Company fined after exposing Montana workers to arsenic
A company that turned mining waste into roofing materials in Montana was fined and ordered to conduct medical monitoring after pleading guilty to exposing its employees to arsenic
Source: ABC News: Health - December 10, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health Source Type: news

Nursing Home COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates Protect The Most Vulnerable, But Pose a Hidden Threat to Residents
Some two weeks before U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Aug. 18 that nursing homes must require their staff to get vaccinated or risk losing their Medicare and Medicaid funding, Genesis HealthCare, which manages about 250 facilities nationwide that offer long-term care and other services, had said its workers would need to be vaccinated. “The growing spread of the Delta variant makes clear that we need to increase our vaccination rates substantially to better protect our patients, residents and employees,” read an Aug. 2 memo to employees, noting that 65% of staffers were vaccinated at that point; employees...
Source: TIME: Health - September 2, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tara Law Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news

Factors affecting material-cart handling in the roofing industry: evidence for administrative controls - Zhang Z, Lin KY, Lin JH.
Material-cart handling can be strenuous and lead to overexertion injuries. The aim of this study is to produce a thorough understanding of how the cart condition, tire type, physical environment-related factors, and load interact to influence the ergonomic...
Source: SafetyLit - February 15, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Falls Source Type: news

Productivity-safety model: debunking the myth of the productivity-safety divide through a mixed-reality residential roofing task - Hasanzadeh S, De La Garza JM.
Distractions theory and general practice have suggested that providing safe physical conditions will reduce task demands and thereby increase workers' ability to develop highly productive and safe production systems. However, the construction industry has ...
Source: SafetyLit - October 20, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Ergonomics, Human Factors, Anthropometrics, Physiology Source Type: news

Transforming the Global Economy or Parachuting Cats into Borneo?
Credit: United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)By Lawrence SurendraBANGKOK, Thailand, Aug 24 2020 (IPS) The COVID 19 Pandemic continues relentlessly. Deaths approaching a million globally, 22 million infected and growing. Brazil, India, the US and Russia accounting for almost 50% of the total cases in the world. Medically the promise of a vaccine is given as signs of hope; what surprises awaits us when such a vaccine is available, would be another story. Economically, to address the uncertainty and the grim future ahead, the UN, some governments and even Joe Biden the US Presidential hopeful, are waving ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - August 24, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Lawrence Surendra Tags: Development & Aid Featured Global Headlines Health Humanitarian Emergencies IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse Population Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news

New partnership helps small businesses connect their employees to addiction services
Joe Tunney said his roofing contracting company used to observe a "zero tolerance" substance and drug use policy. That meant if an employee was suspected of having a substance problem, they would have to submit to a drug test. And if the test came back positive, the employee would be terminated. That policy has changed, since Tunney learned that two employees who had been terminated had ultimately succumbed to their addictions, and passed away. Tunney is president of American Design and Build…
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Pharmaceuticals headlines - November 13, 2019 Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Morgan Eichensehr Source Type: news

Inspector General Report: Asbestos Exposure a Concern on Army Posts
Residents in privatized housing on nearly 50 Army installations cited concerns with issues such as lead paint and asbestos, the toxic building material linked to mesothelioma cancer, according to a recent report from the Department of the Army Inspector General. The report, which was made public earlier this month, includes surveys, document reviews and interviews with residents at 49 Army installations across the U.S., including Fort Bragg (N.C.), Fort Campbell (Ky.) and Fort Hood in Texas. Military families at 48 of the 49 sites cited concerns with safety or environmental issues inside the aging on-base housing at the ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - September 25, 2019 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Matt Mauney Source Type: news

Assessing work-related risk factors for musculoskeletal knee disorders in construction roofing tasks - Breloff SP, Dutta A, Dai F, Sinsel EW, Warren CM, Ning X, Wu JZ.
Roofers often suffer from musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) to their knees due to spending a large amount of time kneeling while performing work-related roofing activities on sloped rooftops. Several ergonomic studies have identified kneeling as a potential...
Source: SafetyLit - August 21, 2019 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Falls Source Type: news

