Hazards

Denver — A new Regional Emphasis Program from OSHA is aimed at safeguarding workers in the cut stone and stone products manufacturing industry from silica hazards.

Lightning can strike with little or no warning. That’s why it can’t be ignored or taken lightly by employers or workers – particularly those who spend time outdoors.

Salem, OR — Oregon OSHA has launched a free online training course on silica hazards for Spanish-speaking workers.

Lexington, KY — Responding to an “alarming trend” of drug overdose deaths in the workplace statewide over a recent 18-month period, the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center recently issued a hazard alert.

Boston — Construction workers are at increased risk of unintentionally tracking various toxic metals from the jobsite into their homes – potentially putting family members at risk, results of a recent study show.

Washington — Understaffed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, OSHA “lost a valuable opportunity” to better protect workers by “not identifying federal partners in a position to assist during a large-scale safety and health crisis,” concludes a Department of Labor Office of Inspector General audit report released March 31.

New Orleans — The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ended a district court’s injunction against the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal employees on jurisdictional grounds, with a 2-1 decision April 7.

Philadelphia — OSHA has launched a National Emphasis Program as part of a multipronged effort to protect workers from outdoor and indoor heat exposure.

Bilbao, Spain — Employee participation in workplace interventions that target musculoskeletal disorders “strengthens the possibility for identification of the most relevant health problems,” according to a new report from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.

Gaithersburg, MD — Using an equation they derived while studying the “motion of a so-called torsional pendulum,” researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology have found a “surprising link” between the equation and the work of crane operators on construction sites.