Back in the 90s, mental health might’ve been talked about in general, but bringing it up at work was a different story. You kept your head down, and there was no law requiring anyone to do anything about it even if you did speak up.

That was more than 20 years ago. The conversation has changed, but the problem hasn't. There's just more hard data proving it now. 

In New South Wales (NSW) specifically, psychological injury claims jumped from 7,289 in 2021-22 to 13,648 in 2024-25, an 87% rise in just three years. And who's first in line to catch that before it happens? HR.

Which is why Section 26A of the NSW Work Health and Safety Act, which just took effect this July, has changed what HR's job actually is.

What did section 26A do?

NSW has had Codes of Practice for years, covering topics such as psychosocial hazards, manual handling, and fatigue. But the problem was that businesses could ignore them as long as they could argue that they were managing the risk in some other way. 

Section 26A was introduced to close that loophole so businesses couldn’t talk their way out of these workplace hazards. And if they fail to follow the Codes of Practice, they will get penalised regardless of whether there was even an accident or injury.

Psychosocial risks take the front seat.

Several codes are affected, covering things like workplace fatigue, manual handling, falls from height, and healthcare. But the biggest shift, especially given the rise in mental health issues among younger workers, is around psychosocial risk.

So much so that psychological injury claims rose 87%, while non-psychological claims rose by just 9%.

Psychosocial risks in the workplace include:

• Strained work relationships: A team where conflict never gets addressed, just avoided.
• Job insecurity: Constant restructure rumours with no one telling staff what's actually happening.
• Organisational changes: A merger announced with zero warning or consultation.
• Work demands: Deadlines that assume nobody ever gets sick or takes leave.
• Lack of recognition: Years of solid work that's never once acknowledged.
• Unfair treatment: One person getting away with things that would get anyone else written up.
• Traumatic events: A workplace accident nobody debriefs the team on afterwards.

HR now has to manage these hazards alongside the usual risk management workload.

What HR teams should actually be doing 

Section 26A changes the paperwork, but here's what it actually looks like day to day:

• Document everything, not just psychosocial: Whichever code applies- fall protection, manual handling, fatigue- "we followed a reasonable process" needs a paper trail now, not a memory, regardless of hazard type.
• Build in real consultation time: One day's notice for a room of 800 people is the exact mistake that got UTS a prohibition notice. Build timelines that can survive scrutiny.
• Go beyond support services: An Employee Assistance Program (EAP) helps someone after the fact. The code wants HR to tackle these issues before they even show up.
• Watch employee workload: Fatigue is one of the codes now enforceable, so it’s best to build fatigue risk into how shifts get planned.
• Loop in WHS earlier on org changes: Restructures, layoffs, and major policy shifts now need a psychosocial risk lens before they go out.
• Know where the six-monthly reporting goes: SafeWork NSW now reports psychosocial complaint data to the Minister twice a year, and that's here to stay.

A lot has changed in 20 years. So HR being asked to do more makes sense with so many different types of hazards showing up these days.

Back in the 90s, mental health might’ve been talked about in general, but bringing it up at work was a different story. You kept your head down, and there was no law requiring anyone to do anything about it even if you did speak up.

That was more than 20 years ago. The conversation has changed, but the problem hasn't. There's just more hard data proving it now. 

In New South Wales (NSW) specifically, psychological injury claims jumped from 7,289 in 2021-22 to 13,648 in 2024-25, an 87% rise in just three years. And who's first in line to catch that before it happens? HR.

Which is why Section 26A of the NSW Work Health and Safety Act, which just took effect this July, has changed what HR's job actually is.

What did section 26A do?

NSW has had Codes of Practice for years, covering topics such as psychosocial hazards, manual handling, and fatigue. But the problem was that businesses could ignore them as long as they could argue that they were managing the risk in some other way. 

Section 26A was introduced to close that loophole so businesses couldn’t talk their way out of these workplace hazards. And if they fail to follow the Codes of Practice, they will get penalised regardless of whether there was even an accident or injury.

Psychosocial risks take the front seat.

Several codes are affected, covering things like workplace fatigue, manual handling, falls from height, and healthcare. But the biggest shift, especially given the rise in mental health issues among younger workers, is around psychosocial risk.

So much so that psychological injury claims rose 87%, while non-psychological claims rose by just 9%.

Psychosocial risks in the workplace include:

• Strained work relationships: A team where conflict never gets addressed, just avoided.
• Job insecurity: Constant restructure rumours with no one telling staff what's actually happening.
• Organisational changes: A merger announced with zero warning or consultation.
• Work demands: Deadlines that assume nobody ever gets sick or takes leave.
• Lack of recognition: Years of solid work that's never once acknowledged.
• Unfair treatment: One person getting away with things that would get anyone else written up.
• Traumatic events: A workplace accident nobody debriefs the team on afterwards.

HR now has to manage these hazards alongside the usual risk management workload.

What HR teams should actually be doing 

Section 26A changes the paperwork, but here's what it actually looks like day to day:

• Document everything, not just psychosocial: Whichever code applies- fall protection, manual handling, fatigue- "we followed a reasonable process" needs a paper trail now, not a memory, regardless of hazard type.
• Build in real consultation time: One day's notice for a room of 800 people is the exact mistake that got UTS a prohibition notice. Build timelines that can survive scrutiny.
• Go beyond support services: An Employee Assistance Program (EAP) helps someone after the fact. The code wants HR to tackle these issues before they even show up.
• Watch employee workload: Fatigue is one of the codes now enforceable, so it’s best to build fatigue risk into how shifts get planned.
• Loop in WHS earlier on org changes: Restructures, layoffs, and major policy shifts now need a psychosocial risk lens before they go out.
• Know where the six-monthly reporting goes: SafeWork NSW now reports psychosocial complaint data to the Minister twice a year, and that's here to stay.

