We all know the saying to help us remember to adjust our clocks for the daylight savings time changes (this Sunday in case you are wondering). But, what can we do to help workers adjust to the effects of the time change? A few studies have examined these issues but many questions remain on this topic including the best strategies to cope with the time changes.
 Experts say employees should be allowed to take a nap at work. Reuters Todays' post is shared from medicaldaily.com Fatigue is inevitable during any long work day, and sometimes coffee is just not enough to get most people through their midday slump. British sleep experts are now saying that bosses should allow their employees a nap during the day and the option to make their own schedule to help increase productivity. Millions of people fail to get enough sleep during their week and are forced to compensate over the weekend when their work has already suffered. “It’s best to give your brain downtime,” Vincent Walsh, professor of human brain research at University College London told Cheltenham Science Festival. “I have a nap every afternoon. It’s only since the industrial revolution we have been obsessed with squeezing all our sleep into the night rather than having one or two sleeps through the day.” A recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health revealed that around 41 million American workers are not getting the seven to nine hours of sleep recommended by the National Sleep Foundation. Sleep deprivation is putting these people and their co-workers in danger of serious injury or death. Walsh says our obsession with sleeping only at night may be hindering our ability to be more creative. Most of our creative thoughts come to us during periods of relaxation when the brain makes new... |
 Infertility is a significant health issue in the U.S. as well as globally. In addition to the large health and fiscal impacts of infertility, the inability to conceive can be devastating to individuals or couples. Research suggest that between 12% and 18% of couples struggle with infertility,[1] which may be caused by a wide variety of factors including genetic abnormalities, aging, acute and chronic diseases, treatments for certain conditions, behavioral factors, and exposure to environmental, occupational, and infectious hazards. However, many questions about infertility remain unanswered. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the National Public Health Action Plan for the Detection, Prevention and Management of Infertility. This plan was created in consultation with many governmental and nongovernmental partners. NIOSH contributed to this Action Plan, specifically related to reducing exposures to occupational agents that can harm reproductive health and fertility in women and men. Environmental and occupational hazards account for an unknown proportion of infertility cases, but are known to affect reproductive health and fertility in women and men, and suspected of causing declining human sperm quality in industrialized countries.[2], [3], [4] An evaluation conducted in developed countries in the 1980s by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that 37% of infertility cases were attributable to female factors, 8% were attributable to... |
| DHHS (NIOSH) Publication Number 2014-125 Workers on roadway construction worksites are exposed to possible injury and death from moving construction vehicles and equipment [NIOSH 2001]. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends that specific procedures and controls be in place at roadway construction worksites to help prevent injuries and deaths from backing construction vehicles and equipment. Preventing Worker Injuries and Deaths from Backing Construction Vehicles and Equipment at Roadway Construction Worksites [PDF - 430 KB] |
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication Number 2011-179 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) specifies minimum approval requirements for respiratory protective devices in Title 42 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 84. NIOSH reviews respirator approval applications, which contain technical specifications, drawings, and other related information. NIOSH also inspects, examines and tests the respirators to determine that the applicable requirements are met for individual, completely assembled respirators, as described in §84.30(a). |
NIOSH recently released Workers’ Compensation Insurance: A Primer for Public Health to help public health researchers and practitioners broaden their understanding of workers’ compensation insurance, relevant aspects of the insurance industry records, and the potential uses of that information for public health purposes. Read more on the NIOSH Science Blog.
Tinnitus is the medical term for “hearing” noises in your ears when there is no outside source of the sounds. The noises you hear can be soft or loud. They may sound like ringing, blowing, roaring, buzzing, hissing, humming, whistling or sizzling. They can be persistent and never-ending or intermittent. However, with 265 known medications on the market that report tinnitus as a possible side effect, there are literally hundreds of reasons why someone may experience symptoms. Behind medication side effects, a common cause of tinnitus is inner ear cell damage. Tiny, delicate hairs in your inner ear move in relation to the pressure of sound waves. This triggers ear cells to release an electrical signal through a nerve from your ear (auditory nerve) to your brain. Your brain interprets these signals as sound. If the hairs inside your inner ear are bent or broken, they can “leak” random electrical impulses to your brain, causing tinnitus. The three most common causes of inner ear cell damage are: age-related... |
A bill was introduced Dec. 20 in the Senate last week that, if enacted, would halt the most recent hours-of-service rule change and allow truck drivers to operate under the pre-July 1 rules again, until Congress can review the rule further.
The bill — a the Senate counterpart to a House bill introduced in late October — was introduced by Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and is being sponsored by her and Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), according to the Library of Congress. It was referred to the Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, LOC also notes.
