NIOSH eNews - March, 2017

NIOSH eNews - March, 2017

In This Issue

Director’s Desk June 12-18: Nationwide Safe + Sound Week Will Promote Safety and Health Programs NIOSH and NHCA Present 2017 Safe-in-Sound Excellence in Hearing Loss Prevention Awards EVADE 2.0 Software Now Available: Expanded Beyond Dust Exposure National Occupational Injury Research (NOIRS) Symposium Papers Available in the Journal of Safety Research NIOSH CMVS Contributes to Forbes March is National Ladder Safety Month In Memoriam of Two Former NIOSH Employees

Monthly Features

NORA News From our Partners r2p Corner Face Reports Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program Reports Health Hazard Evaluations (HHE) New NIOSH Communication Products New on the NIOSH Science Blog Federal Register Notices Call for Abstracts Conferences & Workshops This Month in History

Volume 14 Number 11 March 2017

From the Director’s Desk John Howard, M.D., Director, NIOSH Total Worker Health Affiliate Network Takes Partnerships to New Level for NIOSH Our partners are vital in helping NIOSH advance the safety, health, and well-being of America’s workers. By working collaboratively with our partners, NIOSH is able to transfer our research findings into cost-effective solutions to make work safer, healthier, and more productive for workers, employers, and the Nation. With this in mind, we launched a major partnership initiative in 2014, the Total Worker Health® Affiliate Program. The effort brings together academic, labor, nonprofit, and government organizations to advance an integrated approach to protecting and promoting worker well-being. We created the Affiliate program with the hopes of increasing understanding of Total Worker Health (TWH) as an effective strategy to improve worker safety, health, and well-being and attracting collaborators to conduct research, build capacity and train professionals, apply TWH principles in a variety of workplaces, and share promising practices. Read More... June 12-18: Nationwide Safe + Sound Week Will Promote Safety and Health Programs NIOSH, OSHA and partners announce June 12-18 as Safe + Sound Week. The event is a nationwide effort to raise awareness and understanding of the value of safety and health programs among workplaces. Throughout the week, organizations are encouraged to host events and activities that showcase the core elements of an effective safety and health program—management leadership, worker participation, and finding and fixing workplace hazards. Visit the Safe + Sound Week webpage to sign-up for email updates on the event. NIOSH and NHCA Present 2017 Safe-in-Sound Excellence in Hearing Loss Prevention Awards NIOSH, in partnership with the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA), is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2017 Safe-in-Sound Excellence in Hearing Loss Prevention Award™. This year's award was presented to Ryan Lee Scott, deputy sheriff with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, who demonstrated initiative and innovation in examining noise exposure among police officers and presenting potential solutions in order to be safer on the job. The award honors those who have contributed to the prevention of noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus through effective practices or innovations directed to those who are exposed to noise at work. EVADE 2.0 Software Now Available: Expanded Beyond Dust Exposure Mine operators now have a way to see exactly where their mine workers are encountering hazardous exposures. The latest release of NIOSH’s Enhanced Video Analysis of Dust Exposures (EVADE) software program goes well beyond dust to include other hazardous contaminants. Now in its second version, EVADE 2.0 brings together multiple pieces of logged data and synchronizes their playback with video camera footage to show exactly where and when a worker might be subjected to high concentrations of dust and hazardous levels of noise, diesel, and gases. National Occupational Injury Research (NOIRS) Symposium Papers Available in the Journal of Safety Research A special issue of the Journal of Safety Research featuring select papers from NOIRS 2015 is available now through July. The issue includes articles on police officer fatigue, all-terrain vehicle safety, fisherman deck hazards, evaluations of injury prevention programs, among many other occupational safety and health topics. NIOSH CMVS Contributes to Forbes Self-driving cars are gaining attention, but most U.S. workers will still be driving themselves for decades to come. NIOSH Center for Motor Vehicle Safety Director Stephanie Pratt, PhD, shares how businesses can keep workers safe on the road in her Forbes guest post, "Until Self-Driving Cars Go Mainstream, How Can Businesses Protect Workers From Crashes?" March is National Ladder Safety Month NIOSH is participating in the American Ladder Institute’s inaugural National Ladder Safety Observance this month. This safety observance is focused on raising awareness about the importance of safe ladder use. Visit NIOSH’s Falls in the Workplace page to learn more and to download our award-winning NIOSH Ladder Safety app. Also, follow @NIOSH throughout the month for ladder safety tips, tools, and communication products. In Memoriam of Two Former NIOSH Employees It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of two former CDC/NIOSH employees: Avima Ruder recently passed, just a month after her retirement as an epidemiologist in the NIOSH Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies. She devoted 28 years at NIOSH toward protecting workers from carcinogens in the workplace and was a tireless advocate for strong science and evidence-based policies. William H. Pailes IV recently passed after several years of retirement. Bill served his country as a medic in the Navy during the Korean War, and after receiving his master’s degree from the University of Iowa, moved to Morgantown to begin his career as a research biochemist with NIOSH, where he continued until his retirement. Read More...