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The E-Newsbrief of the National Clearinghouse for Worker Safety and Health Training is a free weekly newsletter focusing on new developments in the world of worker health and safety.
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Registration is now open for the 2024 NIEHS WTP Fall Awardee Meeting and Workshop. The awardee meeting will be held on October 22, 2024, and will be in-person only. The workshop will follow on October 23-24, 2024, and will be in-person only at the NIEHS campus in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Registration for the grant recipient meeting and workshop will close October 11, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. EDT.
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For the first time in decades, public health data shows a significant drop in drug overdose deaths across the U.S. National surveys compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already show an unprecedented decline in drug deaths of roughly 10.6%. Some researchers believe the data will show an even larger decline in drug deaths when federal surveys are updated to reflect improvements being seen at the state level, especially in the eastern U.S. Roughly 100,000 deaths still occur every year, but most public health experts, and some people living with addiction, told NPR they believe catastrophic increases in drug deaths have ended for now. Many said a widespread, meaningful shift appears underway.
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a close contact of the person in Missouri who had an unexplained H5N1 bird flu infection last month was also sick around the same time but was not tested for influenza. The CDC reiterated that there has been no spread of H5N1 between the infected individual and any of their close contacts. The agency hopes close contacts of the confirmed case will agree to give blood samples to check for undetected transmission from or around the individual, however it is too soon to conduct such tests due to timing of antibody development after infection.
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During the past two decades, federal officials have launched three national suicide prevention strategies. The latest strategy, announced in April, builds on previous ones and includes a federal action plan calling for the implementation of 200 measures over the next three years, including prioritizing populations, such as Black youth and Native Americans and Alaska Natives, who are disproportionately affected by suicide. Despite those evolving strategies, suicide rates increased most years from 2001 through 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, mental health experts contend the national strategies are not the problem, but rather the policies simply are not being funded, adopted, and used.
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Hurricane season is heating up with stormy activity in the Atlantic and forecasters are expecting more in the next few weeks. One big factor is the warm water where storms form in the Atlantic and Caribbean. Average global ocean temperatures have been in record-breaking territory for most of the last year and a half. Climate change is the main culprit, but in their quest to pin down the source for our hot oceans, scientists are investigating other suspects, including volcanoes and the sun.
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The increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme heat waves has drawn growing attention to the risk of illness and injury among workers directly exposed to climate change's adverse consequences. With climate impacts intensifying, it is critical to better understand how exposure to extreme temperatures is currently affecting workers, especially those with lower wages and low job control. A new research brief provides the first nationally representative estimates, using 2023 data from the Urban Institute’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, of how workers self-report being affected by extreme heat at their jobs.
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The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Office of Environmental Justice (EJ) and External Civil Rights will hold a webinar on September 25, 2:30 – 4:00 p.m. EDT as part of its EJ webinar series for Tribes and Indigenous Peoples. As Tribal communities continue to face EJ issues, there are efforts across Indian country to reclaim self-determination and sovereignty through renewing and innovating food pathways based on Indigenous Knowledge. Webinar speakers from EPA, Tribes, and Indigenous-serving, community-based organizations will share their work on feeding people, building sovereignty, and advancing EJ.
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Air quality issues in urban environments have long been a concern, dating back to historical complaints of smoke and odors from activities such as charcoal pits, blacksmithing, and cooking fires. The advent of low-cost air quality sensors and Internet of Things technology has made citizen science more accessible, opening new opportunities for meaningful collaboration between academic institutions and local communities. This webinar will explore the journey of the Citizen Air Monitoring Network and their collaboration with the University of California, Davis to develop a low-cost air monitoring network in Cincinnati, Ohio. The webinar will take place September 30, 2024, 1 – 2 p.m. EDT.
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Although the Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard on bloodborne pathogens has been around for more than three decades, it continues to confuse employers. The standard is cited 300-500 times a year, making it a frequently violated regulation in Part 1910. Perhaps the source of the confusion and noncompliance may be found in the very text of the standard – legal terminology that’s been with the standard from the beginning. This webinar will go over more than 70 key terms related to bloodborne pathogens and core requirements of the standard, along with the opportunity to ask questions. It will take place October 17, 2024, Noon – 1 p.m. CDT.
