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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 for the 2024 NIEHS WTP Fall Award Recipient Meeting and Workshop closes today, Friday October 11, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. ET. The award recipient meeting will be held October 22, 2024, and will be in-person only. The workshop will follow October 23-24, 2024, and will be in-person only at the NIEHS campus in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
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Florida authorities began assessing the damage left by Hurricane Milton's passage across the state early October 10, as the storm passed into the Atlantic Ocean after a night of high winds, torrential rain, and storm surge. Milton made landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast late October 9 as a Category 3 hurricane. It came ashore with winds of 100 mph and spawned dozens of tornadoes. About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane came ashore, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens. Milton also caused a major water main break, which impacted potable water services across the entire city of St. Petersburg.
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Florida’s west-central coast is home to many boat and spa factories, along with the rubber, plastics, and fiberglass manufacturers that supply them. Many of these facilities use tens of thousands of registered contaminants each year, including toluene, styrene, and other chemicals known to have adverse effects on the central nervous system with prolonged exposure. In disasters like hurricanes, the industrial damage can unfold over days, and residents may not hear about releases of toxic chemicals into the water or air until days or weeks later, if they find out at all.
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is warning workers involved in recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene to be aware of hazards caused by flooding, power outages, structural damage, fallen trees, and storm debris. Protective measures that employers and workers should take include evaluating work areas for hazards, assessing the stability of structures and walking surfaces, and using personal protective equipment such as gloves, hard hats, and hearing, foot, and eye protection. As the region seeks to restore communities after Hurricane Helene, it is important to remember the wide range of hazards storm recovery presents, particularly for emergency responders and recovery workers.
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There are no approved medications from the Food and Drug Administration for the more than 3 million Americans addicted to stimulants like meth and cocaine. Instead, the most effective treatment is low-tech and more controversial: give people retail gift cards usually worth less than $30 in exchange for negative drug tests. Research shows that it works, and after more than three decades of resistance, policymakers are finally giving that strategy a chance. The treatment is based on a well-established concept that positive reinforcement is an effective motivator. Studies suggest that the immediate excitement of receiving a gift card after a negative test replaces the dopamine rush people experience from using drugs.
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Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are overwhelmingly the number one cause of injuries among warehousing and “last-mile delivery” workers, according to a newly released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. The report also notes that, in 2022, the transportation and warehousing industry had the highest serious injury and illness rate among the 19 sectors analyzed, at 3.8 cases per 100 workers. By far, the top cause of ailments among workers in the industry was overexertion and bodily reaction, which can lead to issues such as back pain.
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The New Jersey Work Environment Council is sponsoring a free webinar for workers and community members across the nation who would like to learn more about the Environmental Protection Agency Risk Management Program (RMP) rule to prevent chemical disasters. This session covers a little-known part of the RMP rule that requires facility management to hold a public meeting after a chemical release with offsite impact. The webinar will take place October 16, 2024, 1-2 p.m. ET.
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In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau will host an informational webinar to raise awareness of gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work. This webinar will discuss worker rights, workplace protections, and how employers can better support employees facing violence or harassment in their work environment or at home. The webinar will take place October 22, 2024, Noon-1:00 p.m. ET.
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Migrant Clinicians Network is hosting a webinar designed specifically for Community Health Workers (CHWs). This session will offer opportunities to: 1) explore how climate change affects migrant communities and the unique challenges they face, 2) discuss the crucial role CHWs play in supporting these communities, and 3) examine how to prepare for and support those displaced by climate change. The webinar will take place October 17, 2024, at Noon ET.
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The Migrant Clinicians Network is hosting a webinar focused on equipping workers, volunteers, and community members with the necessary tools to manage environmental, occupational, and mental health risks during the recovery phase following a hurricane. During this seminar, different strategies will be discussed to protect those at risk from hazards commonly encountered post-hurricane, such as heat exposure, mold, mildew, and vector-borne diseases, along with the impact on emotional and psychological health of those who are on the ground. The webinar will take place October 22, 2024, 1:00 p.m. ET.
