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NIEHS WTP: February 3, 2023 Newsbrief

Weekly E-Newsbrief, February 3, 2023

Weekly E-Newsbrief

February 3, 2023

The E-Newsbrief of the National Clearinghouse is a free weekly newsletter focusing on new developments in the world of worker health and safety. Each issue provides summaries of the latest worker health and safety news from newspapers, magazines, journals, government reports, and the Web, along with links to the original documents. Also featured each week are updates from government agencies that handle hazmat and worker safety issues such as DOE, EPA, OSHA and others.

Subscribing to the National Clearinghouse Newsbrief is the best way to stay on top of the worker health and safety news.

Top StoriesBack to Top

Registration Open: 2023 National Trainers' Exchange and Awardee Meeting

The National Trainers’ Exchange will bring together WTP awardee organizations and Department of Energy stakeholders to meet and exchange ideas about how to make training for hazardous materials and emergency response workers more effective and empowering. In workshop sessions, participants will be encouraged to share their thoughts on training techniques and best practices, as well as how to overcome challenges to deliver training. The National Trainers' Exchange and awardee meeting will be held on May 2-4, 2023. Registration will close April 14, 2023, 11:59 p.m. EDT.

Event Information and Registration

Trainers’ Exchange Factsheet

Request for Information (RFI): Input for Developing the 2024-2028 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Strategic Plan

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) solicits input from stakeholders in academia and industry, health care professionals, patient advocates and advocacy organizations, scientific or professional organizations, federal agencies, and other interested members of the public by reviewing the goals in the 2018-2023 Strategic Plan and proposing new goals for the 2024-2028 Strategic Plan. Responses must be received by April 20, 2023.

RFI

Electronic Submission Form

Absence From Work at Record High as Americans Feel Strain From Covid

For many Americans it feels like everyone is out sick right now. But there is a good reason: work absences from illness are at an all-time annual high in the U.S. and show few signs of relenting. It’s not just acute illness and caregiving duties keeping workers away.

The Guardian [Author: Melody Schreiber]

Workers Can't Force Safety Agency to do Inspections, Court Rules

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday said workers cannot go to court to force the federal workplace safety regulator to act after it determines that alleged hazards do not present an "imminent danger" to employees.

Reuters [Author: Daniel Wiessner]

Oil Refineries Release Lots of Water Pollution Near Communities of Color, Data Show

Oil refineries release billions of pounds of pollution annually into waterways, and that pollution disproportionately affects people of color, according to a new analysis of Environmental Protection Agency regulatory data. The pollution includes heavy metals, nitrogen and other compounds that can kill aquatic animals, feed harmful algae and make waterways dangerous for humans to fish in, swim in or even touch.

NPR [Author: Rebecca Hersher]

Calendar FeaturesBack to Top

Transportation Research Board Webinar: Using Smart Work Zone Technologies to Improve Safety

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) will host a webinar on the smart technologies that help state departments of transportation (DOTs) improve work zone safety for motorists, construction and maintenance workers, and other users of the transportation system. The webinar will provide an overview of the technologies used, evaluation studies, tools to support implementation, performance measures, challenges, applications and potential future technologies. The webinar will be held on February 7, 2023, 11:30 a.m. EST.

Event Registration

NYNJ Occupational Safety and Health Center 43rd Annual Scientific Meeting

The New York-New Jersey (NYNJ) Occupational Safety and Health Center’s 43rd Annual Scientific Meeting is open for registration. The meeting will feature presentations on health equity, back-support exoskeletons, direct-reading instruments, climate and health, and World Trade Center health surveillance program. The meeting will be held on February 10, 2023, 9:00 a.m. EST.

Event Registration

NIHB 2023 Spring Infectious Disease Regional Institute for Tribes

The National Indian Health Board (NIHB), in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is hosting the fourth Infectious Disease Regional Institute focusing on the Portland Indian Health Service (IHS) Area. The Institute provides Tribes and frontline public health professionals an opportunity to strategize how to apply infection control principles. The event will be held February 28 - March 1, 2023.

