Tumwater, WA — A new webpage from the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries is intended to help employers protect workers – both indoors and out – from the adverse effects of wildfire smoke.

Philadelphia — Drexel University’s Center for Firefighter Injury Research & Safety Trends has created model organizational policies aimed at addressing stress and violence in fire-based emergency medical services workers.

Munich — The International Platinum Group Metals Association has released a guide intended to improve safety for workers who are exposed to platinum group metals.

Las Vegas – Members of the United Steelworkers have unanimously approved a resolution aimed at improving worker health and safety.

Silver Spring, MD — Construction firms that employ at least some union workers are more likely to perform safety best practices and undergo OSHA training than those with no union employees, according to the results of a biennial survey commissioned by the Center for Construction Research and Training – also known as CPWR.

Washington — United Steelworkers is suing the Environmental Protection Agency and its administrator, Andrew Wheeler, over the agency’s recent changes to the Obama-era Chemical Disaster Rule.

Washington — Representatives from two labor unions are bringing attention to resources intended to protect workers in “frontline industries” from exposure to the new coronavirus and are calling on the federal government to provide coordinated guidance.

Washington — The AFL-CIO has outlined steps it says all levels of government should take to protect workers from exposure to COVID-19 before reopening the economy.

San Francisco — The Washington State Nurses Association is among four labor unions suing Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia and OSHA in an effort to compel the agency to move forward with rulemaking on an infectious diseases standard that would require employers in the health care industry to protect workers from exposure to harmful infectious diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola and influenza.

Washington — The full extent of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on the nation’s workforce will likely remain unclear because of the lack of a comprehensive national system to gather such information, according to the AFL-CIO’s annual report on the state of safety and health protections for U.S. workers.

Washington — Longtime AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka died from a reported heart attack Aug. 5. He was 72.

Washington — The AFL-CIO and National Nurses United are part of a coalition of labor unions and organizations that has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Labor and OSHA, petitioning a federal court to direct the agency to issue a permanent standard on COVID-19 focused on health care workers.

Washington — “The nation must renew its commitment to protecting workers from job injury, disease and death, and make this a high priority,” the AFL-CIO says in its annual report on the state of safety and health protections for U.S. workers.

Pittsburgh — A new guide on stop-work authority from the United Steelworkers is aimed at helping workers develop and bargain for programs that allow them to halt unsafe or unhealthy operations and processes until hazards are abated.

Washington — OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration have scheduled a national Workers Memorial Day ceremony for April 27 at the Department of Labor headquarters.

Washington – OSHA has launched an initiative to help ensure temporary workers are better protected.

Boston – A coalition of workplace safety groups has released a set of recommendations for OSHA to help improve safety for temporary workers.

Washington – The safety of temporary workers will be the topic of discussion during a meeting, scheduled for May 9, of a National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health workgroup.

Washington – OSHA should consider developing separate guidance for the construction industry on best practices pertaining to temporary workers, stakeholders suggested to an advisory committee workgroup that met May 7.

Washington – OSHA recently sent a memo about its Temporary Worker Initiative to regional administrators.

Washington – Staffing firms and host employers looking to better protect temporary workers from job hazards can now review recommended practices in a guidance document issued Aug. 25 by NIOSH and OSHA.

Temporary and contractor workers should be included in all efforts employers take to ensure the safety of workers, according to National Safety Council recommendations released Dec. 18.

Washington – The National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health is scheduled to meet June 18 in Washington to discuss key OSHA initiatives, including best-practice language for protecting temporary workers.

Oakland, CA – Two new fact sheets from the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, also known as Cal/OSHA, outline worker safety rights and employer requirements for protecting temporary workers.

Washington – An OSHA workgroup tasked with examining temporary worker safety issues is scheduled to meet monthly through November, the agency announced Aug. 18.

Washington – Both host employers and staffing firms are responsible for protecting temporary workers, OSHA administrator David Michaels stresses in a recently released video.