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For decades, the site of an old municipal landfill in Fort Edward, New York, sat empty. Now it’s covered with solar panels. AC Power specializes in converting former landfills into solar farms. Decommissioned landfills need to be capped and then monitored for decades to ensure that the waste is not polluting the air or contaminating groundwater. While the ongoing care for landfills is an expense for landowners, capturing solar energy can provide a solution. The wide-open spaces can be ideal for installing solar panels, which can then provide a revenue stream for landowners.
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The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced two more presumptive H5 avian flu positives in dairy workers, which would raise the state’s total number of cases to five over the past few weeks, if confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The two new possible cases were reported from the Central Valley, and so far, there are no known links among the human cases, suggesting that only animal-to-human transmission is occurring in the state. As the investigation continues into how the virus is spreading among California’s farms, recent sampling from harvested wild birds in one of the affected Central Valley counties has turned up positive H5N1 findings.
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The Biden-Harris Administration issued a final rule requiring drinking water systems across the country to identify and replace lead pipes within 10 years. The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) also require more rigorous testing of drinking water and a lower threshold requiring communities to take action to protect people from lead exposure in water. In addition, the final rule improves communication within communities so that families are better informed about the risk of lead in drinking water, the location of lead pipes, and plans for replacing them. Alongside the LCRI, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing $2.6 billion in newly available drinking water infrastructure funding that will flow through the drinking water state revolving funds and is available to support lead pipe replacement and inventory projects.
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The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) launched a new Center for Firefighter Safety, Health, and Well-being. Building on decades of experience working with firefighting organizations to understand and protect firefighters from the unique work-related hazards they face, the establishment of the NIOSH Center builds on that foundation while looking ahead at how to better serve this critical community of workers. The Center will facilitate faster responses to new and emerging hazards through its coordinating teams and will help refine the priority research and service activities where NIOSH should focus its resources.
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The Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced $15.3 million in funding for NOAA and external collaborators to provide transparent climate projection products and equitable services for the public. This investment will develop new information services to help communities better prepare for the impacts of extreme weather and climate disasters brought on by climate change, ensuring that families and communities across the country stay safe as we continue to mitigate the rising challenges from the climate crisis. With this funding, NOAA will support multi-decadal climate projections to provide transparent climate information for users, addressing a wide array of risks like heavy precipitation, temperature extremes, drought, and coastal flooding.
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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that it filed 110 lawsuits challenging unlawful employment discrimination in fiscal year 2024, placing an emphasis on emerging issues and advancing the employment rights of underserved and vulnerable workers. The agency focused on enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act as an emerging issue. The agency’s diverse suit filings were consistent with the agency’s Strategic Enforcement Plan for Fiscal Years 2024-2028, which prioritizes addressing persistent forms of employment discrimination, such as recruitment and hiring discrimination and systemic harassment, as well as addressing emerging issues and vulnerable populations.
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A new online game developed by the Center for Healthy Work at the University of Illinois Chicago demonstrates how different workers in an organization are impacted by social determinants of health, which are nonmedical factors that influence health outcomes. The “In a Year’s Work” game allows users to choose a character to play at a fictitious company. The options: a temporary warehouse worker, call center representative, human resources manager, and CEO. After being presented with a scenario, users must consider various health effects of different work arrangements. The choices made can impact the character’s health and the ability to make work healthy for others in the company.
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights provides leadership on EPA's environmental justice and external civil rights compliance priorities, as well as conflict prevention and resolution. The environmental justice policy analyst will conduct environmental justice analysis and evaluation related to the health sciences; collaborate within and across divisions, offices, regions, and agencies to determine how environmental justice concerns may be addressed in scientific reviews, scientific assessments, and environmental justice analyses; and develop analytical, scientific, and technical solutions to environmental justice concerns, in collaboration with policy work groups.
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