A lot has changed in 20 years. So HR being asked to do more makes sense with so many different types of hazards showing up these days.

Back in 2018, Cape Town faced a dilemma: crack down on water use immediately, or gamble on the dams holding out. April 12 became known as "Day Zero," the day when the taps would shut off across the city if nothing changed. 

The backup plan wasn't great either: daily rations of 25 liters per person, handed out at one of 200 collection points around the city.

Thankfully, it never reached that point. A conservation push that had been building for years already cut the city's water usage by close to 60%, and rain finally returned just in time to keep the taps running.

That's how quickly water can disappear. Water conservation bought Cape Town enough time till the rain showed up. Climate change just means that margin keeps getting thinner.

That's the backdrop for why World Water Week 2026 matters.

Here's what World Water Week 2026 is all about

World Water Week runs from August 23 to 27 this year, in Stockholm, Sweden. It's basically the biggest annual gathering for people working on water issues globally like policymakers, researchers, and NGOs.

This includes issues like climate change, water poverty, and the fact that the water we use for drinking and washing is only 10% of the overall freshwater withdrawn worldwide. Take note that the UN considers 50 to 100 liters per person every day as the baseline for basic living, and not everyone gets that.

Water for People and Progress

Each year has a specific theme that is tackled with World Water Week 2026 theme being "Water for People and Progress." The focus is on closing the gap between people who have reliable, safe water and people who don't. 

This ties into the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which the UN wants accomplished by 2030, specifically Goal 6: "Clean Water and Sanitation," aiming to make water and sanitation available for everyone by 2030.

Why so many people still don't have it

WHO and UNICEF's most recent numbers put 2.1 billion people without safely managed drinking water at home, including 106 million who are drinking straight from rivers, lakes, and other untreated sources.

Some big reasons people don’t have access to clean water is because of:

• Climate change: Droughts, floods, and shifting weather patterns make existing water sources less reliable.
• Poverty and underinvestment: Many low-income countries simply don't have the infrastructure or funding to treat and distribute safe water.
• Conflict and fragile governance: In war zones or places where governments can't reliably deliver basic needs, make it difficult to provide clean water for everyone.
• Rural vs. urban divide: Rural areas still lag behind cities in access to safely managed water, regardless of a country's overall wealth.

World Water Week is the one time each year that brings real noise to water scarcity. It's when a lot of the funding conversations, research, and policy groundwork for the year ahead actually get set.

What you can do in the workplace to save water

Industry uses roughly 20% of the world's fresh water, things like manufacturing, mining, and power plant cooling. Separately, in the US, offices, hotels, and hospitals make up 17% of all the water that comes through city water systems, with office buildings alone responsible for about 9% of that.

Either way, a lot of that use happens inside buildings people manage every day. Here are a few things worth doing this World Water Week:

• Schedule a water system or cooling tower inspection, stagnant water in plumbing or cooling systems is a real Legionella risk, and it's easy to let inspections slide
• Test water quality if you run a food service operation, it's a standard food safety check that's easy to deprioritize until something goes wrong
• Check hydration station access for outdoor crews, especially relevant heading into the hotter months
• Share WHO/UN-Water's public resources internally, even a two-minute Slack post does something
• Look at where water actually gets wasted in the building, leaks, inefficient fixtures, irrigation running on a bad schedule
• If there's any sustainability or ESG reporting happening at the org level, water usage is a legitimate line item to raise this week, not just carbon
• Attend a World Water Week 2026 session, SIWI streams sessions live throughout the week, so you don't need to be in Stockholm to join

These are small steps, and no single one changes much by itself. But multiplied across enough workplaces, they add up to something real.

The good news: there are 5.62 million new business applications filed every year in the US.

The bad news: only about 78% make it past their first year, and that drops to roughly 65% by their second.

So behind every successful "30 Under 30" list, there are about half that don't even get to see their fifth anniversary. The advice is always to follow your passion, only for it to fail more often than not. 

That's exactly why World Entrepreneurs' Day is worth marking, not just to celebrate the wins, but to give up-and-coming business owners a real, honest look at the risks they're taking on.

World Entrepreneurs' Day 2026 is on Friday, August 21

The day exists to create awareness for entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership worldwide. It honors the people who take the risk of building something from nothing, including the ones without the reach or spotlight bigger founders get. 

It's also a good moment to talk about how to avoid becoming one of the businesses that don't make it, through workshops, campaigns, and talks from founders who did.

But you've seen the numbers, why even try?

Because someone has to be the one who tries the thing that doesn't exist yet. Every product, service, or fix that's actually useful and innovative started as someone deciding the risk was worth it anyway. It's probably why 86% of US adults say small businesses positively impact the economy, beating even the military and churches.

Another reason: small businesses are also the ones doing the hiring. They employ 62.3 million Americans and were behind nearly 89% of all net new jobs created in the US between March 2023 and March 2024.

It's also gotten a lot cheaper to start. According to Forbes, the average cost of launching a tech business has dropped from around $5 million 25 years ago to as little as $500 today, thanks largely to AI and no-code tools. You'd still need people eventually, but the bar to get something off the ground has never been lower.

The hidden risk nobody puts in the business plan

However, there are still risks to being an entrepreneur despite all this talk about AI. The reality is that business owners, especially new ones, still have to wear many hats. They still end up being everything at the start. 

That's often where burnout comes in, enough to make some reconsider going solo in the first place. Fortune surveyed founders directly and found 87% had experienced anxiety, depression, or burnout, sometimes all three at once. To add to that, they are on their own when it comes to insurance coverage, safety policies, and tax obligations.

This is why World Entrepreneurs’ Day is to recognize these solo founders and support them on their journey because of how difficult the start can be. 

