NJ FIRST RESPONDERS WARNED ON DOWNED UAVS

New Jersey firefighters and police officers are being warned by the state Division of Fire Safety to be cautious and keep a safe distance if they encounter fallen drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
There have been “multiple” instances of drones entering the airspace at a Navy weapons station in New Jersey, officials there said Friday.
The agency advised avoiding physical contact with the UAV and establishing a 330-foot isolation and evacuation zone in all directions using guidance from its Emergency Response Guidebook.
First responders are directed to wear full personal protective equipment with self-contained breathing apparatus when they secure the perimeter and are warned not to reenter the isolation zone once established
“Hazardous Materials Response Teams should approach the incident as an unknown and follow established environmental monitoring procedures,” the bulletin stated, further advising the use of radiation monitoring tools and awareness of potential electronic interference in the area.
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About 18% of all traumatic brain injury (TBI) cases are work-related, according to a recently published study.
Every year in the United States two to three million people sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Approximately 81% of those injuries are mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI).
The study focused on 2015-2019 data available from the California Workers’ Compensation Information System (WCIS).
In the workplace, such injuries can be categorized as being caused by workplace violence (WPV) or not being caused by workplace violence (non-WPV).
The two industries with the most WPV-related mTBI claims in this study were public administration and educational services, which accounted for 20.1% and 15.8% of the claims, respectively. Industries with the next highest amount of claims were health care and social services.
In the U.S. during 2022, 108 million workdays were lost due to injuries and the resultant total cost including medical care, wage and productivity loss, and administrative expenses was $167 billion.
The academic study, “Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Caused by Workplace Violence in a U.S. Workers’ Compensation System,” was led by Kerri Wizner of MDGuidelines, Lincolnshire, Illinois.
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Parkwood Landscape Maintenance, a Southern California landscaping company, is in hot water with Cal/OSHA over alleged heat illness violations, which the agency says is a first-of-its-kind case.
READ MORE IN CAL-OSHA REPORTER

OSHA’s final rule revising its personal protective equipment (PPE) fit requirements for the construction industry will go into effect on Jan. 13, 2025.
The revision to the standard adds specific language requiring that employers provide PPE that “properly fits” construction industry workers, and the change aligns the construction industry standard with the standard already in place for general industry.
“Proper Fit” has been a longstanding industry safety concern — particularly among some women and physically smaller or larger workers — as improperly sized PPE can be ineffective in protecting workers, create new hazards for the worker, and discourage use because of discomfort or poor fit.
“I’ve talked to workers in construction, particularly women, who have spoken of personal protective equipment that didn’t fit or was simply unavailable at the jobsite in their size,” said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker. “PPE must fit properly to work.”
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