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Mesothelioma linked to asbestos in talcum powder

Thirty-three cases of the asbestos-related lung cancer mesothelioma draw attention to talcum powder as a non-occupational source of exposure to asbestos, according to a study in the January Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. "Our findings strongly suggest that asbestos exposure through asbestos-contaminated cosmetic talc explains cases once deemed idiopathic or 'spontaneous,'" according to the report.




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Causes of numbness in the hands

A heart attack may cause tingling and numbness in one hand. If a person is experiencing a suspected heart attack, they or someone near them should seek emergency medical help. Severe blockages in the heart's main blood supply can cause chest pain as well as tingling and numbness down one arm or the other.




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Mail-order limb, rerouted nerve, and prosthetic hand grips like the real thing

Doctors met a patient at a surgical center outside Boston to invent a new operation, a way to perform arm amputations that might allow patients to move their prosthetic hands more like real ones. The right arm resting on a blue surgical drape before them came from a cadaver; it’s just the limb, ending at the shoulder. It came from the Anatomy Gifts Registry. Devising a new operation is like re-engineering the anatomy.




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A high-fiber diet may counteract the harmful health effects of pollutants

Research from the University of Kentucky’s Superfund Research Center (UK-SRC) shows that a diet high in fiber could possibly reverse the adverse effects that environmental toxins have on cardiovascular health. The findings are part of UK-SRC’s “Project #1,” which examines how nutrients affect toxicity caused by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in vascular tissues.




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Here’s the latest on the coronavirus outbreak

The respiratory disease caused by a novel (new) coronavirus that was first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China has now been detected in 32 locations internationally, including cases United States. The virus has been named “SARS-CoV-2” and the disease it causes has been named “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated “COVID-19”).




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Acoustic panels reduce the roar at a solids dewatering plant

The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority in Albuquerque, New Mexico operates a 76-million gallons per day (rated capacity) wastewater treatment plant that treats a daily average of five million gallons of sewage from New Mexico’s largest city and its surroundings.




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The OSHA “willful” mysteries

Many of the OSHA cases that cite “willful” violations present mysteries. The mysteries are why the alleged violations were categorized as willful. These charges are not a mystery to OSHA, but they are mysteries to readers of citations. Since the penalty for a willful violation can be over $130,000, there should not be any mystery about such charges.




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Hydration benefits: Why water is the essence of good health

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition recommends drinking up to 3 liters of fluid a day. Water is vital for all cell function. It helps your brain to produce hormones and neurotransmitters, supports the lubrication of joints, keeps your skin cool through sweating or respiration, and your body to excrete waste.




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Provide employees with the tools to support your expectations

Expectations drive both the leader and follower. Various forms of research suggest that when leaders have higher types of expectations for their followers, those followers often live up to the expectations.




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Leave a legacy of helping others

For the past 30 years, I’ve been driven to be the best and do the best I can – in nearly any context, personally and professionally. Along the way, I’ve discovered various dimensions of growth that have helped me succeed. I want to pass them on, and share them, so they might help you.




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Workers help craft the best safety rules

Rules are so easy to make that safety offices are often accused of being a “Rule Mill” because they continuously produce their rule-of-the month. Why do we create so many rules? One particular cog in our mill that causes us to create rules is incidents. When we suffer an incident, we want to throw every tool in the arsenal to keep it from happening again.




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Don’t judge behavior without knowing the situation it occurs in

Behavior is not right or wrong, good or bad. It just is. It is neutral. Approach behaviors with the dispassionate, objective view of a scientist. Not with emotions.




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What happens in the boardroom affects the front line

The union steward had just recounted an incident where a supervisor asked one of his workers to step into standing water to work on corroded gauges near the coker. The work needed to be done immediately as it would delay ongoing maintenance on the fractionator to take on different stock feed.




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Why is there a shortage of skilled labor?

Whether in mining, construction, fabrication and assembly, equipment installation and repair, or other industries, there is a shortage of skilled tradesmen/ technicians to do essential work.




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The Guarddog Self Closing Safety Gate

The Guarddog Self Closing Safety Gate from Bluewater Mfg., Inc is tough, durable and easy to install.




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Meet the new Carbonx/Tex Tech team

The CarbonX Team will display and discuss the latest innovations in non-flammable protective apparel at booth #1431 at ASSE’s SAFETY 2014, June 8–10, in Orlando.




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VelocityEHS strengthens industrial hygiene product suite with Spiramid acquisition

VelocityEHS, the global leader in cloud-based environment, health, safety (EHS) and sustainability solutions, announced today it has acquired Spiramid, developer of the most advanced and easy-to-use system for managing industrial hygiene (IH). The acquisition adds Spiramid’s occupational safety & health software and unparalleled IH expertise to the most trusted EHS platform in the industry.




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Big Pharma company takes on the “new view”

Allergan plc, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is a global pharmaceutical company. ISHN asked David Eherts, PhD, CIH, Vice President Global EHS, based in Madison, NJ, to explain how the company is implementing the “New View” of safety.




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Getting there first: Location tags enable fast, urgent response

ISHN recently exchanged an email Q&A with Amanda Alexander, global product manager for Emerson’s Location Awareness System.