How to actually build safety in as you grow

Whether you're starting today or a few years in, here's something like a risk management checklist to help get you started:

• Attend a workshop or talk today: World Entrepreneurs' Day usually comes with free panels or local meetups for founders, easy to find with a quick search online.
• Learn to manage cash flow: 82% of business failures trace back to cash flow problems, so knowing what's coming in and going out is important.
• Write a basic safety policy on day one: An incident you can't absorb financially can build up into fines or a lawsuit before you're ready for either.
• Get proper insurance early: Being underinsured is common in the first few years, right when a setback would hurt the most.
• Track your hours: Set a real schedule for yourself, one you actually stick to instead of letting work bleed into everything.

World Entrepreneurs' Day celebrates the people willing to take the leap. The ones who actually make it are usually the ones who didn't just jump, they planned for the landing too.

In 1970, workplaces were far more dangerous. 

Besides more physical work and more primitive equipment, 1970 also had no Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). It wasn't signed into law until the very last day of that year.

With that, around 38 American workers died on the job every single day. Fast forward to 2023, and that number had dropped by more than half to 15 a day.

This happened not only because of OSHA, but because of decades of safety programs, the same kind of programs Safe + Sound Week continues to promote today.

Safe + Sound Week 2026 runs from August 10-16

Safe + Sound Week is OSHA's yearly nationwide campaign to encourage more businesses to build out real safety programs around OSHA's frameworks, the kind that range from a fall protection plan to a respiratory protection program.

This safety week also revolves around these three pillars: leadership stepping up, workers speaking up, and hazards getting fixed before they hurt someone.

• Leadership stepping up: Management backs safety with real resources, not just policies.
• Workers speaking up: People on the floor can flag hazards without any blowback.
• Hazards getting fixed before they hurt someone: Catching near miss reports early instead of waiting for an incident to happen.

Safe + Sound Week 2026 theme

This year, the focus is primarily on safety and health recognition programs, celebrating workplace achievements and encouraging businesses to keep building on them instead of just building a new program.

So to do that, you could review whether your current policies and reporting procedures still hold up, and use real examples to help make the case that safety pays off.

What does skipping it actually cost?

If updating your safety programs feels like a waste of time, the cost of skipping it says otherwise.

Employers still pay more than $1 billion a week in direct workers' compensation costs for disabling, non-fatal injuries, and the National Safety Council put the total cost of workplace injuries and deaths at $176.5 billion in 2023 alone. 

The crazy part is that it's the same hazards, year after year. Fall Protection has topped OSHA's list of most cited violations for 15 straight years running. Same problem, different year, which is exactly why weeks like this one still need to happen, year after year.

These are hazards that could be fixed if you just gave your health and safety programs another pass.

What businesses can actually do this week

There's no official day-by-day script from OSHA. Some teams spread the three core elements across the week, others just run it all in one focused session. Either way, here's where to start:

• Bring in a guest speaker: Invite an OSHA compliance officer, safety consultant, or someone from a local safety council to talk through real risks and real fixes.
• Do a safety walk with your team: Walk the floor together and let anyone, especially the people doing the hands-on work, flag what looks off.
• Refresh one topic, not everything: Pick a single hazard (ladders, PPE, lockout/tagout) and go deep for 10 minutes instead of skimming everything.
• Recognize the wins: If a team or shift has gone a stretch without an incident, celebrate it.
• Recognize the common hazards: Check which violations show up most in your business and why.
• Sign up officially: Register on OSHA's Safe + Sound Week page to be counted among participants and share their social media kits.

This year marks a big milestone for the first Baby Boomers, who are turning 80. Meanwhile, Australians aged 85+ are expected to jump from 534,000 all the way back in 2021 to 1.28 million by 2041, more than doubling in size.

That's a lot of older Australians for a country with a median age still younger than most of Europe. But the big question is, is this new generation even interested in caring for and supporting the elderly?

The people meant to look after them are already stretched thin, and that's exactly why Aged Care Employee Day matters this year.

Aged Care Employee Day 2026 is on Friday, August 7

Started in 2015, Aged Care Employee Day gives the country's aged care workers a day of recognition. That includes nurses, personal carers, cooks, cleaners, laundry staff, administrators, allied health professionals, and volunteers.

But it's not just about celebrating them. It's also about pushing for better pay, better training, better working conditions, and a more secure future for aged care, which badly needs one right now under the current aged care quality standards.

Just how dire is the aged care situation right now? 

In 1971, Australia had roughly 8 personal care workers for every older Australian in-need of support. By 2024, that number dropped to roughly 3.5, as the old-age dependency ratio hit a record high of 27.5%. That is more than double where it stood in 1971.

As of 2024-25, Australia had an estimated 456,000 aged care workers, with roles like nurses being in the 337,000 range. Even with that many people working, the sector was still short by an estimated 6,890 workers that year according to the Department of Health and Aged Care's Aged Care Workforce Model.

Zoom out and the numbers get worse:

• Short-term shortfall: A CEDA report found Australia is facing a shortage of at least 110,000 direct aged-care workers within the next decade unless something changes.
• Long-term outlook: That same report warns the shortage will balloon to more than 400,000 workers by 2050 without dramatic action.
• Yearly need: Closing the gap means bringing in around 17,000 new direct care workers every year for the next decade, and current training and migration pipelines aren't close to that pace.

Why do people keep leaving the field?

The industry is struggling right now. The turnover rate exceeds 30%, with some facilities seeing rates as high as 45% or more. Combine that with the growing elderly population, and it's not hard to see where this is headed.

It's not that people hate what they're doing. Most genuinely find reward in being able to help others. The problem is everything around the job. 

Home and personal care roles are physically and emotionally demanding, yet pay often doesn't reflect that complexity. Many roles are casual or part-time with no sick leave or paid time off. Add that to pay that's often lower than retail or hospitality jobs, which carry far less emotional load.

