Weekly E-Newsbrief
November 5, 2021
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 |
Worker Health, Safety Benefit from Strategic Partnerships, Experts Say
During the NIEHS Worker Training Program (WTP) fall 2021 workshop held Oct. 20-21, participants shared experiences with and strategies for organizational partnerships aimed at improving worker health and safety. “Building and sustaining partnerships ensures the longevity and success of WTP efforts at a local and national scale,” said Sharon Beard, WTP director.
Environmental Factor [Author: Meredith Hernlund and Demia Wright]
New WTP COVID-19 Brief: Addressing Occupational Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 Variants
This brief provides background information on what SARS-CoV-2 variants are, and what controls are needed to protect workers from occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 variants. The most common SARS-CoV-2 variant currently circulating in the U.S. is the Delta variant, but this brief can apply to future variants. This document is part of a series of COVID-19 briefs prepared by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Worker Training Program (WTP).
First Responders Hope Self-Care Training in Gilbert Helps with Retention of Crews
First responders shoulder a lot of stress. The job can take a serious toll on their physical and mental health. East Valley crews went through special training this week, focusing on self-care. The hope is to keep our police and firefighters healthier and happier on the job longer.
AZ Family [Author: Brittini Thomason]
Navajo Leaders, Community Members Oppose Nuclear Waste Transport Near Reservation
Navajo Nation leaders and local community members are opposing a plan by the federal government to transport nuclear waste near homes. It’s part of an attempt to clean up one of the most notorious abandoned uranium mines in the region. KNAU’s Ryan Heinsius reports.
KNAU [Author: Ryan Heinsius, Arizona Public Radio]
Forced Relocation Left Native Americans More Exposed to Climate Threats, Data Show
Centuries of land loss and forced relocation have left Native Americans significantly more exposed to the effects of climate change, new data show, adding to the debate over how to address climate change and racial inequity in the United States. The findings, published in the journal Science, mark the first time that researchers have been able to quantify on a large scale.
In the Rural West, Some Residents Are Taking Firefighting Into Their Own Hands
Molly Linville is one of a growing number of Americans across the rural west who are taking fire management into their own hands: buying surplus fire trucks, construction rigs and converted military vehicles online to protect their homes and land. Some have maintained fire defenses for decades. Many professional firefighters look warily on the movement, concerned it may give untrained homeowners a false sense of security.
Plagued by Daily Blackouts, Puerto Ricans Are Calling for an Energy Revolution
With Puerto Rico’s grid still in shambles four years after Maria’s landfall, and $12.4 billion in federal aid earmarked to help repair the territory’s electrical systems and jumpstart its economy, many Puerto Ricans see a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the island’s tattered power system as a modern grid powered by clean energy and far better at withstanding the worsening threats of the climate crisis.
Inside Climate News [Author: Kristoffer Tigue]
Unchecked Oil and Gas Wastewater Threatens California Groundwater
Lax oversight has allowed oil and gas developers to dump billions of barrels of toxic wastewater into the ground, endangering the San Joaquin Valley’s dwindling groundwater supplies. Over a 50-year period, according to a study published in Environmental Science & Technology this month, oil and gas developers poured more than 16 billion barrels of produced water into unlined earthen disposal “ponds,” releasing high concentrations of contaminants into groundwater.
Inside Climate News [Author: Liza Gross]
| Calendar Features | Back to Top |
NIH Fund’s Transformative Health Disparities Research Community Listening Sessions Series
NIH Common Funds is hosting the Transformative Health Disparities Research Community Listening Sessions Series to gain perspectives on opportunities, challenges, and community needs related to interventions targeting social determinant factors that influence health disparities including education, healthcare, financial resources, neighborhood environments, and social context. The sessions for individual stakeholders will be held on Nov. 2, Nov. 4, Nov. 9, Nov. 10, Nov. 16, and Nov. 18.
Federal Transit Administration Announces Request for Information on Transit Worker Safety
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is seeking the input of transit industry personnel, researchers, contractors, government entities, transit users, and other interested parties to make American transit safer for millions of frontline staff. The FTA Request for Information (RFI) closes on Nov. 23.
Texas A&M Superfund Research Center Disaster Research Training Workshop
The Texas A&M Superfund Research Center is sponsoring a two-day, hands-on workshop that will be held at the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) Disaster City, Emergency Operations Training Center, College Station, Texas, on Dec. 2-3. Registration and the workshop agenda are now available.
