News in category: In The Workplace

The CDC is working on a vaccination campaign to encourage all 300 million Americans be vacciniated against the swine flu which health officials admit cannot be contained. 

Breaking with the business community, Wal-Mart is backing President Obama’s plan to require employer-back health insurance coverage for all employees. The nation's largest retailer currently employs 1.4 million in the U.S.

 The banking the business community are expected to pounce on the new Obama plan to create an agency overseeing financial products such as credit cards and mortgages. More information would have to be disclosed to consumers and interest rates could be capped, hurting the banks' bottom line. No more government is needed say critics.

The subway cars involved in a deadly crash in the nation’s capital Monday were cited as unsafe three years ago, but were never replaced because of the cost.  That information is emerging as 19 NTSB investigators search for clues into the cause of the rush hour wreck that killed nine people and injured 70.

Big Insurance has issued a strong statement opposing the public health insurance option. In a letter to Sen. Edward Kennedy, the companies say a public plan would dismantle employer-based coverage. Meanwhile, an insurance whistleblower will testify Wednesday about the abuses he's seen by insurance executives at the expense of consumers. 

Continental Flight 61 was en route from Brussels, Belgium, to Newark, New Jersey, when the pilot died mid-flight today. Passengers were unaware of the event, since the co-pilots landed safely, until they saw the emergency vehicles at the end of the runway. 

The World Health Organization has officially raised the swine flu level to its highest - Phase 6, which means it is being transmitted within communities in more than two countries. The increased alert refers to transmission, not severity, though mutations to the virus are expected. 

The FDA is considering regulating e-cigarettes, that is electronic cigarettes that deliver a jolt of nicotine as an alternative to smoking tobacco.   Health organizations say they may encourage kids to smoke and they are concerned about inhaling a vaporized form of the drug.   

Research shows that gender makes women more vulnerable to the effects of smoking than previously known. Lung damage hits women at an earlier age and after less time smoking, dispelling the myth that smoking a few cigarettes is safer.   

Staying on the job longer, may offset the mind-robbing effects of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new British study, which shows that cognitive reserves can be modified later in life. This study adds weight to the “use it or lose it” concept. 

The death of a New York City assistant principal from swine flu bring the U.S. death toll to 6, while the World Health Organization meets in Geneva to discuss how pharmaceutical companies can patent the virus to developing a vaccine.

Workplace bullying appears to be on the rise, especially among women. A study by the Workplace Bullying Institute found 40 percent of bullies are women and of those, 70 percent target other women.

The only agreement in recent years has been that health care costs are not sustainable and cannot continue to rise.  Look to efficiency to be the buzzword as the Obama administration meets with a wide range of players on how to trim $2 trillion from the U.S. health care system over the next 10 years. 

On the day the Labor Department announced another half-million job losses, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health are releasing their findings about unemployment’s impact on health. Losing a job can translate into compromised health, researchers found, even if a new job is secured. 

Wal-Mart Stores has agreed to better control crowds, something it didn’t do in its post-Thanksgiving Day stampede that left one man dead in a Long Island store last year.  It's part of a settlement to avoid a repeat at all 92 New York stores and it also avoids criminal prosecution for the giant retailer.