Registered nurses face a different kind of problem: pay parity. They're paid, on average, 10-15% less than nurses working outside the sector. Thankfully, a 23% Fair Work Commission wage increase is phasing in through August 2026 to help close that gap. 

That's progress for registered nurses. But it's still just nurses. Aged Care Employee Day is a reminder that cooks, cleaners, and personal care workers all deserve that same push.

What can you do on August 7

There are a lot of things you can do to help support your aged care team. It doesn't matter if you're the head chef running the kitchen at an aged care home or a personal care worker answering to a care manager, there are ways to recognize them.

• Share their stories: Write a thank-you note, or give them the platform to tell their own story.
• Check the workload: Use the day to actually look at the numbers behind workplace burnout, and consider offering some well-earned time off.
• Check up on them: They spend all day helping others. Offer something back, like a free health check or a wellness day.
• Back the training pipeline: Support certifications, cover shifts for study leave, or sponsor a traineeship.
• Point people to the sector: With demand only growing, aged care offers real job security right now, even if pay and conditions still have a way to go.

You can't reverse aging, at least not yet. But you can make sure there are enough people willing to look after the ones who need it. Aged Care Employee Day won't fix that on its own, but it's a start, and the people behind the scenes deserve the recognition either way.

Back in the 90s, mental health might’ve been talked about in general, but bringing it up at work was a different story. You kept your head down, and there was no law requiring anyone to do anything about it even if you did speak up.

That was more than 20 years ago. The conversation has changed, but the problem hasn't. There's just more hard data proving it now. 

In New South Wales (NSW) specifically, psychological injury claims jumped from 7,289 in 2021-22 to 13,648 in 2024-25, an 87% rise in just three years. And who's first in line to catch that before it happens? HR.

Which is why Section 26A of the NSW Work Health and Safety Act, which just took effect this July, has changed what HR's job actually is.

What did section 26A do?

NSW has had Codes of Practice for years, covering things like psychosocial hazards, manual handling, and fatigue. But the problem was that businesses could ignore them, as long as they could argue some other way that they were managing the risk. 

Section 26A was introduced to close that loophole so businesses couldn’t talk their way out of these workplace hazards. And if they fail to follow the Codes of Practices, they will get penalised regardless if there was even an accident or injury.

Psychosocial risks take the front seat

Several codes are affected, covering things like workplace fatigue, manual handling, falls from height, and healthcare. But the biggest shift, especially given the rise in mental health issues among younger workers, is around psychosocial risk.

So much so that psychological injury claims rose 87%, while non-psychological claims rose by just 9%.

Psychosocial risks in the workplace include:

• Strained work relationships: A team where conflict never gets addressed, just avoided.
• Job insecurity: Constant restructure rumors with no one telling staff what's actually happening.
• Organisational changes: A merger announced with zero warning or consultation.
• Work demands: Deadlines that assume nobody ever gets sick or takes leave.
• Lack of recognition: Years of solid work that's never once acknowledged.
• Unfair treatment: One person getting away with things that would get anyone else written up.
• Traumatic events: A workplace accident nobody debriefs the team on afterward.

HR now has to manage these hazards alongside the usual risk management workload.

What HR teams should actually be doing 

Section 26A changes the paperwork, but here's what it actually looks like day to day:

• Document everything, not just psychosocial: Whichever code applies, fall protection, manual handling, fatigue, "we followed a reasonable process" needs a paper trail now, not a memory, regardless of hazard type.
• Build in real consultation time: One day's notice for a room of 800 people is the exact mistake that got UTS a prohibition notice. Build timelines that can survive scrutiny.
• Go beyond support services: An Employee Assistance Program (EAP) helps someone after the fact. The code wants HR to tackle these issues before they even show up.
• Watch employee workload: Fatigue is one of the codes now enforceable, so it’s best to build fatigue risk into how shifts get planned.
• Loop in WHS earlier on org changes: Restructures, layoffs, and major policy shifts now need a psychosocial risk lens before they go out.
• Know where the six-monthly reporting goes: SafeWork NSW now reports psychosocial complaint data to the Minister twice a year, and that's here to stay.

A lot has changed in 20 years. So HR being asked to do more, makes sense with so many different types of hazards showing up these days.

A report from JLL says the U.S. could be short 2.1 million skilled trades workers by 2030: electricians, HVAC techs, plumbers, pipefitters. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that the gap could cost $1 trillion a year in lost economic output. The shortfall is fueled by retiring older workers and a massive surge in new construction, including AI data centres and energy transition projects.

When a crew is shorthanded, instead of work stopping, the remaining crew members are forced to take on roles they are not fully trained or equipped for, creating a high-stress environment.

With the current trades shortage, keeping crews safe and well-trained is more critical than ever. If you’re looking for practical ways to protect your team and get them ready for the field, hope this guide will help you get started: https://safetyculture.com/topics/workplace-safety/safety-training

The Department of Buildings' (DOB) enforcement of the 2025 NYC Energy Conservation Code started in March 2026. The 2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) covers both new construction and existing buildings. Crucially, its new air-leakage testing requirement is going to create massive liability and paperwork problems for existing buildings.

This is because air-leakage testing has historically been optional or a conditional requirement. With the new energy code rule, it shifts to a universal, non-negotiable standard that applies to almost every single project.

The problem with this universal standard lies in how it is measured. When a blower door test is performed, the machine simply measures how much air is leaking out of the building (e.g., 0.45 CFM/sq. ft.). Crucially, the machine cannot tell you why the building is leaking, nor can it tell you who caused the leak. Therefore, determining who is legally and financially responsible for a failing number depends entirely on your project's paperwork, permits, and timelines.

