Weekly E-Newsbrief
September 23, 2022
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 |
Recording Available for NIEHS Webinar: Looking Back at COVID-19 and Planning Ahead for Future Threats
As workplaces transition out of the COVID-19 pandemic, focus needs to be on helping employers and workers prepare for ongoing and future infectious disease threats. This webinar took a “look back” to describe the WTP COVID-19 program and showcase some of the materials produced. It also looked ahead to determine how we can collaboratively plan, prepare, and build workforce capacity to prevent future infectious disease threats, especially among worker populations that face the greatest risks and disparities.
National Disaster Distress Helpline
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Disaster Distress Helpline provides crisis counseling and support to people experiencing emotional distress related to natural or human-caused disasters. The national hotline provides immediate crisis counseling for people who are experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster. This toll-free, multilingual, and confidential crisis support service is available to all residents in the United States and its territories. Call 1-800-985-5990, 24/7, 365-day-a-year.
Workers in New York Who Have to Stand for Hours May Soon be Entitled to Take a Seat
Workers in New York state who have to unnecessarily stand for long periods on the job might soon be entitled to take a seat if a new bill becomes law. The bill, introduced by the state's senate, will make employers give seats to their workers to boost workplace safety.
Business Insider [Author: Jyoti Mann]
Deal That Prevented Rail Strike Still Needs Worker Support
A last-minute deal prevented a railroad strike for now, but many rail workers remain unhappy with working conditions. Workers' concerns about time off and demanding attendance policies at the railroads took center stage in the negotiations.
| Calendar Features | Back to Top |
Virtual Roundtable on Lead Service Line Replacement
The Environmental Policy innovation Center (EPIC) is hosting a virtual roundtable on lead service line replacement to mark one year since we launched the Lead-Free Water Challenge with partners and public utilities. The roundtable will highlight lessons learned from a panel of utilities and partners on financing, data management, inventories, and communications. The event will be held on October 6, 2022, at 1:00 p.m. EDT.
OSHA Schedules Stakeholder Meeting to Provide Overview of its Process Safety Management Rulemaking Project
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration will hold a virtual informal stakeholder meeting to seek public comments on potential changes to the Process Safety Management standard. The meeting will be held on Oct. 12, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. EDT.
Registration Open: COSHCON 2022
The National Conference on Worker Safety and Health (COSHCON 2022) is the only national gathering of its kind. COSHCON 2022 brings together a diverse, inclusive and bilingual group of workers, occupational health and safety experts, unions, activists and academics united around common goals. Join together to celebrate and encourage workers' power, make our workplaces safer and reduce the toll of on-the-job injuries, illnesses and fatalities. The event will be held on December 6-8 and 13-15, 2022.
| On The Web This Week | Back to Top |
The Crosby Group: Important Safety Notice on Screw Pin Anchor Shackles
Screw pin anchor shackles listed in the notice may have a condition that can reduce the ultimate load capacity from the published catalog values. The shackle bow may have a previously undetected indication, and continued use may result in loss of load, property damage, severe injury, or death.
Disaster Research Response Front and Center During Seattle Workshop
The University of Washington (UW) hosted the 2022 Disaster Research Response (DR2) workshop in Seattle, sponsored in part by NIEHS. Representatives from academia, the private sector, Pacific Northwest tribes, and community-based groups — as well as government personnel across local, state, and federal levels — gathered at UW to examine regional capacity to inform and conduct disaster research.
Environmental Factor [Author: Dylan Williams]
Those Hurricane Maps Don’t Mean What You Think They Mean
Studies show that some people misinterpret the hurricane cone map as indicating the storm getting bigger over time. Others think it shows areas under threat. Research by a University of Miami team suggests 40 percent of people wouldn’t feel threatened if they lived just outside of the cone.
The New York Times [Authors: Alberto Cairo and Tala Schlossberg]
| Federal Agency Update | Back to Top |
U.S. Department of Labor Awards More Than $11.7 M in Grants to Educate Workers, Employers on Workplace Safety, Health
The U.S. Department of Labor announced the award of $11,746,992, in grants to support worker and employer education to make workplaces around the nation safer and healthier. Administered by the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Susan Harwood Training Grant Program is making grants to 90 nonprofit organizations in fiscal year 2022 for education and training on hazard recognition and injury prevention, workers' rights, and employers' legal responsibilities to provide safe and healthful workplaces.
U.S. Department of Labor Awards $34.4M in Grants to Improve Access to Good Jobs, Training in Appalachian Region, Lower Mississippi Delta
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced – in partnership with the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Delta Regional Authority – awards totaling $34,375,000, to provide education, training and supportive services in regions that have suffered significant job losses in the energy extraction industry.
U.S. Department of Energy Announces Prize to Increase Equity and Develop Clean Energy Solutions for Underserved Communities
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a new equity-focused prize competition to accelerate decarbonization and support community driven clean energy solutions. This DOE American-Made Challenge, next in the series of Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Inclusive Energy Innovation prizes, supports development between community-based organizations to address energy challenges.
| Awardee Highlights/Online Learning | Back to Top |
Five Years After Maria, Supporting Community Efforts to Face Climate Change
Five years after the category 5 hurricane left more than 4,000 dead, destroyed the electric power system, and caused millions in losses to the Island's agriculture-based economy. Although the hurricane presented unimaginable challenges for the population, their will and energy in organizing and responding to the emergency was remarkable.
Migrant Clinicians Network Blog [Author: Marysel Pagán Santana]
The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface
Wildfires in America are becoming larger, more frequent, and more destructive, driven by climate change and existing land management practices. Many of these fires occur at the wildland-urban interface (WUI), areas where development and wildland areas overlap, and which are increasingly at risk of devastating fires as communities continue to expand into previously undeveloped areas. Unlike conventional wildfires, WUI fires are driven in part by burning of homes, cars, and other human-made structures, and in part by burning vegetation.
Cal/OSHA Posts Guidance on Protecting Workers from Monkeypox
The California State Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has posted guidance on monkeypox (MPX) to ensure workers in California are protected from the aerosol transmissible disease. This guidance applies to workplaces covered by the Aerosol Transmissible Diseases (ATD) standard, including health care facilities, medical transport, police, public health services and more.
ECA Releases New Online Guide to Nuclear Cleanup
The Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) released the Guide to Successful Environmental Cleanup, an interactive online resource that provides frequently asked questions, case studies, and recommendations regarding nuclear waste cleanup. To assist local government officials, their communities, and federal agencies in deciphering the complexities of the environmental cleanup process, ECA developed this guide to facilitate future successful cleanups.
| Job Openings | Back to Top |
NIEHS Seeking Health Scientist Administrator (Program Officer)
The Worker Education and Training Branch is looking for a program officer to 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.
AOEC Executive Director Position
The Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics (AOEC) is seeking a full- or part-time Executive Director (ED) to build on its rich history of advancing occupational health care for workers. Since its founding in 1987, AOEC has grown to a network of more than 60 clinics and more than 250 individuals committed to improving the practice of occupational and environmental medicine through information sharing and collaborative research.
| 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