently released report.

Washington — OSHA conducted 33,401 inspections in fiscal year 2019 – the largest total during the Trump administration.

Washington — Commercial motor vehicle inspectors will not observe a “soft enforcement” grace period for drivers still using automatic onboard recording devices to track their hours of service after Dec. 16, and such drivers will be placed out of service for violating Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance warns in a Dec. 2 press release.

Washington — NIOSH, through its recently announced partnership with the nonprofit organization America Achieves, is offering a new high school curriculum that includes workplace safety and health education.

Washington — A trio of advocacy groups is calling on employers to take a proactive role in suicide prevention in the workplace, and has published a new set of guidelines.