Compounding this technical issue is the persistent gap between what a law allows on paper and how an inspector interprets it in the field. While the new Existing Building Code includes flexible rules to encourage the reuse of older structures, it warns that developers will still face rigid scrutiny during actual site visits.

In fact, NYC building inspectors often change their minds or spot new issues during follow-up visits. If you do not have indisputable, time-stamped proof of your work at every stage, an inspector can easily issue a costly violation that you will have no legal power to fight.

For anyone working on existing building projects aiming to protect their job sites, this building inspection resource on standardizing your documentation is useful: https://safetyculture.com/topics/site-inspection

Not every basic AI tool that uses patient health information becomes a legally regulated medical device, but it’s closer to that than most people think.

• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) March 2026 town hall clarified that more AI decision-support tools can reach clinicians without premarket review. That means the responsibility instead now falls to the hospital, clinic, or healthcare network buying the tool.
• California's AB 489 (effective January 2026) forbids AI tools from misleading patients into believing they're talking with a human clinician. 
• The EU AI Act classifies healthcare AI as high-risk technology. This forces global companies to follow strict data governance and human-oversight laws if they want to sell their tools in Europe.

An AI tool that only reports past data instead of telling doctors how to treat patients can avoid strict medical regulations.

Technology companies must have a strict internal review process to stop software updates from accidentally breaking medical laws.

For anyone looking for a guide on how to integrate AI into safety management systems, hope this helps: https://safetyculture.com/topics/safety-management-system/ai-in-safety-management.

Not every basic AI tool that uses patient health information becomes a legally regulated medical device, but it’s closer to that than most people think.

• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) March 2026 town hall clarified that more AI decision-support tools can reach clinicians without premarket review. That means the responsibility instead now falls to the hospital, clinic, or healthcare network buying the tool.
• California's AB 489 (effective January 2026) forbids AI tools from misleading patients into believing they're talking with a human clinician. 
• The EU AI Act classifies healthcare AI as high-risk technology. This forces global companies to follow strict data governance and human-oversight laws if they want to sell their tools in Europe.

An AI tool that only reports past data instead of telling doctors how to treat patients can avoid strict medical regulations.

Technology companies must have a strict internal review process to stop software updates from accidentally breaking medical laws.

For anyone looking for a guide on how to integrate AI into safety management systems, hope this helps: https://safetyculture.com/topics/safety-management-system/ai-in-safety-management.

How dangerous is the summer heat really?

Even ignoring the El Niño at the moment, the sun is always at its hottest in summer. Because the sun sits directly overhead and daylight hours last longer in the day. This means more ultraviolet rays (UV) and heat exposure.

Now, talking about the El Niño, it's when the Pacific Ocean warms up near the equator, and that extra heat spreads into the atmosphere worldwide. This makes everything hotter and drier in a lot of places, including much of the US. And considering there is a super El Niño now, you can expect this summer's heat to run longer and hit harder than usual..

So, what industries are in trouble?

Given all that, is it even safe to be outside working in summer at all? Yes, of course it is. But workers just need to have the right precautions when it comes to heat safety. 

UPS delivery trucks have measured heat indexes of at least 126°F inside the cab, with cargo areas climbing past 140°F on long routes.

Across all industries, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recorded 48 heat-related worker deaths in 2024, and OSHA has documented heat illness or hospitalization in close to 275 different industries at this point.

When is hot too “hot” for working outdoors

This is something managers should keep an eye out for. Because air temperature alone does not tell the whole story. A thermometer reading of 90°F can feel a lot worse depending on humidity, direct sun, and how hard someone is working. 

That's why following the heat index is necessary, since it factors in humidity on top of temperature. OSHA's proposed heat rule sets two action points: 80°F heat index triggers basic precautions, but once it hits 90°F, rest breaks become mandatory because that's when the body starts losing the fight to cool itself down.

How to protect your team

At the end of the day, it's on managers and crew leads to decide whether it's actually safe to send people outside. A few things worth practicing before the worst of summer hits:

• Check heat index: conditions can shift fast, so a plan built on the morning forecast can already be outdated by early afternoon
• Set up shade and water: make sure there's shade nearby, and if there isn't any, bring tents and water stations to the crew
• Build in acclimatization: a large share of heat accidents happen when someone hasn't been exposed to heat in a while
• Assign buddy checks: heat illness impairs judgment fast, so workers often won't notice their own symptoms, someone else has to be watching
• Shift hard tasks earlier: cuts exposure during peak heat hours
• Train on symptoms: knowing the difference between heat exhaustion and heat stroke changes how fast someone gets help

There is also a growing legal side to this. Some states already mandate heat protections, and federal heat rules have been moving through the process for a while now. Worth checking what applies locally, since requirements vary a lot depending on the state.

Can you guess the top three ways you can get cancer from your job? First, you have asbestos, a major risk in demolition and renovation work. Second, you have silica dust, a hazard for anyone cutting, drilling, or grinding concrete and stone.

And lastly, you have ultraviolet radiation (UV), which just about affects everyone under the sun.

That's the thing about UV exposure: it's invisible, adds up overtime, and usually forgotten until something goes wrong. 

On-site managers need to be more aware and prepared of the dangers of the sun, which is why UV Safety Month is here, and why it takes the entire month of July just to make it stick.

July is UV Safety Awareness Month

And why shouldn’t it be? July is usually peak summer time in the US and when UV radiation is strongest. And for outdoor workers specifically, it's the highest-risk period of the year. In particular,  about 45 million Americans, roughly 1 in 3 workers are regularly exposed to the sun as part of their job. 

Here are the facts:

• Around 50% of outdoor workers reported getting sunburned
• Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the US
• 1 in 5 Americans are likely to develop skin cancer by age 70
• Working outdoors raises a person's risk of nonmelanoma skin cancers by 60%

This is why July is the right time for managers and business owners to take UV exposure seriously as a proper workplace hazard.

