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Showing posts with label Johns Hopkins University. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Johns Hopkins University. Show all posts

Monday, November 25, 2013

Workers Compensation For Firefighters Discussed

The Kentucky Association of Firefighters is backing legislation that presumes full-time firefighters who develop cancer got it on the job and would be eligible to collect workers compensation.
Representatives of the organization made their case in Frankfort on Thursday (Nov. 21) before House and Senate members of the Interim Joint Committee on Labor and Industry.
They were joined by Doctor Virginia Weaver, a physician and professor of Occupational Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. She says the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is doing some important research on the hazards of firefighting.
“They’re looking at firefighters from three major cities in the U.S., comparing risk for cancer in firefighters with the general U.S. public, and found an increased overall risk for all cancer, an increased individual risk focused in the digestive tract and the respiratory tract.” –Virginia Weaver
The bill that’s being proposed in Kentucky would only apply to professional firefighters who’ve been on the job at least five years. It would also exclude those who smoke. 
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Monday, April 18, 2011

OSHA To Fine Employers for Distracted Driving Accidents

OSHA has announced an aggressive program to combat "The Number 1 Killer of Workers," Distracted Driving. The announcement was made today by Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA).


The enforcement program was described by Michaels  at a symposium on the prevention of Occupationally-Related Distracted Driving conference hosted by Johns Hopkins University. Following the policy announced by President Obama in his Executive Order banning texting while driving, OSHA is calling upon all employers to ban texting while driving.


It is the intention of OSHA to provide education and enforcement on the issue of distracted driving. OSHA will investigate motor vehicle accidents, including cell phone records, and will issue citations and fine employers where an accident involved texting while driving. While OSHA has juridiction over employers, and not employees,  it hopes to encourage all employers to declare motor vehicles a "text free zone."