Tag: health

Valley Fever, Coccidioidomycosis

California Now Requires Valley Fever Training

Construction firms and other employers in California must begin training employees in Valley fever risks and control measures under a new state law. Employers must offer initial worker training by May 1, 2020.

Safety culture positive team

The Workforce Is Aging—We Need to Keep It Healthy and Safe

The number of older people in the population—and with it, the proportion of older to younger workers—has grown in the past 5 decades and is projected to continue to grow. People are living longer. They either need or want to continue working at an older age for reasons ranging from inadequate retirement savings or a […]

Flu season ahead

Could Machine Learning and Wearables Improve Flu Forecasting?

The effort to curtail the impact of influenza just got a shot in the arm with a research award from a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) to a company that’s testing a machine learning model to improve flu forecasts based on data gathered from wearable devices.

Smoking, cigarette, secondhand smoke

Secondhand Smoke Remains an Occupational Health Issue

Nearly one-fifth of nonsmokers were exposed to secondhand smoke at work, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a recently published study. The CDC reported that 19.9% of nonsmokers had some exposure on the job, and 10.1% had frequent exposures.

Safety inspection, citations

Parlez-Vous EHS?

In order to convey the value of environment, health, and safety (EHS), you need to learn—and sometimes teach—the business languages you need to gain the attention of organizational leadership. Read the transcript of our recent EHS on Tap podcast episode where we talked about this subject with Pamala Bobbitt, Vice President of Product Marketing at […]

Group of men working at a chemical warehouse classifying barrels

NIOSH Issues Guidance for Hazardous Substances with No Clear OEL

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) released new guidance for determining the level of hazards for substances with no occupational exposure limit (OEL) established by a government agency, by a standard-setting body, or in peer-reviewed literature.

Legionella bacteria

Legionella Prevention for EHS Managers: Watch Your Water System

Last week, the Ford Motor Company reported that trace amounts of Legionella bacteria were found in the water system at their flagship Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan. According to the report, the bacteria was discovered “in three locations across the plant—including two bathrooms and the medical department.”  Rather than shut the entire plant down, Ford […]

Particulate matter (PM)

PM-2.5 Report Is Flawed, Science Committee Concludes

A 1,880-page draft report on the risk particulate matter (PM) imposes on human health may undergo extensive revisions because the EPA’s powerful Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) has concluded that the methods used by the authors of the report are flawed and that the authors’ estimated impact PM has on mortality is overstated.