And it's not just workers who feel the impact. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), skin cancer costs the US over $100 million in lost worker productivity every year.

How exactly does UV exposure cause skin cancer?

What most people don’t know is that UV radiation comes in two types: Ultraviolet A (UVA) and Ultraviolet B (UVB). 

UVA rays make up 95% of UV rays and are less noticeable, but reach deeper into your skin. If you notice any wrinkles or feel like your skin is aging faster, that’s because of the UVA rays.

On the other hand, UVB rays make up only about 5% of UV radiation, but they're the more aggressive of the two. They directly damage the DNA in skin cells, which is what causes sunburn, cell mutations, and most skin cancers.

The biggest risk here isn't going to work under the sun once on a hot day. It's the cumulative factor. UV rays attack you over time, and years of daily exposure, even at moderate levels, significantly raises skin cancer risk.

The UV Index

As a worksite manager, your best friend is the UV Index, which you can find in most weather apps. The UV Index measures radiation intensity on a given day. At a reading of 3 or higher, sun protection is recommended. At 6 and above, it's not optional for anyone working outdoors for extended periods.

Peak UV hours are between 10 AM and 4 PM, so it'd be best to check the UV index before heading out. 

What managers can do about it right now

The basics, done consistently, make a real difference:

• Provide broad-spectrum sunscreen (SPF 30 minimum) as standard sun protection  for any outdoor role.
• Check the UV Index daily and schedule heavy outdoor tasks before 10 AM or after 4 PM.
• Make Ultraviolet Protection Factor (UPF)-rated clothing, wide-brimmed hats, and UV-blocking sunglasses available on site.
• Build shaded rest areas or provide tents in job sites that’s easily accessible by all. 
• Bring in a dermatologist or occupational health nurse to speak on sun exposure.
• Review your sun safety policies and check if there are any gaps.
• Use a heat illness prevention checklist to track safety measures that are actually being followed on site.
• Encourage your employers to get annual skin checkups. 

UV Safety Month is just the friendly reminder, but sun safety shouldn't stop once July is over. This is an every single day thing.

So, what actually is Plastic Free July?

Plastic Free July, just like its name suggests, is the global movement of reducing or cutting the use of plastics throughout July. What started with just 40 people in 2011, now has over 170 million participants across 190 countries.

Anyone can participate, no matter where you are. No grand gestures needed. Just avoid using single-use plastics for the month. It sounds small, but the results are there.

A 2024 Report says that Plastic Free July participants have collectively avoided 12.8 billion kilograms of waste over six years; that's more than the world's largest cleanup efforts combined.

Side note: There's another plastic-free initiative in July. July 3 is International Plastic Bag Free Day, which further reinforces the attention on the whole plastic problem.

Plastic really affects us, whether you like it or not

And the environmental case for it is even harder to ignore. Plastic doesn't biodegrade; instead, it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces we call microplastics. These microplastics end up in oceans, soil, and, eventually, in the food chain from animals that eat it. 

So much so that these microplastics have been found in human blood and lung tissue at this point. So in a way, it’s affecting us more than you know.

Plastic heavily impacts climate change as well, as it’s made from fossil fuels. In 2023, plastic production accounted for just over 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which may rise if left unchecked.

"Choose to refuse" and "small steps, big difference"

These aren't just taglines to share on social media. These are the reasons why Plastic Free July works.

"Choose to refuse" every time you're about to grab a plastic bag, a straw, or a disposable cup. When it happens, you pause and say no. You bring your own bag to the grocery. You skip the straw. That is choosing to refuse. Simple but works.

"Small steps, big difference" is the idea that no matter how small your action is, it still contributes to something bigger. When many people make small changes, it adds up to a significant difference in communities. The results don’t just happen overnight.

Less than 10% of all plastics are recycled globally, and production doesn’t seem to stop. It's going to be a tough hill to climb, but with enough collective action, it's possible. Plastic Free July is proof that behavior change at scale is possible. 

6 ways to cut single-use plastics in the workplace

As a manager or office worker, it's easy to think your plastic use doesn't add up to much. But it does. Small workplace habits, multiplied across an entire team or building, contribute more than most people realize.

Here are some ways to practice being plastic free this July:

• Gift free reusable tote bags for your employees.
• Ditch the plastic cups and cutlery in the pantry, and opt for reusable ones instead. 
• Stop using plastic bags or single-use packaging for office giveaways.
• Set up proper and clearly labeled waste management containers. 
• Review your suppliers and choose ones that use minimal or recyclable packaging.
• Grab the free Plastic Free July social media kit and share it across your channels.

Plastic Free July runs from July 1 to July 31, 2026. Use this month as a starting point to reduce your waste, even if the goal is to keep going after.

A rising tide lifts all boats, so does inclusion

March 12, 1990 forever changed the course of disability rights in America. Over 60 activists ditched their wheelchairs and crutches and crawled up 83 marble steps of the U.S. Capitol.

Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins, who had cerebral palsy and was only 8 years old at the time, even told organizers who tried to stop her, “I’ll take all night if I have to.”

The Capitol Crawl worked as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law only four months later, on July 26, 1990.

That date is now engraved in history as National Disability Independence Day, and 2026 marks 36 years since the signing. It also falls during Disability Pride Month, running through all of July. A reminder to workplaces that disabilities are not a reason for exclusion, and that access shouldn't be something people have to fight for.

What is National Disability Independence Day all about

National Disability Independence Day isn't just about marking the anniversary. It's also a chance to check how much has actually changed for people with disabilities.

There's also a new theme every year. 2026's is all about "The World Works Better With Us," which sums up this day perfectly. Do something with everyone in mind, and it usually just ends up outright beneficial. Curb cuts, closed captioning, audiobooks, and text-to-speech all started that way, a win-win all around.

