YTD Rise in Struck-by Deaths Prompts Michigan Warning

• Michigan OSHA has issued a hazard bulletin after the agency logged five worker deaths this year resulting from struck-by incidents in the six months through July 4.
• With the “troubling rise” in the fatalities, struck-by deaths are on pace to top more than half of the workplace deaths investigated this year by the MIOSHA, which operates as a State Plan program under federal OSHA.
• “Employers are responsible for ensuring workers are protected from moving vehicles, heavy equipment and other struck-by hazards on the jobsite,” the bulletin states. “This includes maintaining safe work zones, enforcing traffic control procedures, and ensuring workers are visible and alert.”
• The bulletin includes a QR code to request assistance from MIOSHA’s Consultation Education and Training Division.
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NIOSH Staff Stripped of Bargaining Rights

• The American Federation of Government Employees is condemning the Department of Health and Human Services after the agency moved to strip workers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of their union rights while carrying out sweeping layoffs.
• The union says HHS notified the press, not unions, that it would decertify bargaining units representing CDC, NIOSH and Food and Drug Administration staff.
• Recently, NIOSH’s black lung screening programs was restarted after being paused due to federal budget cuts.
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Hurdles Seen in Canada Safety Harmonization

• Canada’s effort to harmonize safety regulations across its provinces will be a big challenge to employers, particularly those operating in multiple jurisdictions.
• According to Matthew Badrov, a partner at Littler LLP specializing in management-side labour and employment law with a focus on occupational health and safety,employers operating in several provinces, it can be difficult to know whether they are compliant with each jurisdiction’s regulations—especially when the details in the regulations differ from one province to another.
• “There’s some hope that a streamlined national approach would make it easier for employers, from a training standpoint, to ensure that their employees are adequately trained, have the right certificates, and are able to move people across borders more easily,” Badrov says.
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UN Health Groups Warn on Extreme Heat Challenges

• The World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have published a new joint report and guidance highlighting the growing global health challenges posed by extreme heat on workers.
• “Heat stress is already harming the health and livelihoods of billions of workers, especially in the most vulnerable communities,” said Dr Jeremy Farrar, WHO Assistant Director-General, Health Promotion, Disease Prevention and Care. “This new guidance offers practical, evidence-based solutions to protect lives, reduce inequality, and build more resilient workforces in a warming world.”
• The report calls for the implementation of occupational heat action plans, tailored to specific industries and regions, and developed in collaboration with employers, workers, unions, and public health experts.
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