TRANSPORT WORKERS
Health & Safety Weekly News
December 03, 2009
NTSB plans probe of latest Metro crash: Other operators have reported power
surges
/
The National Transportation Safety Board announced Monday that it will launch a
formal investigation of Sunday's Metro crash, in which a six-car train smashed
into a parked six-car train at a
Editorial: Commuters beware
/ The New York Times
The train wreck last summer that killed nine commuters and injured 80 in the
nation’s capital laid bare a deadly paradox: the safety failures at the heart of
the collision occurred on a subway track devoid of the strong federal
crashworthiness standards in place on Amtrak’s immediately adjacent railroad
line. Regional systems of light-rail and subways are not subject to the federal
government’s more stringent safety requirements.
Read More
ETF/ITF press release: ‘Please pack less’, baggage handlers ask passengers
/ ITF
Luggage by air is exempt from the health and safety weight limits laid down in
other industries – making baggage handlers many times more likely to suffer
musculoskeletal injury than other workers.
Read
More
DOT forming Transit Safety Advisory Committee
/ OH&S
A new Transit Rail Advisory Committee is being formed by the U.S. Department of
Transportation, with the committee's charter taking effect Dec. 8. DOT published
its notice of intent to establish the committee on Monday.
Read More
Health Promotion, Policy shifts needed to protect aging workers
/ EHS
A report from the February 2009 Health Aging for Workers conference promotes a
focus on workplace environments to maintain “work ability” as employees age,
along with legislative fixes and research to fill in knowledge gaps for keeping
workers healthy and productive.
Read More
Sign of bad things to come from Obama’s OMB: Sunstein hires staunch anti-reg
economist
/ The Pump handle
Of the many anti-public health proposals economist Lutter offers is relaxing
agencies’ lead exposure standards. He actually uses some convoluted
economic mumbo-jumbo to argue that childhood lead prevention programs are
neither cost-effective, nor do they meet his gold standard: a willingness to
pay.
Read More
Federal investigators are concerned a potential danger persists because of the
simultaneous use of intersecting runways at
7 charged for false safety-related building documents
/ The New York Times
Federal and local authorities arrested seven people on Tuesday — including the
owners of two construction testing companies, officials from three contracting
companies, and an engineer — on charges they falsified testing documents at four
New York construction projects.
Read More
A whistle-blower says his concerns about safety were met with scorn
/ The New York Times
He was hefty and heavily tattooed, a middle-aged man with a cushy job, a
powerful father and a host of compelling reasons to keep his head down and his
mouth shut. Instead Mr. Greenberg embraced his job with a Barney Fife kind of
zeal. He photographed unsafe conditions at the
Pandemic Flu
Situation Update: During the week of November 8-14, 2009, influenza activity
decreased slightly in the
Interim Guidance for Management of Influenza-Like Illness aboard Commercial
Aircraft during the 2009-10 Influenza Season
/ CDC
More
Hand sanitizer: How it protects you
/ CNN
More
Have hand sanitizer, will travel: Transportation firms step up precautions
against H1N1 virus
/ Boston Globe
More
Health & Wellness
Cancer screenings under scrutiny
/ CNN
More
10 surprising facts about cholesterol
/ CNN
More
Diabetes Care Will Cost $336B by 2034
/ MedPage Today
More
Generic Drugs Cut Health Care Costs
/ Lifelines Online
More
Health and Safety Task Force
Ed Watt Mark Johnson