NIEHS WTP COVID-19 Webinar Series: Occupational COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Schools
This webinar, hosted by the NIEHS Worker Training Program (WTP), will: provide a scientific basis for recommendations to prevent exposure to infectious agents; showcase model programs; and address ongoing challenges with proper ventilation, distancing, masking, and vaccine uptake. The panel will include NIEHS WTP grantees and national leaders who represent teachers’ unions, university-based program leads, and occupational health professionals who have built successful programs while being up against remarkable challenges. The webinar will be held December 2, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET.
Ex4OSH 2021 Conference
Ex4OSH 2021 conference will bring together an international and interdisciplinary audience of employers, workers, health and safety professionals, researchers, policymakers, and the academic community to address the need for an expanded focus for occupational safety and health. The virtual conference will be held on Thursday, Dec. 9-Saturday, Dec. 11.
COSHCON Registration Now Open
Registration for the National Conference on Worker Safety and Health (#COSHCON2021) is now available. The conference brings together a diverse, inclusive and bilingual group of workers, occupational health and safety experts, unions, activists and academics united around common goals. It will be held Dec. 7-9 and 14-16.
Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is initiating rulemaking to protect indoor and outdoor workers from hazardous heat and is interested in obtaining additional information about the extent and nature of hazardous heat in the workplace and the nature and effectiveness of interventions and controls used to prevent heat-related injury and illness. The deadline to comment is Dec. 27.
2022 National Environmental Justice Conference and Training Program
Leaders from various sectors will engage in an exchange of ideas and approaches to achieving environmental justice on March 9-11, 2022, in Washington, D.C. These interactive training sessions will feature voices of experience, research, discussions, and thought-provoking dialogue. The program format will feature the needs and challenges of communities, governments, municipalities, tribes, faith-based organizations, and others with an interest in environmental justice.
| On The Web This Week | Back to Top |
The Shatterproof Addiction Stigma Index
Shatterproof and The Hartford co-developed the Shatterproof Addiction Stigma Index (SASI) – a first-of-its-kind measurement tool designed to assess attitudes about substance use and people who use substances from the public. The SASI also measures the perceptions of those with a SUD, including the degree in which they have internalized this exclusion.
EPA Researchers Enhance Community Resilience
Communities are very complex, and no disaster is the same. To help state and local emergency planners think about resilience, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) researchers developed the Environmental Resilience Tool Wizard. The Tool Wizard is a website that pulls all of EPA’s tools and resources for increasing community resilience into one easily searchable place. The tools can be used to help address environmental concerns that may arise during a disaster related to air quality, water quality, environmental justice, ecosystems, sustainability, and waste.
Poor Mental Health Not Linked to Worse Lung Function
NIEHS scientists found that poor mental health indicators were not associated with reduced lung function, in contrast to what previous studies have suggested. The scientists used data from Gulf Long-Term Follow-up Study participants who helped cleanup after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and others who received worker safety training but did not engage in cleanup.
Artist Uses Tribal Symbolism, Traditions to Communicate Science
Artist Mallery Quetawki and NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP) scientists are turning complex environmental health concepts into meaningful images for Native American communities. Quetawki is a member of Zuni Pueblo, an indigenous community in western New Mexico. She works with researchers at the University of New Mexico SRP Center to increase environmental health literacy by bridging Western scientific concepts and traditional knowledge.
Environmental Factor [Author: Mali Velasco]
Scientists Design Risk Communication Strategies to Improve Health
By better understanding and connecting with communities, researchers can tailor messages, tools, and campaigns to effectively communicate environmental risks and improve public health, experts say. Building on their experience sharing such information with diverse groups, researchers from across the U.S. discussed successes, challenges, and recommendations during recent Risk e-Learning Webinars hosted by the NIEHS Superfund Research Program.
Environmental Factor [Author: Mali Velasco]
How the Housing Shortage, the Pandemic and Climate Change have Collided in the Ohio Valley
Some residents in Ohio Valley communities are still struggling to keep their heads above water over a year into the pandemic. A main cause of concern: housing. The federal eviction moratorium ended in late August after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Biden administration efforts to extend the moratorium into October.
