Weekly E-Newsbrief
November 19, 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 |
Proposed Plutonium Shipments Concern New Mexico Lawmakers
A panel of state lawmakers expressed concerns about plans to truck plutonium shipments through New Mexico, including Santa Fe's southern edge, and will send letters to state and federal officials asking for more information on the transports.
Yahoo! News [Author: Scott Wyland, The Santa Fe New Mexican]
IAEA’s Conference Co-Sponsored by WHO on a Decade of Progress After Fukushima-Daiichi
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference held on Nov. 8-12 focused on looking back on the lessons learned, experiences shared, results, and achievements from actions undertaken by national, regional, and international communities following the accident and identifying ways for further strengthening nuclear safety.
California Warehouse Quotas Law Depends on Those it Shields
A new California law regulating warehouse worker quotas, rest, and meal breaks at Amazon.com Inc. fulfillment centers and elsewhere could rely heavily on those workers for its enforcement against employers who fail to comply.
Bloomberg Law [Author: Fatima Hussein and Tiffany Stecker]
The Chicken Industry’s Worker Safety Problem
Human workers paid the cost of increased chicken productivity as, over the past few decades, poultry processing line speeds have increased to meet this demand. But that’s happened in tandem with the decline of unions and deregulation of the industry. The result is a high rate of workplace injuries and repetitive motion disorders, with gaps in workplace safety oversight.
Vox [Author: Laura Bult]
U.S. to Allow Pork Plants to Operate Faster in Trial Program
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said that nine pork plants can apply to operate faster processing-line speeds under a one-year trial, after a federal judge in March struck down a Trump-era rule that removed line speed limits.
Reuters [Author: Tom Polansek]
| Calendar Features | Back to Top |
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.
Finding EPA Resilience Resources with the Environmental Resilience Tools Wizard
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is hosting a webinar that will provide an overview of the environmental dimensions of disasters and of building resilience and walkthrough examples of how to conduct searches and evaluate the results. The Environmental Resilience Tools Wizard was created to help state and local emergency managers, environmental and health agencies, and other users who may not be familiar with EPA resources that help build community resilience to disasters. It will be held on Dec. 1 at 3:00-4:00 p.m. ET.
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 for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) 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 |
OSHA Program Aims to Protect Employee Exposure to Hazardous Materials
To reduce employee exposure to health hazards and encourage companies to make workplace safety and health a priority, the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) regional office in Kansas City has established a Regional Emphasis Program targeting OSHA’s Top 50 High-Hazard Health Industries.
Onsite Manufacturing Training Provided to Lawrence County Jail Inmates
The Lawrence County Economic Growth Council and Sheriff’s Department of Lawrence County teamed with Purdue Manufacturing Extension Partnership to offer a ten-day training cohort to qualifying inmates at the Lawrence County Jail. The participants earned valuable technical skills useful for a career in the manufacturing industry.
Flooding and Nuclear Waste Eat Away at a Tribe’s Ancestral Home
A stockpile of nuclear waste from a power plant next to their reservation, which the federal government reneged on a promise to remove in the 1990s, has tripled in size. It comes within 600 yards of some residents' homes.
Environmental Health News [Author: Pete Myers]
Mayor Scott Announces $55M for Workforce Development, Recovery Fund for Businesses
Baltimore, Maryland, Mayor Brandon Scott said the city would invest $30 million of its American Rescue Plan funding into workforce and economic development and another $25 million into a recovery fund for businesses, nonprofits and artists. The Mayor’s Office of Employment Development will spend the $30 million over the next four fiscal years.
Portable Device Capable of Monitoring Gamma Radiation and Neutrons in Radioactive and Nuclear Processes
A group of researchers from the Institute of Corpuscular Physics, a joint center of the University of Valencia and the Spanish National Research Council, has patented a compact and portable device capable of simultaneously monitoring gamma radiation and neutrons produced in radioactive processes and nuclear reactions.
| Federal Agency Update | Back to Top |
U.S. Department of Labor Opens Online Dialogue with Stakeholders to Expand Access Among Underrepresented Communities to Registered Apprenticeships
The U.S. Department of Labor launched an online dialogue with stakeholders to increase access to Registered Apprenticeships for job seekers in underrepresented communities. Conversation and ideas shared will help develop and shape future Registered Apprenticeship programs and funding opportunities, and foster diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
EPA Partners with Tribes to Deploy Air Sensors in Communities
Particulate matter (PM) pollution from wildfire smoke is especially harmful when it becomes trapped in wintertime inversion layers in the varied Pacific Northwest terrain. EPA is working to roll out air sensor loan programs in a variety of venues, including on Pacific Northwest tribal lands, to help people learn about air quality issues in their communities.
Nearly-Empty Board Hobbles Chemical Safety Panel, Watchdog Says
The single biggest risk to the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board’s operations is the lack of a fully staffed panel, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) internal watchdog said in a report. The board only has one member, chairwoman Katherine Lemos, rather than the full complement of five.
Bloomberg Law [Author: Stephen Lee]
| Awardee Highlights/Online Learning | Back to Top |
Strategic Toolkit for Assessing Risks: A Comprehensive Toolkit for All-Hazards Health Emergency Risk Assessment
The Strategic Tool for Assessing Risks (STAR) offers a comprehensive, easy-to-use toolkit and approach to enable national and subnational governments to rapidly conduct a strategic and evidence-based assessment of public health risks for planning and prioritization of health emergency preparedness and disaster risk management activities. This guidance describes the principles and methodology of STAR.
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: C OVID-19 and its Variants: Latest Workplace Protection Strategies, HAZCOM – Hazard Communication, The Implications of COVID-19 for Mental Health, and more.
| Job Openings | Back to Top |
AFSCME Seeks Health and Safety Advocate
The American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) seeks a health and safety advocate. The position will perform a wide variety of analyses involving health and safety policy issues at the federal, state, and local levels; assists and advises affiliates when unsafe or unhealthy situations exist, in the event of work-related illnesses or injuries, during organizing campaigns and other union activities; and leads training activities.
Northeastern University Seeks Research Safety Training Specialist
The Occupational Health and Safety Training Specialist is primarily public facing and reports to the Assistant Director for Program Development, Assessment, and Outreach. The specialist is responsible for supporting a climate of safety in Northeastern University education and research enterprise through the development, maintenance, and evaluation of quality environmental and occupational health training programs.
UFCW Seeks Director of the Occupational Safety and Health
The United Food and Commercial (UFCW) Workers is hiring a Director of the Occupational Safety and Health Office based in Washington, DC. The position is responsible for the overall operation, programs and activities related to occupational safety and health that impact and are relevant to UFCW-represented industries and workers.
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.
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