A safety alert issued by the Mining Safety and Health Administration suggests the agency will be placing emphasis on testing methods as part of inspections of West Virginia sites. The safety issue concerned testing specifically performed on wire rope. MSHA called for use of both nondestructive testing (NDT) and visual checks after inspections that returned different results than earlier ones that did not utilize nondestructive testing methods. The safety warning provided guidance on best practices for use of NDT and visual inspection on wire and hoisting rope.
Bad medicine is bad for your health. You can fight back
When you take a drug prescribed by your West Virginia doctor, it is with the expectation that it will improve your medical condition, not make things worse or place you at significant risk for injury. However, defective or dangerous drugs do sometimes cause harm to consumers, and sometimes, the consequences of bad medication can result in serious complications or death.
Coal mining deaths on the rise
Coal miners are particularly vulnerable to fatal workplace accidents. There have already been more deaths in the nation's coal mines in 2017 than there were in 2016,with five so far taking place in West Virginia. Even so, the coal miner's union has claimed that the Mine Safety and Health Administration was not working on a viable solution to reduce the number of deaths.
Truck accidents can be caused by many factors
West Virginia motorists may be surprised to learn that number of annual truck accidents is on an upward trend. Public perception often rests of the aggressive behavior of truck drivers, who many assume drive recklessly and cause these accidents. However, there are a variety of factors that result in truck accidents, including human error on the parts of both truck drivers and car drivers.
Wearable device targets drowsy car accident risk
A new device could be good news for West Virginia motorists embarking on a long-distance trip. The wearable unit uses biometric measurements in order to determine when a person is close to falling asleep. It then issues an electric impulse with just enough strength to rouse the drowsy driver. The inventors of the device hope that it can help prevent car accidents and injuries by alerting drivers to when they have reached the limits of exhaustion.
Tractor-trailer accidents might wreck more than just your car
Trucks are just like cars, only bigger, right? Of course not. While less than 10 percent of fatal accidents involve commercial trucks, trucking accidents nearly always have the potential to be more catastrophic than regular automobile accidents. The vast difference in size between a car or motorcycle and a semi or tractor-trailer means that any injuries suffered in an accident involving trucks tend to be far more serious, if not fatal.
DOT decides not to pursue proposed rule changes
Freight companies in West Virginia and throughout the country are unlikely to be required to use speed limiters on their trucks in the near future. This is because the Department of Transportation announced that it would not seek rules to make them mandatory. The proposed rule had lost support under the Trump administration, which has been reluctant to impose new regulations. It had also lost support within the trucking industry over the past year.
