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Washington — The Department of Labor has raised civil penalty amounts for violations around 1 percent to adjust for inflation, effective Jan. 23.

Washington — OSHA has published answers to a list of frequently asked questions regarding the agency’s respirable crystalline silica standard for general industry.

Washington — Scott Mugno’s nomination to lead OSHA was resubmitted to the Senate a second time by President Donald Trump on Jan. 16. The administration also resubmitted Heidi King’s nomination to be administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Lansing, MI — Michigan has become the first state to lower permissible blood lead levels – by as much as half – to protect workers, the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently announced.

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.

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.

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.”

Toronto — Sitting or standing for prolonged periods may adversely affect workers’ health, according to separate studies from the Institute for Work and Health. So, what should workers do?

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.

Every month during 2019, Safety+Health will be sharing bits of the magazine’s history from its first 100 years. This month: The launch in 1919, and name changes through the years.