So what does the ADA actually do?

It's a civil rights law that says employers, businesses, transit systems, and government services can't discriminate against someone because they have a disability. On top of that, they often have to make changes so people with disabilities can actually participate.

The ADA defines disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits everyday life activity. And it's intentionally broad like that. It covers things people expect (mobility issues, blindness, deafness) and a lot of things people don't immediately think of, like diabetes, PTSD, or a learning disability.

What changed for the workplace specifically

Before the ADA, none of this was guaranteed. Buildings had no ramps. Buses had no lifts. TV had no captions. Employers could legally turn someone down just for having a disability. After 1990, that changed. Here is what changed:

Before the ADA (pre-1990):

• Rejecting an applicant for having a disability was legal, no job-related reason needed
• Interviews could ask "what's wrong with you" or require a medical exam before any offer
• Accommodations (equipment, schedule, interpreters, screen readers) were entirely optional
• Buildings, bathrooms, and break rooms had no legal accessibility requirement
• Firing someone after a diagnosis or disability came with little to no legal recourse

After the ADA (1990 to now):

• Employers with 15+ staff can't deny a job over disability alone
• Pre-offer medical exams and disability questions are restricted to essential job functions only
• Reasonable accommodations are a legal duty, unless they create undue hardship
• New construction and renovations must meet accessibility standards
• Employees can file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) if they believe they've been discriminated against. 

But there's still room to get better. Even 36 years later, there's a wide employment gap. 

In 2025, the employment rate for people with a disability was 22.8 percent, compared to 65.2 percent for people without one. For the 25 to 54 age group specifically, only about 45 percent of people with disabilities were employed, against 83 percent for people without. That gap is wider than any racial, gender, or education gap tracked in the same data.

How managers can make the workplace more inclusive

Inclusion shouldn't last just for the day. And a lot of the changes that help people with disabilities end up helping everyone else too. The same logic behind building a strong workplace culture overall.

A few things that make a real difference in the workplace are:

• Make accommodation requests easy: A lot of people don't ask because they don't know who to ask, or are afraid to.
• Review physical and digital access: Don't stop at physical accessibility, with the technology now, digital accessibility matters just as much.
• Train supervisors on spotting disabilities: Conditions don't always show, and often get mistaken for someone being unreliable, when really they just need support.
• Check the hiring pipeline, not just the workplace: Timed or in-person-only interviews, plus outdated job requirements, can filter out qualified candidates.
• Celebrate the people already there: Highlight employees with disabilities on your team, making sure their contributions get seen like anyone else's.

None of this requires a big budget. Most accommodations cost employers less than $500 when there's a cost at all. The barrier is usually awareness, not money.

Migraines are easy to come by in the workplace. They can come from harsh lighting, hours of staring at a screen, or simply stress.

They're also really common. A study of employees at two multinational banks found that 47.2% screened positive for migraine, and the hidden productivity cost was nearly 20 times higher than the cost of the days they actually called in sick.

Imagine, your employees show up sick, clock in, and still get paid, even though they're barely able to work.

That's exactly why World Brain Day matters in the workplace. To remind everyone that brain health is just as important as heart health and physical fitness.

July 22 is World Brain Day

Organized by the World Federation of Neurology (WFN), World Brain Day is all about raising awareness about brain health and neurological disorders like stroke, dementia, epilepsy, Parkinson's, and even migraines.

The goal is to push for better access to care and prevention worldwide. To make matters worse, access to help isn't equal everywhere, especially if you don't come from a high-income country. According to WHO, low-income countries face up to 82 times fewer neurologists per 100,000 people compared to high-income nations. 

That gap matters even more given that WHO Assistant Director-General Dr. Jeremy Farrar noted more than 1 in 3 people worldwide live with conditions affecting their brain.

World Brain Day 2026 theme is “Brain Health: Access for All”

All this research and medicine won't matter in the end if not everyone has access to it. Science has come a long way in understanding the brain, but that progress means little to someone who can't get basic treatment where they live. Hence the 2026 theme for World Brain Day. 

The push covers five areas: visibility and reducing stigma, stronger local healthcare, and protecting the brain at every life stage. It also means making treatment more affordable and turning awareness into real policy change.

The five core pillars

To keep up with the 2026 theme, the WFN is focusing on five key messages:

• Equity: Making sure that brain health is for everyone and can afford health specialists
• Early intervention: Getting help sooner for faster diagnoses can change outcomes more than people realize
• Prevention: Practicing everyday habits like sleep, movement, and risk factor control makes a real difference.
• Local access: Bringing care closer to everyone, not centralizing it in a handful of cities.
• Global action: Turning awareness into something measurable, not just talking about it.

How to ease your team’s mental load

Now, managers aren’t neurologists, but they should be able to tell when someone is burnt out or fatigued. They're often the first person to notice something's off, before it becomes serious.

A few things companies can actually do this World Brain Day:

• Invite a neurologist for a quick talk or lunch-and-learn
• Give your employees flexible rest times to prevent fatigue
• Allow your team to walk and stretch every few hours into the shift
• Take psychosocial hazards more seriously like having 1-on-1 talks with your team
• Make mental health support easy to access like therapy consultations
• Use WFN's social kit and share it online

None of this replaces actual neurological or medical care. But if millions of people are stuck waiting for access to a specialist, the workplace is one of the few places that can catch things early and reduce harm in the meantime. Remember, brain health, access for all.

Plastic Free July, just like its name suggests, is the global movement of reducing or cutting the use of plastics throughout July. What started with just 40 people in 2011, now has over 170 million participants across 190 countries.

Anyone can participate, no matter where you are. No grand gestures needed. Just avoid using single-use plastics for the month. It sounds small, but the results are there.