Washington – As part of its Temporary Worker Initiative, OSHA has released guidance documents intended to clarify training requirements and hazard communication responsibilities for employers of temporary workers.

Philadelphia – Staffing agencies that hire temporary workers need to be regulated more vigorously, and employers that use those agencies should carry a heavier load of responsibility for workers’ safety, a trio of Temple University law students concluded in a recent report examining how staffing agencies and host employers may “pass the buck” to get around proper safety training and other requirements.

Olympia, WA – Temporary workers file lost-workday claims about twice as often as permanent workers, according to a recent study from the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.

Safety remains a challenge for this often-vulnerable segment of the workforce, which may account for at least 15 percent of the nation’s on-the-job deaths.

Olympia, WA — A new Washington state law will require construction and manufacturing employers who use temporary workers to identify and document workplace hazards, communicate those hazards to staffing agencies, and make sure workers are informed and properly trained.

Washington — NIOSH and the American Staffing Association have announced a multiyear partnership agreement to advance protections for temporary workers.

Washington — NIOSH, together with several partners, has developed a set of best practices to help employers protect temporary workers from injury and illness.

Trenton, NJ — A new law in New Jersey will provide temporary workers with additional rights and protections against unsafe working conditions.

Washington — The House Education and the Workforce Committee has advanced a resolution aimed at repealing the Department of Labor’s rule on determining if a worker is an employee or an independent contractor.

Basel, Switzerland – Health care professionals’ judgment varies significantly when they conduct medical evaluations to determine whether workers should receive disability benefits for an injury or illness, and standards are needed to improve the process, according to researchers from the University of Basel.

Austin, TX – Shorter words and sentences, clearer headings, and less jargon are among the changes the Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation has made to its form letters for injured employees.

Austin, TX — The Texas Department of Insurance’s Division of Workers’ Compensation has produced a series of educational videos intended to simplify the subject of workers’ comp for employees.

Indianapolis — Indiana Rep. Martin Carbaugh (R-Fort Wayne) has introduced legislation that would dramatically increase maximum fines for on-the-job fatalities.

Cambridge, MA — Injured workers who are older, employed by organizations with smaller payrolls and in counties where more people have health insurance are more likely to receive opioid prescriptions, according to a recent study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute.

Cambridge, MA — More than half of U.S. states have not adopted medical treatment guidelines for workers’ compensation cases, a recent study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute shows.

Using recent data and analysis from NIOSH, the Workers Compensation Research Institute and other organizations, Safety+Health presents an infographic showing the impact of the opioid crisis on the workplace.

Boston — Injury and illness prevention efforts are most needed in Massachusetts’ transportation and warehousing industry, results of a recent analysis of workers’ compensation claims show.

Cambridge, MA — Beginning physical therapy days, rather than weeks, after suffering a low back injury is associated with better outcomes, according to the results of a recent study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute.

Cambridge, MA — Workers who receive larger quantities of opioids shortly after an injury, as well as those who are prescribed higher doses, are at increased risk of longer-term opioid use, according to a recent study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute.

New York — Fewer than 10% of the estimated 250,000 employees who contracted COVID-19 while on the job last year in New York state filed for workers’ compensation benefits, and fewer than 1% have received a hearing, according to a recent report from the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health.

Cambridge, MA — Certain programs and policies may help curb the excessive prescribing of opioids and potential misuse, results of a recent study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute suggest.

Austin, TX — The Texas Department of Insurance’s Division of Workers’ Compensation has published a plain language glossary intended to make workers’ comp insurance easier to understand.

Austin, TX — Women injured on the job have a better chance of qualifying for workers’ compensation disability payments and receiving higher payouts when a female doctor evaluates their claim, according to a recent study.

Washington — The House has passed legislation that would expand the types of medical professionals who can treat injured employees under the Federal Workers’ Compensation Program.