International News
Luck of the Irish? More Part-Time Employees, Lower Life Expectancy than Rest of EU
A booming economy during the 1990s, fueled by construction projects and increased consumer spending, allowed Ireland to become one of the fastest growing open economies. Like the rest of the world, the Irish economy has suffered in recent years...
How Supervisors Can Promote and Manage Safety in Operations
By understanding two fundamental questions and leading by example, supervisors can encourage their employees to work safely, according to Paul D. Balmert, a consultant with years of experience as a line manager in the chemical industry. In an interview with EHS Today, Balmert discussed managing safety in operations and offered some practical tips for supervisors...
Workplace Gender Inequality Still Alive Worldwide
Despite big changes over recent decades, workplace gender inequalities endure in the United States and other industrialized nations around the world. According to University of Washington sociologists, these inequalities are created by facets of national social policy that either ease or concentrate the demands of care giving within households and shape expectations in the workplace...
Study: Australian Workers Still at Risk of Asbestos Exposure
On Feb. 15, Safe Work Australia released the results of a study aimed to determine construction and maintenance workers’ current attitudes, awareness, compliance and exposure levels to asbestos in their workplaces...
Global Ranking Reveals Emerging Economies As EHS Hot Spots
Businesses with manufacturing bases, extractive operations or agricultural interests in emerging economies need to pay particular attention to EHS, according to new research released by Maplecroft, a UK firm that assesses global risks for business...
Welsh Assembly Government Signs Pledge to Reduce Work-Related Deaths and Injuries
The Welsh Assembly Government recently signed Great Britain’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) pledge, an initiative that aims to bring organizations together to commit to reduce work-related deaths, injuries and ill health...
Groups Worldwide Remember Bhopal Disaster, Urge Dow to Clean Up Site
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal chemical disaster, thousands of supporters around the world will participate in an International Day of Action on Dec. 3 to pressure Dow Chemical, the current owner of Union Carbide, to clean up the water in Bhopal and face criminal charges in India...
Report Finds Groundwater in Bhopal Communities Is Still Polluted
Nearly 25 years after an industrial tragedy killed thousands of people in Bhopal, India, a new report from The Bhopal Medical Appeal (BMA) shows that the groundwater in surrounding Bhopal communities remains contaminated with toxic chemicals...
Smokers Worldwide Support Workplace Smoking Bans
A new study shows the majority of smokers worldwide support smoking bans in the workplace...
Global Survey Shows Businesses Turn to Wellness Programs to Improve Productivity
According to a recent global survey, improving productivity by keeping employees healthy and working is emerging as the top business objective for employer-sponsored wellness programs around the world – except in the United States, where reducing health care cost increases continues to be the top goal, and Asia, where the most important objective is improving work force morale...
ILO and IFC Help Improve Conditions for Factory Workers
An innovative approach to supply chain relationships has shown that factories with improved compliance to labor standards are considerably more likely to survive the economic crisis...
Study: Cultural Beliefs About Pesticides Put Mexican Farm Workers At Risk
Mexican immigrant farm laborers may face an increased risk of exposure to harmful pesticides due to their cultural perceptions, suggests a study appearing in a supplemental issue of the American Journal of Public Health...
HSE Launches Campaign to Educate Polish Construction Workers about Safety
On Sept. 18, Great Britain’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched a campaign to inform Polish construction workers based in London about on-site health and safety...
HSE Busts Myth that Concertgoers Need Earplugs
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the agency in the U.K. that regulates occupational safety and health, has moved to silence critics claiming HSE requires audiences to wear earplugs when attending noisy concerts and music festivals...
EU-OSHA: No Cutting Back on Safety, Health
Director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) Jukka Takala warned that European organizations cannot afford to forget workplace safety in the current economic downturn...
U.S.-EU Environmental Politics at a Crossroads, Professor Says
Although the United States and European Union face common environmental and energy challenges, they often have taken different approaches to solving them, according to Stacy VanDeveer, associate professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire...
Canada Gains New Nanotechnology Research and Product Development Center
Canada’s National Institute for Nanotechnology will soon be home to a new electron microscopy research and product development center...
Seabrook Offered Global Safety and Health Briefing at Safety 2009
Kathy A. Seabrook, CMIOSH (UK), CSP, presented an annual “Global Safety and Health Briefing” at the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Annual Professional Development Conference...
ASSE, ILO Sign Agreement at Safety 2009
The American Society of Safety Engineers signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Labour Organization (ILO), committing the organizations to work together to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses...
Vision Impairment Costs Billions Lost in Productivity
Corrected vision impairment could prevent billions of dollars in lost productivity annually, according to a new study published in the June Bulletin of the World Health Organization...
Safety Helps U.S. Manufacturers Gain Global Market Share
American manufacturers are increasing their market share in the international marketplace in part by maintaining effective work safety and health programs, according to American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) Manufacturing Practice Specialty Administrator Michael Coleman....
ILO: Economic Crisis Increases Risk of Girls Becoming Child Laborers
The global financial crisis could push an increasing number of children, particularly girls, into child labor, according to a new report issued by the International Labour Office (ILO) for the World Day Against Child Labour on June 12. ...
Researcher: UK's Occupational Safety Agency Asleep at the Wheel for Shiftworkers
Andrew Watterson, a professor at the University of Stirling, says that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the agency in the U.K. that regulates occupational safety and health, is short-shifting an estimated 3.5 million shiftworkers because its employees do not work outside of normal business hours....
AIHce: Global EHS Issues of Nanotechnology
More research and information sharing is needed to better understand nanotechnology hazards, said Kristen Kulinowski, Ph.D., in her keynote presentation June 3 at AIHce, where she unveiled a new wiki guide designed to help disseminate information about nanotechnology hazards in the occupational setting....
NAOSH Week 2009: 'Safety Means Always Coming Home'
The theme of this year's North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) Week, held May 3-9 to help raise awareness about the importance of workplace safety, health and the environment, is "Safety Means Always Coming Home."...
