BREAKING: AFL-CIO Report Data Shows Black Workers Dying on the Job at Highest Rate in Over a Decade

The AFL-CIO, America’s largest labor federation, released its 32nd annual report, Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, a national and state-by-state profile of worker safety and health. Key findings from the report point to a troubling rise in worker deaths, particularly among Black and Latino workers, and illustrate the urgency of funding and support needed for critical job safety oversight and enforcement.

AFL-CIO

A look at workplace violence

In 2020, 392 workplace homicides and more than 37,000 nonfatal injuries stemming from intentional harm from another person were recorded, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The leading worker groups in the homicide category: sales, followed by transportation and material moving.

Safety and Health Magazine

Biden-Harris Administration recommends $562 million investment to make communities resilient to climate impacts as part of Investing in America agenda

The Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda is focused on growing the American economy from the bottom up and middle out — from rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, to creating a manufacturing and innovation boom powered by good-paying jobs that don’t require a four-year degree, to building a clean-energy economy that will combat climate change and make communities more climate-resilient. NOAA announced approximately $562 million in recommended funding to support the Climate-Ready Coasts initiative.

NOAA

Did a Military Lab Spill Anthrax Into Public Waterways? New Book Reveals Details of a US Leak

Unsterilized laboratory wastewater from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, spewed out the top of a rusty 50,000-gallon outdoor holding tank, the pressure catapulting it over the short concrete wall that was supposed to contain hazardous spills.

KFF Health News

Help Wanted: Behavioral Health Workforce and Public Warn Shortage of Workers Will Have Negative Impact on Society

New survey data from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, conducted by The Harris Poll, finds that the vast majority (83%) of the nation's behavioral health workforce believes that without public policy changes, provider organizations won't be able to meet the demand for mental health or substance use treatment and care. The survey, conducted among 750 behavioral health workers and more than 2,000 U.S. adults, also warns of a potential exodus of behavioral health workers due to burnout.

National Council for Mental Wellbeing

How do you get equal health care for all? A huge new database holds clues

Billed as the world's most comprehensive collection of statistics on the topic, the Health Inequality Data Repository allows users to compare how people of differing incomes, ages, genders, and rural-versus-urban settings compare on more than 2,000 measures of health, ranging from access to key health services to child mortality rates – and even upload and analyze their own data.

NPR

Work Conditions and Serious Psychological Distress Among Working Adults Aged 18–64: United States, 2021

This report highlights how uncertainty in work conditions— reflected by shift work, variation in earnings, job insecurity, and inflexible work schedules—is associated with serious psychological distress among working adults aged 18–64. These results suggest the role of work conditions, not just occupation and employment status, as social determinants of health.

CDC, National Center for Health Statistics

National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction

OSHA is including Stand-Down events on this page that are free and open to the public. This is a resource for employers and employees to find Stand-Down events in their area. Note that attendees of these events (including any members of the press) must cooperate with the host employers' site access and safety rules.

Click here to find events near you

Supporting and Sustaining the Current and Future Workforce to Care for People with Serious Illness: A Workshop

A planning committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will organize and conduct a public workshop to explore issues related to supporting and sustaining the workforce to care for people with serious illness. This workforce is interdisciplinary in nature and includes palliative care providers, nurses, social workers, community health workers and chaplains. The workshop will feature invited presentations and discussions.

Learn more and register here

After Chemical Blaze, Safety Board Seeks More Federal Rules

Federal worker safety and chemical regulators should boost oversight of plants that handle a common pool cleaning chemical to prevent future industrial fires like the one at a BioLab Inc. plant a little more than two years ago, according to a new government report. The analysis, issued Monday by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, focuses on the August 2020 fire that destroyed much of the BioLab plant in West Lake, La., after a warehouse was damaged by Hurricane Laura.

Bloomberg [Author: Bruce Rolfsen]

Truck Crashes and Spills Hazardous Waste Shutting Down I-80

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said the department’s Emergency Response Team was working at the crash in the Drums area of Luzerne County. The tractor-trailer that crashed was “carrying an unknown amount of material that contains asbestos which spilled on the roadway and the side of road,” she said in a statement.

Government Technology [Author: Pamela Sroka-Holzmann]

What hazardous cargo moves on Colorado railroads? It’s a ‘black box’, even to state regulators

Railroads are considered a form of interstate commerce immune to local interference that might compromise the efficiency of their operation. And access to information is often a casualty of rail’s privileged status. While timely freight reporting is available to federal agencies and to the state of Texas, which passed a 2006 statute requiring advance notification of dangerous loads, most states are like Colorado — in the dark.

High Country New [Author: Samuel Shaw]

24 HOURS: A western NC firefighter will run for a full day to advocate for cancer screenings

Mikey Riley has been with the Asheville Fire Department for just over 15 years. Just within the past few years of his time there, Riley said he's been personally impacted by the loss of active and retired firefighters due to occupational cancer. The Asheville Fire Department has lost four active members in the last four to five years due to occupational cancer, according to Riley, which he plans to use as motivation on Saturday, April 22.

WYFF [Author: Rashad Williams]

DOE Announces New Effort to Power Colorado's Federal Facilities with 100% Clean Energy by 2030

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Xcel Energy announced that they signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to provide Federal facilities in Colorado with 100% carbon pollution-free electricity (CFE) by 2030. This marks the second such partnership announced by the Biden-Harris Administration as the Government works with the private sector across the country to lead the way on sustainability. The announcement is part of President Biden’s commitment to catalyze clean-energy industries and create jobs through initiatives to achieve net-zero.

Department of Energy

US Department of Labor, Moss & Associates LLC to Promote Workplace Safety, Health During Construction of Central Florida Hotel

OSHA and Moss & Associates LLC signed a strategic partnership to promote safety and health practices to prevent exposure to common construction hazards during construction of the Alanik Hotel in Clearwater Beach, Florida. The project calls for construction of a 492,000-square-foot, 15-story hotel on a two-acre parcel off the Clearwater Beach barrier island. The University of South Florida On-Site Consultation Program is also a member of this partnership. The initiative will also encourage contractors to develop and use safety and health programs, and provide required training to employees, employers, and supervisors.

Department of Labor

EPA proposes ban on most uses of methylene chloride, chemical linked to potentially fatal health risks

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a ban on most uses of methylene chloride, a chemical they say is known to cause health risks and even death, to protect public health. The proposal would ban methylene chloride's use in all consumer situations, and in most industrial and commercial uses. Methylene chloride is used in aerosol degreasers, brush cleaners for paints and coatings, commercial adhesives and sealants, and to make other chemicals in industrial settings.

CBS News

Environmental Health Matters Initiative

A National Academies-wide effort has been established to provide leadership on big challenges in environmental health. The Environmental Health Matters Initiative’s vision for the next decade is to help improve the health of all people equitably and through evidence-based assessment, prevention, adaptation, and strategic mitigation of complex and interconnected environmental stressors that affect human health and disease over lifetimes.

Initiative Webpage

Smithsonian Institution Seeks an Industrial Hygienist

The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo. This position is located in the Office of Safety, Health, and Environmental Management (OSHEM) which is responsible for developing and coordinating a comprehensive Smithsonian (SI) Fire Protection Program, which includes fire safety and fire prevention.

Job Posting

Department of Housing and Urban Development Seeks a Construction Analyst

This position is located at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner. This opportunity is also open to Status eligibles under announcement 23-HUD-1432. Please refer to that announcement for details on open period, eligibility, and how to apply.

Job Posting

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