Latest news with #safetytraining
NHK
5 days ago
- Business
- NHK
6,000 plus foreign workers reported injured on the job in 2024
A Japanese government survey shows that more than 6,000 foreign workers died or were injured in workplace accidents nationwide in 2024, the 13th straight year of increase. The Labor Ministry says 39 foreign workers died on-the-job last year. The number of casualties among foreigners, including deaths, was 6,244. The figure increased by 572 from the previous year, for the 13th straight year. The rate of casualties from on-the-job accidents was 2.3 per thousand for the overall working population in Japan, including Japanese. The rate for foreign workers stood at a higher number of 2.71. By work category, the casualty rate for technical interns was 3.98, compared to 3.91 for people with special skilled worker status. By industry, 2,979 affected workers were in manufacturing, followed by 1,165 in construction, and 476 in commerce. By country and territory, 1,594 affected workers were from Vietnam, followed by 878 from the Philippines and 757 from Indonesia. The Ministry cites the lack of vocational experience or communication, with language barriers as apparent factors that caused accidents. The ministry is urging companies to provide their foreign workers with safety training using educational materials to teach them about workplace risks. The Labor Ministry says that as of the end of last October, more than 2.3 million foreigners, the highest number ever, were working in Japan.
Reuters
5 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Trump cuts threaten safety training for America's most dangerous jobs
NEWBURYPORT, Massachusetts, May 31 (Reuters) - By the time Robbie Roberge spotted the fire consuming his boat's galley last August, he knew he had just minutes to evacuate his beloved Three Girls fishing vessel, named for his daughters. As the flames spread up the boat's walls, he helped his crew into safety suits, deployed a life raft and made a mayday call to alert nearby mariners and the U.S. Coast Guard that he was abandoning ship more than 100 miles offshore. Roberge, a commercial fisherman from South Portland, Maine, learned how to handle such an emergency just three months earlier at a workshop held by Fishing Partnership Support Services, a nonprofit that has trained thousands of East Coast fishermen in safety practices. On May 20, Roberge cut a fishing trip short to bring the six-man crew from his remaining boat, the Maria JoAnn, to another FPSS training in Newburyport, Massachusetts. "I have years of experience, but not dealing with emergencies," said Roberge, whose handling of the fire led to a successful rescue with no injuries. "I make it a point to be here." Such safety trainings - aimed at fishermen, loggers, farmers and other workers in America's most dangerous jobs - could be scaled back or wound down entirely as soon as July, according to Reuters interviews with a dozen health and safety experts and organizations, as a result of President Donald Trump's drive to slash the size and cost of the federal government. Those cuts have fallen heavily on the federal government's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services that is a key funder of workplace safety training and research. The Trump administration on April 1 terminated about 875 of the roughly 1,000 employees at NIOSH, including most of the staff who provide technical advice and support to a dozen Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health focused on fishing, farming and logging workers. Although Trump this month reinstated about 300 NIOSH employees, they do not include the office overseeing the centers, according to data compiled by government worker unions seen by Reuters. Reuters spoke to staff at seven of the centers who described preparations to close down when their current funding cycles run out in the coming months. J. Glenn Morris, director of the Southeastern Coastal Center for Agricultural Health and Safety at the University of Florida, said his team had already begun winding down work in anticipation of losing their NIOSH grant on September 29. "We're shutting down the direct education to the workers, we're shutting down the research," he said. NIOSH funding for the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association's fishermen safety trainings could run out as soon as July 1, said executive director Leann Cyr. FPSS also expects to lose NIOSH funding in September, potentially leading it to cut back on trainings, said Dan Orchard, the group's executive vice president. The loss of the trainings could put more burden on federal marine rescue services when fishermen face emergencies at sea, said John Roberts, an FPSS instructor who spent 31 years in the Coast Guard doing search and rescue. "The return on investment of the government is huge," he said. "If they give us this money to do this training, it's going to lessen how much money has to be spent to rescue the untrained." Asked to comment on the NIOSH job cuts, an HHS spokesperson said: "The work will continue. HHS supports America's farmers, fishmen, and logging workers." Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said in March that the staff reductions are necessary to reduce bureaucracy and improve efficiency and that NIOSH would be combined with other sub-agencies into a new Administration for a Healthy America. The scope of the impact on these centers and their potential closures have not been previously reported. The nation's 442,000 fishing, farming and logging workers make up just a fraction of America's workforce, but they have the highest fatal injury rate of any U.S. occupation - 24.4 per 100,000 workers in 2023 or seven times the national average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These workers do dangerous tasks from rural outposts where it might take hours to receive medical care. Fishermen risk falling overboard. Farmers and farmworkers could be crushed by equipment or contract bird flu. Loggers face chainsaws and falling limbs. That fatality rate has decreased over the last 20 years, BLS data show, with advances in mechanization and tightening federal safety regulations. Safety research and training supported by the centers have helped improve outcomes as well, said Matt Keifer, professor emeritus of occupational safety at the University of Washington, who has worked for two of the centers. Reuters could not verify the total number of workers trained by all of the centers, but the Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety in Cooperstown, New York, trained more than 5,600 workers in 2024, said director Julie Sorensen. Some industry groups offer safety training without federal funding, like the Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast, which hosts 11 annual trainings on equipment and worksite safety, according to executive director Dana Doran. In addition to worksite risks, the NIOSH-funded centers and programs often tackle mental health challenges, drug addiction and diet-related disease. In the fishing sector, for instance, opiate addiction is a significant enough concern that fishermen at the FPSS training were taught to administer the overdose reversal drug Narcan. Staff at the Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health at the University of Iowa have trained rural healthcare providers on risks farmers might face, like hearing loss from exposure to loud noises, said director T. Renee Anthony. Erika Scott, deputy director of the Northeast Center, set up mobile health clinics at logging sites with the PLC to research high rates of hypertension among the state's 3,000 loggers. It took years to convince loggers of the importance of public health research, said Doran. "We've built that trust together. And that trust will potentially be lost," Doran said. At the FPSS safety training, more than 50 fishing captains and crew learned to put out fires, make mayday calls, plug leaks, and deploy safety suits. Attendees cheered each others' efforts to light flares and use water pumps and traded stories of nightmarish near-misses on slippery decks or sinking boats. For Al Cottone, a fourth-generation fisherman in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and a FPSS instructor, cuts to the trainings would be "tragic." In the decade he has been involved with FPSS, Cottone said the number of attendees at an average training has doubled to 40 to 50 from 20 to 25. "There are so many people who are going to be left behind, because getting this in the private sector, this type of training, it costs a lot of money," he said.
Associated Press
06-05-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
OSHA Training Services Inc. Launches New Online Heat Illness Prevention Courses to Protect Workers From Excessive Heat
PRESS RELEASE: Paid Content from ACCESS Newswire. The AP news staff was not involved in its creation. Published [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] Comply with Federal and State OSHA Regulations ARLINGTON, TEXAS / ACCESS Newswire / May 6, 2025 / With rising temperatures posing serious risks to outdoor and indoor workers, OSHA Training Services Inc. is proud to announce the release of two new online Heat Illness Recognition and Prevention training courses designed to protect workers and help employers comply with OSHA's heat safety illness 'Excessive heat is a significant workplace hazard that leads to thousands of illnesses and fatalities each year,' said Curtis Chambers, CSP, President of OSHA Training Services Inc. 'Employers are responsible for ensuring their workers are trained to recognize heat-related risks and respond appropriately. These courses provide the knowledge needed to prevent heat illness while also helping businesses avoid costly OSHA citations.' The new online courses include: Heat Illness Recognition & Prevention - Initial Course: A comprehensive introduction covering heat stress risks, prevention strategies, early symptom recognition, and emergency response. Heat Illness Recognition & Prevention - Refresher Course: A streamlined course reinforcing key heat safety concepts for workers who have previously completed training. Designed for employers, supervisors, and workers in construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and other industries where heat exposure is a concern, these courses offer a convenient way to meet OSHA training recommendations. Trainees who successfully complete a course can download and print a personalized OSHA training certification, providing documentation of their training for employer records and compliance verification. With OSHA increasing enforcement on heat-related hazards, proactive training is more important than ever. These new courses empower employees with life-saving information while ensuring companies meet compliance standards. For more information and to enroll in the new Heat Illness Prevention training courses, visit: . Contact InformationCurtis Chambers President (877) 771-6742 Related Video SOURCE: OSHA Training Services Inc. press release
