The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed penalties totaling $45,000 for Zamco Inc., a cabinetry company in St. Hedwig, Texas, for 14 safety and health violations involving electrical, respiratory, and other work hazards. OSHA’s San Antonio Area office sent in an inspection team this February as part of the…

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has determined that Cleveland Cement Contractors Inc. had committed six serious safety violations, including noncompliance with design and construction standards, after the worksite-safety watchdog’s investigation of the partial collapse of a second-floor parking garage during concrete placement in December last year. The collapse, fortunately,…

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has released the latest list of housing markets with measurable and sustained improvement based on the Improving Markets Index (IMI), which showed that for May the tally was 100, just one market down from April’s 101. Thirty-five states (including the District of Columbia) were represented on the list,…

Following the trend in many cities across America today, Metro Detroit is experiencing a resurgence in home construction, especially in developments that were put on hold five years ago when the economy stalled. Local building officials reported that residential building permits in 2011 topped 2010 by 25 percent, with some communities this early already on…

A new ISO standard has been released to help provide better cleaning instructions on care labels for textiles, according to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO 3758:2012 (Textiles – Care labeling code using symbols) informs launderers and dry cleaners, and consumers via a set of symbols for marking textile articles to prevent permanent damage…

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has announced the publication of a new standard that makes it possible to assign a unique international identification code to objects for use on digital networks. ISO said the standard will benefit information managers, publishers, multimedia distributors, among others in the internet-technology industry. The new standard, although not as…

The Energy and Green Building Week of the 2012 Building Safety Month campaign launched in May spotlighting the International Green Construction Code (IgCC), the first green code for constructing and remodeling houses and buildings. The IgCC aims to make buildings more energy and resource efficient, benefitting health, safety, and community well-being. The Energy and Green…

McGraw-Hill Construction recently released its SmartMarket Report, which predicts that the green-homes sector will rapidly expand in the next four years, with its market share rising as high as 38 percent by 2016. It stood at 17 percent at the start of 2012. Although four years out, the forecast nevertheless signals a good year for…

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has found Johnson Controls Battery Group Inc. to have committed 11 health violations, including one willful and two repeat infractions, after the worksite-safety watchdog’s inspection of the company’s battery plant in Holland, Ohio. OSHA has proposed a total penalty of $188,600. Despite OSHACampus 10 training and OSHACampus 30 training…

Chemical poisoning is the last thing one expects from a restaurant, but that was exactly what happened in a South Charleston, W.Va. restaurant, where nine employees had to be taken to the hospital after being exposed to chlorine gas. Despite OSHA training qualifications such as OSHACampus 10 training and OSHACampus 30 training now being required…

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)—which proposed a one-year delay in the implementation of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10)—to avoid further delaying the ICD-10 compliance because of the possible damage it…

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) in a letter sent to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) secretary Kathleen Sebelius reiterated its support of HHS’s proposed one-year delay of the ICD-10 compliance date, calling it an appropriate “middle ground” for all stakeholders. (ICD-10 stands for the International Classification of Diseases,…

This Mother’s Day, beauty salons in some parts of the U.S. are joining the fight to stamp out breast cancer. The campaign, close on the heels of news of carcinogenic substances in beauty products, enjoins professional cosmetologists—such as those who have a Kentucky Cosmetology CE or a CosmetologyCampus WI Cosmetology CE, for instance—to participate in…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released the findings of a survey on the use of tanning beds, booths or sun lamps showing alarmingly high usage despite warnings that indoor tanning significantly elevates the risk of skin cancer. Professional cosmetologists—such as those who have, for instance, a CosmetologyCampus KY Cosmetology CE or…

Research done for MetLife, published in the 10th Annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends, has found that only about 50 percent of Gen Y workers (those aged 21 to 31) have income protected by disability insurance. “A disability is not selective—it can happen to anyone, at any time. If you have people who depend on…