Respiratory Conditions

New York – Exposure to toxic dust at Ground Zero on 9/11 may have caused kidney damage among first responders, according to a new study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Washington – NIOSH is seeking comment on a proposed survey of school workers to gauge the relationship between building conditions and worker health.

Boston – Despite an overall drop in secondhand smoke exposure in the workplace, workers in industries such as installation and repair, construction, and transportation remain at high risk, concludes a study from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

OSHA has proposed an update of its decades-old standards on silica exposure. Read what the proposed requirements are, and what some stakeholders are saying about it.

Washington – OSHA is supporting the efforts of the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety in promoting National Farm Safety and Health Week, Sept. 15-21.

Washington – OSHA’s notice of proposed rulemaking for crystalline silica was published in the Federal Register on Sept. 12, officially opening the rule’s public comment period.

Bluefield, WV – Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) met with miners, stakeholders, and miner safety and health advocates on Sept. 5 to discuss ending “black lung” – a deadly but preventable lung disease also known as coal workers’ pneumoconiosis.

Washington – OSHA has announced it will issue a proposed rule to revise the agency’s standards on occupational exposure to crystalline silica.

Falls Church, VA – Oil and gas workers are exposed to respirable crystalline silica during directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing operations, a new NIOSH study concludes.