FDA lowers the age limit for purchasing emergency contraceptive Plan B — and makes an important change to how the drug can be sold.
A few recent pieces worth a look
Construction is the US industry sector with the most worker fatalities. Designing buildings with construction and maintenance workers in mind can make buildings safer, and green buildings truly sustainable.
This week is Workers’ Memorial Week, when we remember the thousands of men and women who die on the job each year and work to prevent future deaths by improving workplace health and safety. Events are happening across the US and around the world.
Saving Boston victims’ lives and limbs required a well-coordinated response from emergency medical teams, the city’s emergency command center, and hospital staff. Such coordination requires ongoing planning, and planning requires funding.
Although Philadelphia’s City Council fell one vote short of overriding a veto of the city’s paid sick leave bill, paid sick leave efforts are gaining steam nationwide.
Wage theft, employee misclassification, and unsafe workplaces are alarmingly common in the Texas construction industry; the Philadelphia City Council fails to override a veto of a paid sick leave law; and immigrant workers in the US with temporary visas face uncertainty.
The court decision striking down age restrictions for non-prescription sale of emergency contraceptives is good news for public health — and, let’s hope, the end of a long and disturbing episode in the history of US contraceptives.
The New York Times explores the plight of furniture workers disabled by exposure to a neurotoxicant glue. Why hasn’t OSHA put a stop to this?
Reporters from the Center for Public Integrity, NPR, and WBEZ are producing excellent, in-depth stories on the circumstances and aftermaths of worker deaths in grain bins and at temporary worksites.