Ohio Valley Resource [Authors: Liam Niemeyer, Katie Myers, and Alana Watson]
Labor Unions Push White House to Add Worker Protections to Biden COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate
The AFL-CIO and about two dozen other major unions representing teachers, service employees, meat processing plant, auto and steel workers spoke with the Biden administration on its proposed safety rule in an Oct. 18 teleconference call with White House officials from the Office of Management and Budget.
CNBC [Author: Spencer Kimball]
| Federal Agency Update | Back to Top |
U.S. Department of Labor Issues Emergency Temporary Standard to Protect Workers from Coronavirus
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced a new emergency temporary standard to protect more than 84 million workers from the spread of the coronavirus on the job. Under this standard, covered employers must develop, implement and enforce a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, unless they adopt a policy requiring employees to choose to either be vaccinated or undergo regular COVID-19 testing and wear a face covering at work.
U.S. Department of Labor Seeking Nominations for Newly Reestablished Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health
The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is seeking nominations for membership for the newly reestablished Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health, which advises the Secretary of Labor on all matters relating to the occupational safety and health of federal employees.
GAO: Lessons Learned from CARES Act Could Improve Federal Emergency Relief to Tribes
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that the Departments of the Interior and Treasury faced challenges distributing CARES Act funding for tribes. The Department of the Interior distributed the CARES Act Operation of Indian Programs (OIP) appropriation through existing programs while the Department of the Treasury had to set up a new program to distribute the Coronavirus Relief Fund Tribal Government Set-Aside. This resulted in tribes taking fewer steps to access and use Interior’s OIP appropriation than Treasury’s program.
CSB Held Quarterly Business Meeting
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) held its first quarterly business meeting of Fiscal Year 2022. Dr. Katerine Lemos, Chairperson and CEO of the CSB, provided a broad update on recent agency successes and upcoming plans, and stressed the agency’s strong upward trend in performance.
| Awardee Highlights/Online Learning | Back to Top |
New Tool Helps to Identify COVID-19 Patterns and Outbreaks Among Industries and Occupations
NIOSH researchers recently participated in the development and review of an updated version of the document that introduces the SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) Occupational Exposure Matrix (SOEM) tool. This tool can be used to identify patterns of COVID-19 cases and outbreaks to better understand if a person’s job contributes to the spread of COVID-19.
Ensuring Worker Safety and Health in the Aftermath of Disasters
A new fact sheet provides a comprehensive overview of WTP’s longtime efforts and successes in disaster preparedness and response. It describes response efforts dating back to the 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attacks, along with other activities related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil Spill, California wildfires, the 2014 Ebola virus outbreak, the COVID-19 pandemic, and many others.
Gig Workers’ Health Studied by New California Labor Laboratory
The California Labor Laboratory is a new initiative of University of California San Francisco (UCSF), UC Berkeley, and the California Department of Public Health to design and inform policies, programs, and practices that advance worker well-being. Funded by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the center will address the health of California workers in both traditional jobs and other employment arrangements.
UCSF California Labor Laboratory [Author: Rebecca Wolfson]
Improving the Conditions of Work for Vulnerable Populations
The Center for Work, Health, and Well-being at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has identified and promoted the workplace policies, programs, and practices that foster safe and healthy working conditions. In September, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health supported these efforts by renewing the Center’s funding with a five-year, $6.9 million grant.
| Job Openings | Back to Top |
WRUC Seeks Program Manager/Educator
The Project Manager/Educator manages the federally-funded Western Region Universities Consortium (WRUC), one of 20 programs supported by the NIEHS Worker Training Program whose aim is to reduce worker exposure to occupational and environmental hazards. The position is based at the University of California Los Angeles Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program.
UC Berkeley Seeks Coordinator of Public Programs, LOHP
The University of California Berkeley’s (UC Berkeley) School of Public Health seeks a coordinator for their Labor Occupational Health Program (LOHP) is the community engagement/outreach program of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health. LOHP promotes safe, healthy, and just workplaces and builds the capacity of workers and worker organizations to take action for improved working conditions.
| We Want Your Feedback | Back to Top |
We Want Your Feedback
What kinds of stories or other content would make this newsletter especially valuable to you?
Send your ideas for this newsletter to: wetpclear@niehs.nih.gov
To go back and subscribe to the newsletter, click here
Back issues of our Newsbrief are available at our archives page