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Mobile app identifies safety, work at height, weather exposure risks

Responses provided by Carol Hanover, Field Director, Risk Control, Travelers




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Top products of the week

Technology to enhance machine guarding safety and enhance field operations and new forms of foot protection are the top occupational safety and health products of the week.




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Embattled Johnson & Johnson recalls some of its baby powder after the FDA finds asbestos

Tainted love: Johnson & Johnson recalled 33,000 bottles of baby powder after the Food and Drug Administration found asbestos in one container, The New York Times reports. The company, which once marketed its baby, body, and wellness products as being “for all you love,” has long denied that its talc-based products ever contained cancer-causing asbestos, but it faces more than 15,000 lawsuits from customers who say their products caused them to develop ovarian cancer or mesothelioma, a rare cancer linked to asbestos.




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Ohio Safety Congress adds to their education workshops

There are 17 different workshops to choose from.




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ASSP Safety 2024: 3 key themes

The three words, or themes, that pop up most often in the conference agenda are: risk, psychology and technology.






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The Intersection of ESG, Sustainability and EHS: Elevating safety through value creation

Expert Kathy Seabrook explores how EHS professionals can leverage sustainability initiatives to drive business value and enhance safety performance in this session from day one of the ASSP Safety 2024 conference. 




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ASSP Safety 2024: Why the record attendance?

In an exclusive interview with ISHN, ASSP Chief Executive Officer Jennifer McNelly points to several factors contributing to the influx of attendees.




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ASSP Safety 2024: The stress of responsibility

The expert panel pointed out leadership responsibilities or factors that can damage mental well-being, causing burnout, sadness, anger, anxiety and other psycho-social disorders.




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The great resignation: What is a job’s purpose and how does this affect OHS pros?

The Great Resignation, Big Quit, and Big Strike are just a few of the terms used to describe the phenomenon of the large number of people who, during Covid times, took drastic actions to remedy dissatisfaction with their job.




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The impact of overturn of Roe v Wade on workplaces

The court ruled in Roe that, “A person may choose to have an abortion until a fetus becomes viable, based on the right to privacy contained in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.




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The vital need to conduct a lead risk assessment now

The cascade of generally well-known catastrophic events associated with lead exposure continue to unfold.




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Many OHS pros are being kept out of the loop with ADA management

Now that I have been personally thrust into the ADA-world, I am looking at the regulation with a much keener eye. I have many concerns.




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How to interpret the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

The federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) was signed into law on December 29, 2022 and becomes effective in June. Here’s a detailed look at what this means.




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How the hunt for nurses with fake diplomas impacts OHS

The hunting season for nurses with a fake academic diploma opened during late January 2023, and thousands were found.




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Is the manufacturing sector prepared for rising heat?

With record setting high temperatures globally, and heat hazards continually flamed by the media, all work locations must be prepared for heat concerns among their workforce. 




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What you need to know about The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act proposed regulations

The EEOC published proposed regulations to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act on 08/11/2023. Read this article for answers to your questions. 




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Six priority actions for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

Final rules for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act are now published. The following should be your priority actions to ensure compliance and success with the new law.




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The 5 whys for menstrual health awareness in the workplace

Menstruation seems like an odd topic to discuss as a workplace OHS issue as Menstrual Hygiene Day is in May.




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The future of AI work and its impact on OHS pros

I believe that there will likely be greater risk for “safety” job loss when AI and its technology partners get on a full roll.




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Why risk assessments are not required by the PWFA

The information in this article demonstrates that risk assessment for pregnant worker concerns has been known globally for decades, even more than a century ago within the U.S.




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Are you competent on mold and other OHS science topics?

Mold is everywhere, but few people outside the science community understand it. 




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OSHA seeks public input to gather diverse perspectives and expertise

Together with a Biden-Harris administration interagency effort, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings on Oct. 27, 2021.




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New book from women leaders discusses driving positive culture in the workplace

Business leaders offer advice and insights in their new co-written book for other aspiring women in manufacturing.




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Remembering workers who died on the job

Each year, the families and friends of fallen workers, and organizations observe April 28 as Workers Memorial Day.




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PPE hang-ups in the NFL

Former NFL players stand about twice the risk as the general population to suffer from early-onset Alzheimer's, ALS, Parkinson's or dementia.




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How to determine which fall protection harness is the right one

Thorough training can ensure workers are using the right harness for them in terms of equipment and fit.




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The organizational culture drives (safety) performance

To make any permanent significant change to companies’ organizational systems, practices, or procedures, one has to modify the culture.




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Paving the way: Women’s increased leadership in construction

The largest percentage of job roles held by women in the construction industry are those in management roles, overtaking sales occupations. To celebrate this and Women in Construction Week™ from March 3-8, 2024, let’s explore the latest developments in the industry for women. 




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The young, fit, and the injured: How to keep Gen Z workers safe

The highest rate of injury is seen with workers between the ages of 18-24, who are experiencing emergency-room injuries at a rate of 2.3 injuries per 100 full-time equivalents — a factor that may be driving the youngest working generation away from these positions.




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The current state of safety: Heart to heart with a safety professional

Though convinced that we have made strides with equipment and safer processes, I am equally convinced that we are stuck on a hamster wheel.




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Lessons from the Harvard Anti-Bullying Policy

Harvard’s recent Anti-Bullying Policy (the Policy) has many good elements. It is missing important elements regarding the definition of bullying and how the Policy should work. There are lessons in this.