Experts recommend electronic health records contain information about patients’ work history
An ad hoc committee of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) identified a litany of potential benefits of including information about individuals’ occupations, industry, and work environment in their electronic health records (EHRs). The IOM committee notes promimently at the beginning of the report that many Americans spend half their waking hours at work. “The nature of the work and work tasks can have a significant impact on workers’ health and even on the health of family members,” the authors write. The more health care providers understand their patients’ work environments, the better able to diagnose and treat them.
http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2011/10/experts_recommend_electronic_m.php
Interior Dept. issues BP, contractors violation notices for Gulf oil spill
The Interior Department has formally notified BP and two major contractors that they violated a slew of offshore drilling rules in connection with last year’s Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and massive oil spill. A total of 15 violation notices — called “incidents of non-compliance,” or INCs — begin an effort to penalize BP, Deepwater Horizon rig owner Transocean and drilling services giant Halliburton for the accident that killed 11 workers and dumped millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/187169-interior-issues-bp-contractors-violation-notices-for-2010-spill
Chilean miners struggle with mental health effects, poverty one year after rescue
There might be really good ways to restore brain-damaged people — especially the young wounded of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars — to a healthy, if not entirely normal, state. But it’s difficult to say with certainty what those techniques are.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/12/chilean-miners-struggle-w_n_1007520.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003
Clear strategies for treating traumatic brain injury are elusive, panel finds
There might be really good ways to restore brain-damaged people — especially the young wounded of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars — to a healthy, if not entirely normal, state. But it’s difficult to say with certainty what those techniques are.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/clear-strategies-for-treating-traumatic-brain-injury-are-elusive-panel-finds/2011/10/10/gIQAkRBZcL_story.html
Caring for our caregivers
As Labor Secretary, I believe we must honor the professionals who support our family caregivers. My department is currently looking at whether we should consider changes to the “companionship” exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act that has prevented some home health care aids from earning minimum wage and overtime pay.
http://social.dol.gov/blog/caring-for-our-caregivers/
Farmworkers group wants probe of NC labor dep’t
Lawyers for migrant farm workers say the state Department of Labor isn’t doing its job when it comes to keeping farm workers safe in the fields. In a complaint filed with the federal labor department, lawyers with Legal Aid of North Carolina’s farmworker unit said the state agency systematically downplays workplace safety violations in migrant work camps, reduces fines placed on businesses, and fails to inspect most of the migrant work camps where agriculture workers toil in the fields and live.
http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2011/10/12/farmworkers-group-wants-probe-of-nc-labor-dept/
Two studies bolster concerns of former Beaverton View-Master employees about TCE contamination
For a decade, activists and state officials have suspected that contaminated drinking water at a former Beaverton plant caused cancers in past employees. Now, a local study and a federal health assessment seem to bolster those concerns.
http://www.oregonlive.com/beaverton/index.ssf/2011/10/two_studies_bolster_concerns_o.html
Rubbertown plant considers replacing toluene
An American Synthetic Rubber Co. executive on Tuesday described the Rubbertown plant’s proposal to phase out use of a key chemical, toluene, and replace it with two others as good for the environment and good for the company’s bottom line. The mix also “poses less of a risk to human health.”
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20111011/NEWS01/310110059/Rubbertown-plant-considers-replacing-toluene?odyssey=nav|head
Fines for worker safety vary at midstate companies
Besides recent high-profile worker safety violations at Aerospace Defense Coatings in Macon, other Middle Georgia companies have also been cited and fined in 2011 by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In many cases, the fines were reduced to a fraction of the penalty that OSHA initially proposed. OSHA officials said most, but not all, of the companies have fixed the problems that the agency identified.
http://www.macon.com/2011/10/12/1740891/fines-for-worker-safety-vary-at.html#ixzz1abfzez2D
OSHA opens investigation into fatal fall from Newton tower
The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation into the death of a worker who fell more than 500 feet from a Newton, Mass., communications tower Wednesday. The man was installing a safety ladder and performing routine maintenance on the 1,200-foot-tall tower when he plunged to his death, according to a spokesman from American Tower Co., which owns the structure.
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/newton/2011/10/osha_opens_investigation_into.html
