- Safety Knights Monday Mailer
- Posts
- ☕Thunderstorm Asthma - What You Need to Know
☕Thunderstorm Asthma - What You Need to Know
Plus a NIOSH Update and more
Dan Abbotoy & Dan Abbotoy
May 05, 2025
Good morning! Another week, another chance to lead the charge for safer, smarter workplaces. Whether you're in the field, behind a screen, or somewhere in between, your work matters—and we’re here to back you up.
THIS WEEK’S TIPS
This week’s safety upgrades:
NIOSH Update
New ILO Data
Thunderstorm Asthma - What You Need to Know
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
This Weeks Professional Development Tip
NIOSH Brings Back Workers—But Only the Ones Making Headlines
In a quiet pivot, some NIOSH employees have been temporarily called back to work—specifically those tied to coal miner health and firefighter fatality investigations. But don’t celebrate just yet. This move seems more like PR damage control than true restoration. The rest of NIOSH remains gutted, black lung screenings are still lagging, and protections for miners hang by a thread while the silica dust crisis worsens. Lawmakers are pushing back—but for now, it’s too little, too temporary.
🚨 Old habits die hard... and sometimes take your EHS program with them.
It nails the reality too many safety pros are still living in — pushing stone blocks uphill with “we’ve always done it this way” while ignoring the wheel that’s literally being offered to them.
📉 Manual processes
📊 Scattered spreadsheets
🕰️ Hours wasted chasing reports
Sound familiar?
Meanwhile, solutions like Origami Risk are over here saying:
"Hey, there's a better way — one that’s actually strategic."
Their latest guide lays out 4 ways safety & risk leaders are modernizing:
✅ From compliance-only to value-driven
✅ From reactive to predictive
✅ From siloed data to system-wide insight
✅ From lagging indicators to real-time action
Let’s stop reinventing the same stone wheel and start rolling forward. 👉 Learn more here
This Global Safety Crisis Isn’t Just a Statistic—It’s a Wake-Up Call
Work shouldn’t be a death sentence—but nearly 3 million people die each year from job-related causes. As the world marks the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, new ILO data shows workplace deaths have surged 12% since 2000, driven largely by preventable diseases and long hours. Despite lofty global commitments, far too many employers are failing to protect their people—especially migrants, low-wage workers, and women in overlooked sectors. If you think the future of worker safety is under control, think again.
Climate Change Is Supercharging Allergy Season — and the Consequences Are Deadly
Pollen season isn’t just longer — it’s getting deadly. Rising temperatures are triggering extreme events like “thunderstorm asthma,” where storms shatter pollen into microscopic particles that flood lungs, sending people to ERs and even causing fatalities. In 2016, one Melbourne storm killed 10 people and hospitalized hundreds. Thanks to climate change, events like this could become more common with millions of outdoor and frontline workers exposed to airborne allergens daily.
Your Ergo Solution.
Overexertion is costing companies $12.49 BILLION each year and feeding into a much larger problem! That’s why we’ve partnered with 3motionAI to enhance workplace safety with their Risk Flashlight solution. Together, we’re empowering EHS professionals to tackle these costly problems at the root, building a safer, more equitable workplace.
Steps to Take:
1. Learn more about 3motionAI: Read, here
2. Show company leadership how you can protect the bottom line.
3. Earn the respect you deserve by making a real impact.
NEWS
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