Rhode Island House Advances Worker Safety Measures

• Rhode Island legislators are considering three worker health and safety bills, including a move to end the exemption from the state’s indoor smoking ban at Rhode Island’s two casinos.
• A pair of bills would establish standards for working in extreme heat and cold.
• Those would require employers to provide workers with adequate heating and cooling equipment, access to paid rest breaks, along with training to recognize and mitigate heat and cold-related risks.
• A third measure seeks to end so-called “captive audience meetings” — mandatory employer gatherings where workers are required to hear company views on religion, politics, or unions.
• Captive audience meetings were deemed unlawful by the National Labor Relations Board in November 2024.
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Oregon Loggers Offered Rigging, Yarding Safety Course

• The Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences is offering logging industry workers free access to an online training program covering rigging and yarding safety.
• The program is available in English and Spanish, and includes yarding systems, rigging recommendations, rigging crew procedures, common industry hazards, various jobs on a logging crew and types of elevated supports.
• The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, logging industry workers are 33 times more likely to sustain a fatal workplace injury compared with those in other civilian occupations.
• Learners can access the training through the Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences at OHSU Learning Management System. This system is supported by Articulate Reach 360.
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