As the Deepwater Horizon disaster unfolds in the Gulf of Mexico, public health practitioners are having a sinking déjà vu feeling. Once again, environmental disaster has struck, and tens of thousands of emergency responders—some professionals, but many more volunteers—have swung into action, potentially risking their health as they work to clean up the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is preparing for more than 150,000 Vietnam War veterans to apply for benefits in the next 18 months thanks to new regulations making it easier to compensate for health problems caused by exposure to the Vietnam-era defoliant Agent Orange.
Post Office officials say the National Guard has completed an assessment of the air quality at Greenwood, S.C.’s main branch Post Office. Federal Postal Inspectors and the National Guard’s 43rd Combat Support Unit’s Hazmat Team spent most of the day on Monday at the building working to determine the cause of a mysterious odor that postal workers say has plagued the building for nearly three weeks making several postal workers ill.
A Nashville server has filed a complaint with the state claiming that a new law allowing guns in bars creates an unsafe workplace.
A 49-year-old Geneseo, Ill., man who became trapped in a grain bin Friday died of asphyxiation before rescue workers could reach him, Henry County Coroner David Johnson said Monday.
Federal safety officials have fined a Mason County alloy plant $44,000 for alleged safety violations found after a May explosion injured four of the facility’s workers.
A pilot was killed at the Beverly, Mass., Airport Aug. 27 when a moving propeller struck him.
One employee died and another was seriously injured when a forklift collapsed as the men were working on an auto at Beji Dismantling.
Two courses to help employers understand and comply with new Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations will be offered at Gateway Community and Technical College in Florence, Ky., this fall.