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Brownfields 2025 will take place in Chicago, Illinois August 5-8, 2025. The call is now open for ideas on dynamic educational sessions that encourage conversation and participation from fellow attendees. A great session will motivate brownfields stakeholders to engage, learn, and share their experiences and knowledge of community revitalization challenges and solutions. Ideas must be submitted by December 20, 2024, 11:59 p.m. ET.
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Reporter Alice Driver’s new book “The Life and Death of the American Worker” is an accounting of the lives and working conditions faced by poultry and meatpacking workers in Arkansas, where Tyson Foods is headquartered. Driver was recently interviewed about the process of reporting the book, conditions for poultry workers, and what’s next for the poultry workers organizing for better working conditions in Arkansas.
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There’s a lot at play with vector-borne disease, not all of it climate change-related. These diseases live in animal hosts, so scientists must consider how climate change affects those animals and vector species like ticks. Human encroachment on forested land home to both host animals and ticks increases human-tick interactions and potential exposure to tick-borne disease. As for the ticks themselves, longer summers and milder winters mean they are coming out earlier and sticking around for longer.
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Climate change is increasing the severity and frequency of extreme weather events like wildfires, floods, and hurricanes. Scientists now say that carbon monoxide poisonings are on the rise amid widespread power outages following those events. This summer’s Hurricane Beryl, which impacted Texas, was linked to an increase in carbon monoxide deaths due to portable generators. One small portable generator can emit the same amount of carbon monoxide as hundreds of cars, and they are suspected to lead to about 70 deaths each year. With extreme weather events becoming more frequent, the subsequent increase in power outages is leading to more portable generator use and thus more carbon monoxide poisoning.
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The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) released the draft Hazard Review: Wildland Fire Smoke Exposure Among Farmworkers and Other Outdoor Workers. It is open for public comment until November 12, 2024. Smoke from wildland fires has become an increasingly widespread and potentially serious threat to public health in recent years. This draft Hazard Review is the first federal level authoritative document with a focus on wildland fire smoke for outdoor workers, and it will increase awareness about the overall risk of exposure to wildland fire smoke on outdoor workers' health.
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The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced nearly $100 million in awards to grow, support, and strengthen the health workforce and improve access to quality care in high-need areas across the country. These HRSA-funded awards will enhance and expand the number of nurses and primary care physicians in the health workforce, while increasing behavioral health support by growing the community-based workforce.
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The Department of Labor (DOL) paid tribute to nine labor unions representing nearly three million members, retirees, and their families that have fought for workers’ rights. The labor unions were also inducted on September 17, 2024, into the department’s Century of Service Honor Roll of American Labor Organizations. For over 100 years, these unions have made our communities strong by delivering the mail, keeping us safe, making sure our trains and planes are running, delivering federal services, caring for our loved ones, building our homes, and then protecting them from fires, and leading the charge for social, economic and racial justice.
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The Biden-Harris administration announced the approval of the Maryland Offshore Wind Project, the nation’s tenth commercial-scale offshore wind energy project approved under President Biden’s leadership. With the announcement, the Department of Interior (DOI) has approved more than 15 gigawatts of clean energy from offshore wind energy projects. Projects approved to date will power over 5 million homes.
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its appointees for the first-ever Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions Federal Advisory Council (HBCU-MSI), naming Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) founder and executive director Beverly Wright, Ph.D., as a vice chair. The HBCU-MSI Federal Advisory Council is part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s broader efforts to promote equity in economic and educational opportunities, protect public health, and preserve the environment. Wright is an environmental justice scholar, advocate, author, civic leader, professor of Sociology, and has received distinguished awards and co-authored numerous works highlighting the injustices of environmental hazards on communities of color.
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The county of Sacramento, California, is looking to hire an industrial hygienist. This position would provide consultation and direction to county departments on industrial hygiene and occupational health problems, integrate occupational health programs and concepts into standard safety programs, and perform difficult industrial hygiene and occupational health work.
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