The bill, dubbed the TRUE Safety Act, would require the Government Accountability Office to perform an assessment of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s methodology in creating the rule, specifically the research that went into developing the 34-hour restart provisions of the rule. The July 1 hours-of-service changes could not go back into effect until six months after the GAO submitted its findings to Congress, unless the GAO study recommends otherwise. Click here to see the House version’s bill. The Senate version will be posted when it becomes available. |
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| English Fire Insurance Laws Enacted in 1667 |
| c2000, BC | Hammurabi, ruler of Babylon, was responsible for the Code of Hammurabi, part of which bears resemblance to today's workers' compensation laws. |
| c460-c377, BC | Hippocrates, the father of contemporary medicine, established .a link between the respiratory problems of Greek stonecutters and the rock dust surrounding them. |
| 1667 | The Great Fire of London (September 2-7, 1666) caused the first English fire insurance laws to be enacted. |
| 1880 | William Gladstone pushes Employers’ Liability Act in Britain |
| 1864 | The Pennsylvania Mine Safety Act (PMSA) was passed into law. |
| 1871 | Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg, (known as Otto von Bismarck, a Prussian statesman) enacts the Employers’ Liability Act. |
| 1877 | The state of Massachusetts passed a law requiring guarding for dangerous machinery, and took authority for enforcement of factory inspection programs. |
| 1878 | The first recorded call by a labor organization for a federal occupational safety and health law is heard. |
| 1884 | Otto von Bismarck enacts Workers’ Accident Insurance |
| 1902 | The state of Maryland passed the first workers' compensation law. |
| 1911 | Industrial Insurance laws enacted in Washington State. |
| 1911 – 1915 | During this period, 30 states passed workers' compensation laws. |
| 1968 | President Lyndon Johnson called for a federal occupational safety and health law. |
| 1970 | President Richard Nixon signed into law the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), thus creating the OSH Administration and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). |
| 1972 | Self-Insurance for Workers' Compensation allowed for individual businesses in Washington State. |
| 2012 | Compromise and Release Structured Settlement Agreements allowed for certain Washington State workers’ compensation claims that meet basic criteria. |
The American Trucking Associations and Minnesota Trucking Association have jointly petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to conduct a pilot program to study the effect of increased flexibility in the use of sleeper berth breaks by truck drivers.
“The trucking industry wants FMCSA to take its positive, laboratory-based findings on the value of split sleep and try to repeat them in a real-world field study,” said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. “Doing a pilot test using professional drivers in actual trucking operations could give the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration even more scientific data on which to base future improvements to the sleeper berth rules.” The hours-of-service rules for truck drivers require that they take 10 consecutive hours off after their 14-hour on-duty period. However, increasingly sleep research highlights the benefits of shorter and more frequent rest periods, according to both groups. “In the case of many truck drivers, particularly those working in teams, allowing them to break up their 10-hour off-duty period into two shorter periods would be beneficial,” said John Hausladen, president of the Minnesota Trucking Association. In addition to examining any potential benefits of sleeper berth flexibility, the pilot project proposed by the trucking groups would look at the role of technological improvements in promoting driver alertness and safety. For several years many trucking groups,... |
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OverviewPrimary themes in the NIOSH job stress research program:
Job Stress and NORAIn 1996, NIOSH established an interdisciplinary team of researchers and practitioners from industry, labor, and academia to develop a national research agenda on the "organization of work." Work organization refers to management and supervisory practices, to production processes, and to their influence on the way work is performed. (In... |
 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. |
New federal rules on commercial truck driver hours of service have actually increased driver fatigue, according to two-thirds of drivers recently surveyed by the American Transportation Research Institute.
ATRI, the research arm of the American Trucking Associations, surveyed more than 2,300 commercial truck drivers and 400 carriers about how the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s HOS rule has affected their operations. Among reasons for the change in drivers’ fatigue, respondents noted that the new HOS requirement to take a 30-minute break after eight hours of on-duty time causes their workdays to be longer because of the break itself and the time it takes to drive to a safe location. More than half of the drivers also reported that the rule’s changes to the 34-hour “restart” provision to reset their weekly driving hours has decreased their safety by forcing them onto the roads during hours of congested traffic, which also endangers other motorists. The rule, which fully went into effect July 1, requires drivers to sleep between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. for two periods during the 34 hours. |
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces the availability of the following draft document for public comment entitled “Current Intelligence Bulletin: Update of NIOSH Carcinogen Classification and Target Risk Level Policy for Chemical Hazards in the Workplace.” To view the notice, document and related materials, visit http://www.regulations.gov and enter CDC-2013-0023 in the search field and click “Search.” Additional information is also located at the following Web site: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/cancer/policy.html. Comments may be provided to the NIOSH docket, as well as given orally at the following meeting.
Public Comment Period: Comments must be received by February 13, 2014.
Public Meeting Time and Date: December 16, 2013, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Eastern Time. Please note that public comments may end before the time indicated, following the last call for comments. Members of the public who wish to provide public comments should plan to attend the meeting at the start time listed.
Place: Surface Transportation Board Hearing Room, Patriots Plaza One, 395 E Street SW., 1st Floor, Room 120, Washington, DC 20201.
Status: The meeting is open to the public, limited only by the space available. The meeting space accommodates approximately 150 people. In addition, there will be an audio conference for those who cannot attend in person. There is no registration fee to...
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