Santa Fe city workers claim they were subjected to unsafe working conditions

According to a complaint filed with the state, three Santa Fe, New Mexico city workers claim they were directed to clean up sewage waste near a hospital without proper safety gear. The incident follows the death of a city worker who died while fixing a lighting fixture and was unlicensed to perform electrical work. KOB (Albuquerque)

Study finds workplace injuries may drive rise in overdose deaths and suicides

A new study co-authored by Boston University researchers and published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine finds workplace injury significantly raises the risk of overdose death or suicide. An injury serious enough to trigger at least one week off from work almost tripled the combined risk of suicide and overdose death among women and increased the risk by 50 percent among men, according to the research. HR Dive

Fed-OSHA takes steps to revise silica standard

On July 29, Fed-OSHA submitted a draft Request for Information to the Office of Management and Budget regarding Table 1 in Fed-OSHA’s construction standard for silica. If issued, the RFI could eventually pave the way for revisions identifying additional common construction tasks with corresponding dust control methods, writes Tressi L. Cordaro of Jackson Lewis P.C. National Law Review

HIOSH ordered Maui police to conduct internal investigation

A letter from Hawaii OSHA to the Maui Police Department alleges no respiratory protection was provided to the officers who responded to recent wildfires for duties including directing traffic, closing roadways, assisting home evacuations. KITV

Healthcare workers may have to wait decades for protections

In a 2018 survey conducted by the American College of Emergency Physicians, 47 percent of emergency doctors said they’d been physically assaulted at work. A 2015 paper published in Workplace Safety & Health found 62 percent of hospital employees had been targeted by violence. But advocates and some federal lawmakers say delays in the creation of enforceable regulations to protect healthcare will continue to put them at risk, potentially for decades. WJLA [with video]