WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced four new OSHA Training Institute Education Centers and the renewal of 24 existing OTI Education Centers. Current OTI Education Centers offer training courses on OSHA standards and occupational safety and health issues. The new OTI Education Centers, which are non-profit organizations, will provide additional outlets for safety and health training to workers and employers throughout the country. “This year, we have seen record numbers of requests for occupational safety and health training from the private sector and federal agency personnel,” said Dr. David Michaels, assistant … Read more

FAIRFAX, Va. — Inova Health System selected Clark Construction Group to build the largest phase of its capital improvement program, the 665,000-square-foot Inova Women’s Hospital & Children’s Hospital. The $215-million contract is part of the healthcare organization's multi-year effort to upgrade its Fairfax campus into a world-class environment for patient care, education and research. The 12-story hospital will contain 192 patient rooms on four floors, a 108-bed neonatal intensive care unit, 33 labor and delivery rooms, six C-section suites, and eight operating rooms. In addition to medical spaces, the project team will construct support areas, a ground-floor clinic and a … Read more

OAKLAND, Calif. — Cal/OSHA is reminding all employers to protect their outdoor workers from the risk of heat illness. Cal/OSHA has maintained a constant presence to ensure that employers protect their outdoor workers from the risk of heat illness.   While these ongoing efforts have saved lives due to greater compliance by employers, constant vigilance is particularly necessary during periods of high heat. “Cal/OSHA’s enforcement of the nation’s first and most comprehensive heat illness prevention regulation has saved many lives since its adoption, as is evident by the reductions in fatalities and serious illnesses since 2005,” said Christine Baker, Director … Read more

Turner began upgrades and renovations to Chicago’s Everett McKinley Dirksen Courthouse — also known as the Dirksen Federal Building — in September, 2009, with a scheduled completion date of September, 2012. The 1.3 million-square-foot, 30-story courthouse, designed in the early 1960s by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, has remained open and operational throughout three years of round-the-clock renovations and upgrades. The project team implemented Lean Construction practices midway through the project, in the spring of 2011, establishing a culture of experimentation, and continuous improvement. Continuous improvement is an important element of Lean culture. And understanding that a project team can … Read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. — OSHA has issued two new educational resources to help protect workers from mercury exposure while cleaning up broken fluorescent bulbs or while crushing and recycling them.   Compact fluorescent bulbs are more efficient than incandescent bulbs, but the shift to energy-saving fluorescents, which contain mercury, calls for more attention to workers who handle, dispose of, and recycle used fluorescent bulbs. The OSHA fact sheet explains how workers may be exposed, what kinds of engineering controls and personal protective equipment they need, and how to use these controls and equipment properly.   In addition, a new OSHA Quick … Read more