Event Registration

On The Web This WeekBack to Top

5 Black Leaders that Shaped the Labor Movement

Five Black leaders with strong visions for the future of the labor movement, uniting broad coalitions for racial justice, worker rights, and the welfare of all strengthened both the labor and civil rights movements by fighting discrimination in unions and building strong coalitions.

National Education Association

‘A Public Health Crisis in the Making’: Agriculture Pollutes Underground Drinking Water in Minnesota

Nitrate from agricultural runoff is seeping into wells that provide drinking water in rural Minnesota, and it poses a life-threatening risk to water users. When nitrate reaches the underground drinking water supply, it’s the well owners’ responsibility to treat their water — with limited, often expensive options — or find another water source.

The Daily Yonder [Author: Madison McVan]

Strengthening America's Immigrant 'Resilience Force' With Saket Soni: Podcast and Transcript

A common and unproductive trope that’s heard in media is “a flood of immigrants to the border.” At the same time, there is a growing dependance at the foundational level on the labor of immigrants in the U.S. As natural disasters are happening with increasing frequency and intensity, communities are relying more and more on immigrant laborers.

MSNBC

Federal Agency UpdateBack to Top

U.S. Department of Labor Revises OSHA's Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a revised Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program. Any combustible material can burn rapidly when in a finely divided form. If such a dust is suspended in air in the right concentration, under certain conditions, it can become explosible. The purpose of the revised emphasis program is to continue OSHA inspections of facilities that generate or handle combustible dusts likely to cause fire, flash fire, deflagration and explosion hazards.

OSHA Trade Release

U.S. Department of Labor Welcomes 7 New Program Partners to Deliver Career Assistance to Transitioning Service Members, Spouses

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced its Veterans’ Employment and Training Service has signed a memorandum of understanding with seven new partners for the agency’s Employment Navigator and Partnership Pilot. Employment Navigators provide one-on-one support to help connect service members with partners to ensure service members and their spouses get the support needed as they transition out of the service and after separation.

DOL Newsroom

FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces Funding for Major Transportation Projects Funded by Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

The President announced the Administration has awarded nearly $1.2 billion from the infrastructure law’s new National Infrastructure Project Assistance discretionary grant program (Mega) for nine projects across the country, including over $292 million to complete a critical early phase of the Hudson Tunnel Project.

The White House

Awardee Highlights/Online LearningBack to Top

Meet The Local Talent Building the Obama Presidential Center

In this story, former Chicago Women in Trades (CWIT) trainee Cary Shaw talks about her experiences at CWIT, the support and guidance of her trade sisters, and how honored she is to be working with Concrete Collective as a laborer at the Obama Presidential Center. CWIT is partner organization of WTP grantee OAI, Inc.

Obama Foundation

Recording Available: Safety & Health Training for American Indians & Alaska Natives in the Western U.S. – Session One

This Partnerships for Environmental Public Health (PEPH) webinar described hazardous waste training, hazmat transport training, and emergency response training, specifically in underserved and remote tribal communities with particular focus on the Western Region Universities Consortium partnership and collaboration with Zender Environmental and their Rural Alaska Community Environmental Job Training program.

PEPH Webinars

Job OpeningsBack to Top

IBT Seeks an Occupational Safety Professional/ Industrial Hygienist (Worker Training Program)

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is seeking a highly motivated Industrial Hygienist in comprehensive practice to provide technical and regulatory health and safety support to Teamster members and affiliates. The position reports to the Program Manager of the IBT Worker Training Program.

Job Posting

IBT Seeks an Occupational Safety Professional/ Industrial Hygienist (Entry Level)

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is seeking a highly motivated Industrial Hygienist in comprehensive practice to provide technical and regulatory health and safety support to Teamster members and affiliates. The position reports to the IBT Safety and Health Department Deputy Director.

Job Posting

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