Mesothelioma Death Rate Still Rising in Great Britain
Despite banning all forms and uses of asbestos 20 years ago, Great Britain still has one of the world’s highest rates of mesothelioma cancer, according to the government’s Health and Safety Executive report. The July 2019 report revealed the number of annual deaths from mesothelioma in the country still is peaking and expected to begin a gradual decline in 2020. The report included 2,523 deaths in 2017 (the last year available) from mesothelioma, the rare and aggressive cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. It estimates as many as 2,637 others could die in 2019. Great Britain, which comprises the nations of England, ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - July 22, 2019 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Matt Mauney Source Type: news

States File Lawsuit Against EPA Over Asbestos Regulation
A coalition of attorneys general from 10 states and the District of Columbia has filed a federal lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency seeking increased scrutiny on asbestos products. The lawsuit is challenging the EPA’s reluctance to initiate tighter controls or an outright ban of asbestos within the Toxic Substances Control Act, which was revised in 2016. At issue is the EPA’s denial of a petition filed by 15 attorneys general in January that would have required more data collection and tracking of chemicals, including asbestos, coming into the U.S. The lawsuit says the data collection is necessary to p...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - July 3, 2019 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Matt Mauney Source Type: news

Asbestos Found in Lungs of Half the Thailand Population
Almost 50% of the general population in Thailand will die with at least traces of asbestos in their lungs, based on one recent study. Asbestos fibers were discovered in the lungs of 48.5% of those who were part of a one-year, post-mortem analysis done by the Department of Pathology at Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University in Bangkok. The toxic mineral was found during 97 of the 200 autopsies that were performed at the hospital without regard to occupation, age, sex or cause of death. A two-year-old infant, who died of congenital heart disease, was the youngest to have asbestos identified in the lungs. “The prevalence ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - July 1, 2019 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Matt Mauney Source Type: news

Chlor-Alkali Industry Wants Exception to Proposed US Asbestos Ban
The influential American Chemistry Council in Washington, D.C., would likely drop its opposition to an across-the-board ban on asbestos provided an exemption remains for the chlor-alkali industry. Mike Walls, ACC vice president for regulatory affairs, clarified his position last month during a congressional Environment and Climate Change subcommittee hearing to discuss the latest legislative effort to ban all asbestos. “We certainly are not opposing a ban for all other uses of asbestos. I just want to make that clear,” Walls said. “The ACC’s opposition [on legislation] is focused on the impact on the chlor-alkali ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - June 25, 2019 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Matt Mauney Source Type: news

Three Dead as Tornado Strikes Missouri Capital
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A "violent tornado" touched down in Jefferson City, causing heavy damage in Missouri's capital city as severe weather swept across the state overnight, causing three deaths and leaving many people trapped in the wreckage of their homes. The service reported that a "confirmed large and destructive tornado" was observed over Jefferson City at 11:43 p.m. Wednesday, moving northeast at 40 mph (64 kph). The capital city has a population of about 40,000 and is located about 130 miles (209 kilometers) west of St. Louis. "Across the state, Missouri's first responders once again...
Source: JEMS: Journal of Emergency Medical Services News - May 23, 2019 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Major Incidents News Source Type: news

EPA Ignored Advice from Staff Experts When Issuing New Asbestos Rule
More than a dozen senior officials and experts at the Environmental Protection Agency urged the EPA to ban asbestos outright, a new report shows. Two internal memos obtained by the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization and shared with the New York Times reveal the EPA’s own scientists and lawyers advised the agency to issue a complete ban of asbestos instead of the recent regulations that only restricted its domestic use. In the memos, dated Aug. 10, 2018, EPA staff members wrote that the agency “should seek to ban all new uses of asbestos because the extreme harm from this chemical substance outweighs any benefit....
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - May 8, 2019 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Matt Mauney Source Type: news

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