Weekly E-Newsbrief
January 20, 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 Stories
- Calendar Features
- On The Web This Week
- Federal Agency Update
- Awardee Highlights/Online Learning
- Job Openings
- We Want Your Feedback
- Newsbriefs Past Issues
| Top Stories | Back to Top |
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is Recruiting New Program Officers and Scientific Review Officers
One position for Program Officer is within the Worker Education and Training Branch. The Program Officer will develop and oversee programs that supports health and safety training for workers who may be involved in handling hazardous waste or in responding to emergency releases of hazardous materials. The incumbent should be a recognized subject matter expert in the field of public health with a focus on occupational health and safety and associated environmental and human health disparities and its impacts.
Worker Education and Training Branch
Health Scientist Administrator (Program Officer & Scientific Review Officer)
Non-Supervisory Health Scientist Administrator (Program Officer & Scientific Review Officer)
Supervisory Health Scientist Administrator (Program Officer & Scientific Review Officer)
After a Brief Pandemic Reprieve, Rural Workers Return to Life Without Paid Leave
While a growing number of states, cities, and counties have passed paid sick leave or general paid time off laws in recent years, most states where more than 20% of the population is rural haven’t, leaving workers vulnerable. Experts say the gaps in paid leave requirements mean workers in rural areas often struggle to care for themselves or loved ones while making ends meet.
Kaiser Health News [Author Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez]
Women Accounted For 70.8 Percent of Workplace Illnesses Caused by Viruses in 2020
Women accounted for 70.8 percent of the 390,020 reported workplace illness cases caused by “other diseases due to viruses, not elsewhere classified” in private establishments in 2020. This category includes COVID-19 cases. Nursing assistants had the highest number of virus cases (65,480) and of these cases, 87.2 percent were women.
Biden OSHA Revives Union-, Worker-Friendly Inspection Rep Rule
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is reviving an enforcement policy by proposing a rule that would allow worker advocates to take part in inspections of nonunion workplaces, even if those advocates aren’t employees. The standard also may clarify union participation during inspections at worksites where workers are represented by organized labor.
Hanford Boss Warns of Potential Delays Ahead in Starting to Make Glass
The timeline to start converting low-level radioactive waste into glass at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hanford Site in Washington State has already been slowed by technical and workforce issues and more challenges could arise, a DOE manager told the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board.
Exchange Monitor [Author: Wayne Barber]
| Calendar Features | Back to Top |
Assess and Improve Your Pre-Task Planning (PTP) Using CPWR’s New Checklist
Pre-Task Planning (PTP) is a process performed before each task starts to discuss the steps of work, the hazards, and available controls. To fill the gap in current PTP practices, CPWR has developed an easy-to-use, one-page “Pre-Task Planning Assessment Checklist” based on research findings and input from construction practitioners. CPWR will host a webinar to share more about the PTP and checklist. The webinar will be held on January 26, 2023, 2:00 p.m. EST.
CPWR Webinar Series: Why We Need More Women in Construction
In this session, panelists from The Center for Construction Research and Training - CPWR, North America’s Building Trades Union, Alberici Construction, and the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers Union (Iron Workers) will review current employment trends and discuss the importance of hiring women to address labor shortages and other benefits to employers and employees. The webinar will be held on February 9, 2023, 2:00 p.m. EST.
| On The Web This Week | Back to Top |
Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF) Receives Grant Funding for Four Projects, Serving in Advisory Role for Five Additional Grants
The Fire Protection Research Foundation, the research affiliate of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), has received grant funding for four projects, including two funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency Assistance to Firefighters Grants and two funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Podcast: The California Floods
In this episode of The Daily podcast, a look into California’s past water management and how it has made recent flooding worse. Also, why the state’s water management represents a missed opportunity for the future of the water crisis.
Apprenticeship Training Connected with Safer Workplaces, Fewer Injuries
As apprenticeship programs continue to grow, they could reduce serious worker injuries and workers' compensation claims. The findings of a new study show workers' compensation claim rates were 31 percent lower among journey level plumbers with apprenticeship training compared to plumbers who did not complete an apprenticeship.
| Federal Agency Update | Back to Top |
DHS Announces Process Enhancements for Supporting Labor Enforcement Investigations
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that noncitizen workers who are victims of, or witnesses to, the violation of labor rights, can now access a streamlined and expedited deferred action request process. Deferred action protects noncitizen workers from threats of immigration-related retaliation from the exploitive employers.
EPA Awards Research Funding to 25 Small Businesses to Develop Environmental Technologies
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $2,497,134 in research funding for 25 small businesses to develop technologies that address some of our most pressing environmental problems. Projects include technologies for to detect methane emissions, methods to prolong the shelf life of foods and reduce food waste, software systems to improve recycling and materials management, and a water sampling device to detect the presence of PFAS.
U.S. Department of Labor Awards $325K to Provide Education, Training, Supportive Services to Migrant, Seasonal Farmworker Youth, Young Adults
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) today announced the award of $325,000 in grants to three organizations to support the delivery of educational and career training services for youth and young people ages 14-to-24 employed in agriculture. Projects funded may also support guidance and career counseling, financial literacy training, and entrepreneurial skills.
| Awardee Highlights/Online Learning | Back to Top |
Climate Resilience Resources
The NIEHS Worker Training Program (WTP) has been working with its awardees and federal partners to explore the environmental and human health impacts of climate change and the risks workers and communities face as the consequences of climate change become more apparent.
| Job Openings | Back to Top |
Applications Open: OHIP Paid Summer Internship Opportunity
The Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP) is a national summer program dedicated to help students learn about the field of occupational safety and health (OSH) from those with most at stake: working people. Teams of two students are placed with a union or worker organization to investigate job-related safety and health problems among workers. Application deadline will be February 10, 2023.
International Union of Operating Engineers Seeks a Heavy Equipment Operator Instructor
International Union of Operating Engineers National Training Fund is seeking individual for full-time position of Heavy Equipment Operator Instructor. Position requires individual to have journey-person status and ability to teach disadvantaged youth ages 16 to 24. Previous teaching experience a plus.
| We Want Your Feedback | Back to Top |
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