Weekly E-Newsbrief
November 12, 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 |
New Study Finds Disturbing, Dramatic Increase in Worker Opioid Overdose Deaths; Advocates Demand Incoming Funds be Used for Preventive and Educational Services for Workers At-Risk
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) released an update to a report on opioid-related overdose deaths (OROD) by industry and occupation covering the years 2011-2015 to include new data gathered from 2016-2017. The report, titled Opioid-related Overdose Deaths in Massachusetts by Industry and Occupation, 2016-2017, shows that the average annual rate of OROD among workers nearly doubled over the period studied.
The Impact of Civil Unrest and Workplace Violence on Healthcare
The articles in this issue of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) The Exchange focus on three categories: healthcare preparation for and response to local civil unrest; trends, policies, and protocols related to workplace violence; and strategies for preventing and responding to violence in the emergency department.
Remembering America’s Nuclear Weapons Program Workers
In 2009, Congress adopted a resolution to honor America’s nuclear weapons workers. Each year since, the Senate has renewed this resolution designating Oct. 30 as a day of remembrance for nuclear weapons workers, including uranium miners, millers, and ore transporters. On this day of remembrance, we are reminded of the sacrifices made by nuclear weapons workers and their family members in the interest of our national defense.
U.S. Department of Labor Blog [Author: Rachel Pond]
Migrant Workers Who Clean Up Climate Disasters for Work Often Pay a Price
NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with Sarah Stillman, staff writer at The New Yorker, who spent the past year with some of the growing number of migrant laborers who follow climate disasters for work.
NPR [Authors: Audie Cornish, Jonaki Mehta, Amy Isackson, and Michael Levitt]
Impoverished Communities Pay for Worsening Impacts of Climate Change: Experts
Jimmy Brown, an activist who works with the local NAACP, says that when the power goes out in Gloster, Mississippi, as it did for half of Amite County during Hurricane Ida, it can stay out for days or weeks -- and help can be hard to come by. In the last five years, Gloster has had at least 774 outages and extreme weather events are the main culprits, according to Entergy Mississippi representatives.
ABC News [Author: Kiara Alfonseca]
Federal Judge Declines to Block Vaccine Mandate for Feds
A federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday opted not to block the Biden administration’s mandate that all federal employees and contractors be vaccinated against COVID-19, concluding that the 20 federal workers and military service members who brought the case have failed to meet any of the circumstances that allow for the issuance of an injunction.
Government Executive [Author: Erich Wagner]
| Calendar Features | Back to Top |
Protecting the Mental Health of Health Workers: A Call-To Action Webinar
Vivek Murthy, M.D., Surgeon General of the United States, will join National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Director John Howard, M.D., and other national experts from labor and medicine to discuss the mental health of the health workforce on Nov. 18 at 2:30 p.m. ET.
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 Dec. 2 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET.
Keystone Lecture with Dr. Kevin Riley on "Training and Support for Climate-Vulnerable Workers in the Western U.S."
The presentation will highlight the efforts of the Western Region Universities Consortium (WRUC), an NIEHS Worker Training Program grantee, to address the needs of workers through education and training, strategic partnerships, and capacity building initiatives. WRUC's efforts have focused largely on workers at elevated risk by virtue of sociodemographic characteristics, work settings, and/or employment arrangements. The presentation will consider lessons learned from this work to date, including the importance of building climate resilience among vulnerable workers and communities. The meeting will be held on Dec. 3 at 1:00 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.
Funding Available for Occupational Safety and Health Training Project Grants
The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health recently published a funding announcement for the Occupational Safety and Health Training Project Grants (TPGs). NIOSH supports training in occupational safety and health through the TPGs, which include academic training programs that support undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate training, along with programs that respond to the unique training needs of specialty groups. The deadline to apply is Dec. 17.
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 |
Lung Inflammation in Poultry Farm Workers Linked to Dust Bacteria
Can dust from poultry farms cause sickness in agricultural workers? The answer is yes, and the problem may be linked to bacteria particles, according to a study in the American Journal of Physiology: Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology.
Back Belts Do Not Prevent Low Back Pain or Injury
More than two decades ago, an influential study found that back belt use did not reduce low back pain or workers’ compensation claims for back injury. One of the largest of its kind, this 2000 study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, highlighted the importance of preventing low back pain and injury through other means.
Infrastructure Bill Makes First Major U.S. Investment in Climate Resilience
The $1 trillion infrastructure bill now headed to President Biden’s desk includes the largest amount of money ever spent by the United States to prepare the nation to withstand the devastating impacts of climate change. The $47 billion in the bill designated for climate resilience is intended to help communities prepare for the new age of extreme fires, floods, storms and droughts that scientists say are worsened by human-caused climate change.
The New York Times [Authors: Coral Davenport and Christopher Flavelle]
Healthy Buildings Can Help Stop COVID-19 Spread and Boost Worker Productivity
Healthy buildings have become the latest enticement to bring employees back into the office, and the first step is to make sure ventilation systems are working the way they are supposed to. Improving indoor air quality in offices could add as much as $20 billion annually to the U.S. economy, according to estimates from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
CNBC [Author: Susan Caminiti]
Coronavirus Cases by Occupation: Students and Unemployed with Highest Rates
Students, the unemployed and children have had the most coronavirus infections since July 2020 when cases were organized by occupation, according to public health data. The state has been able to categorize more than 41,000 coronavirus infections by profession, which includes categories that are not necessarily occupations, such as child cases and retired individuals.
Boston Herald [Author: Alexi Cohen]
The EPA Could Learn a Thing or Two From New Mexico’s Methane Rules
The state of New Mexico found itself ahead of the curve on a national issue when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its plans to implement new, more restrictive methane rules for oil and gas operators across the country sometime next year.
Capital and Main [Author: Jerry Redfern]
| Federal Agency Update | Back to Top |
U.S. EPA Announces Contract Opportunities for Navajo Nation Uranium Mine Cleanup Work
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Navajo Area Uranium Mines Response, Assessment, and Evaluation Services II (RAES II) contract. This RFP, with an estimated value of $65 million, is a solicitation aimed at firms capable of performing abandoned uranium mine assessments and other technical work on the Navajo Nation.
| Awardee Highlights/Online Learning | Back to Top |
Health and Safety Training Series in November 2021
The New England Consortium (TNEC) is a regional worker health and safety training project funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and based at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. TNEC is offering two-hour virtual courses at no-cost on a variety of health and safety topics this Fall: COVID-19 and its Variants: Latest Workplace Protection Strategies, HAZCOM – Hazard Communication, The Implications of COVID-19 for Mental Health, and more.
UNMC Researchers Get $3 Million Grant to Study Airborne Hazards
Researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) have received a $3 million, four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study the effect of airborne biohazards on military personnel, first responders, and veterans.
KSNB Local 4 [Author: Justin Kies]
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).
| 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