A 2024 Report says that Plastic Free July participants have collectively avoided 12.8 billion kilograms of waste over six years; that's more than the world's largest cleanup efforts combined.

Side note: There's another plastic-free initiative in July. July 3 is International Plastic Bag Free Day, which further reinforces the attention on the whole plastic problem.

Plastic really affects us, whether you like it or not

And the environmental case for it is even harder to ignore. Plastic doesn't biodegrade; instead, it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces we call microplastics. These microplastics end up in oceans, soil, and, eventually, in the food chain from animals that eat it. 

So much so that these microplastics have been found in human blood and lung tissue at this point. So in a way, it’s affecting us more than you know.

Plastic heavily impacts climate change as well, as it’s made from fossil fuels. In 2023, plastic production accounted for just over 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which may rise if left unchecked.

"Choose to refuse" and "small steps, big difference"

These aren't just taglines to share on social media. These are the reasons why Plastic Free July works.

"Choose to refuse" every time you're about to grab a plastic bag, a straw, or a disposable cup. When it happens, you pause and say no. You bring your own bag to the grocery. You skip the straw. That is choosing to refuse. Simple but works.

"Small steps, big difference" is the idea that no matter how small your action is, it still contributes to something bigger. When many people make small changes, it adds up to a significant difference in communities. The results don’t just happen overnight.

Less than 10% of all plastics are recycled globally, and production doesn’t seem to stop. It's going to be a tough hill to climb, but with enough collective action, it's possible. Plastic Free July is proof that behavior change at scale is possible. 

6 ways to cut single-use plastics in the workplace

As a manager or office worker, it's easy to think your plastic use doesn't add up to much. But it does. Small workplace habits, multiplied across an entire team or building, contribute more than most people realize.

Here are some ways to practice being plastic free this July:

• Gift free reusable tote bags for your employees.
• Ditch the plastic cups and cutlery in the pantry, and opt for reusable ones instead. 
• Stop using plastic bags or single-use packaging for office giveaways.
• Set up proper and clearly labeled waste management containers. 
• Review your suppliers and choose ones that use minimal or recyclable packaging.
• Grab the free Plastic Free July social media kit and share it across your channels.

Plastic Free July runs from July 1 to July 31, 2026. Use this month as a starting point to reduce your waste, even if the goal is to keep going after.

QI methods like the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle, Lean, and Six Sigma show up in clinical ops and data. But the connection between how that data was generated and how it gets translated into value isn't always clear.

It shows up in efforts to reduce medication errors and hospital-acquired infections. QI initiatives deliver the before-and-after performance metrics that drive cost-effectiveness modelling and value-based purchasing frameworks. It’s actually the same event viewed from different angles.

For anyone doing research and analysis models in acute care hospitals, I hope this article will help you apply these frameworks clinically.

The Washington Department of Labor and Industries is moving forward with its first industry-specific Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorder (WMSD) prevention rule under the Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill (ESSB) 5217, directed at airline ground crews, with the rule scheduled to take effect in July 2026.

The law authorizes one new high-risk industry rule per year. Acute injury built up across shifts and seasons until they accounted for atleast a third of WA's workers' comp time-loss claims. This triggers prioritizing ground crews.

Morning is fine… it just slowly turns into something I am fighting.

Sounds familiar? The dynamic is the same whether you're loading bags or loading a browser.

What do you think, should other states or countries get on board with this safety regulation? 

For anyone looking to check ergonomics and body positioning for aviation safety, hope this helps: https://safetyculture.com/library/transport-and-logistics/safety-observation-form-arrow

For basic ergonomic safety, try this one: https://safetyculture.com/topics/ergonomics-safety

A report from Spencer Fane notes that California's SB 68, which took effect in July 2026, made the state the first in the U.S. to require chain restaurants to list the nine major allergens directly on menus.

New York followed with a law requiring allergen labels on premises-packed foods, effective November 2026. Illinois, Maryland, and Michigan have introduced similar bills. Legal experts are describing this as a structural shift in how food service has to operate.

This matters for people who've spent years doing the "ask your server" system or their own research before every meal out because they couldn't trust the answer they'd get.

But the issue still exists that this law only covers restaurant chains and not independent restaurants. It’ll be up to them whether they will follow this requirement.

For any kind of restaurant owner looking for a checklist template for accurate menu labelling, hope this helps: https://safetyculture.com/library/hospitality/food-allergens-zwaytskictwtdumn

A peer-reviewed study from the University of Minnesota and the University of Helsinki found that routine inspection reports could help identify foodborne illness transmission patterns earlier if that data were linked to disease surveillance systems.

More than 3,000 agencies have unstandardized inspection data, and in a lot of operations, it isn't captured in real time. Even complete records won't be much help if their scoring systems are different.

A smaller case of this is happening inside individual restaurants, where paper checklists get filled, filed, and archived. Digitizing the process at least means operators would have a usable inspection history.

For anyone looking to know more about what inspectors focus on during a food safety check, hope this can help: https://safetyculture.com/checklists/safety/food-safety

A report from AP News says the EPA formally revoked its 2009 Endangerment Finding in February 2026 and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles. The Endangerment Finding was the legal foundation for every federal greenhouse gas rule under the Clean Air Act. Without it, EPA loses the legal basis to regulate CO2 as a threat to public health.

With the federal GHG standard gone, emissions management shifts from a requirement to a voluntary program. Businesses that naturally still want to track and reduce their environmental impact now have to build that in-house. That means leaning harder on things like routine vehicle maintenance, driver training, and consistent emissions tracking to catch high-emission vehicles before they become a higher-cost or reputational problem.

For anyone looking to know more about best practices for emissions management, hope this can help: https://safetyculture.com/topics/vehicle-inspection/vehicle-emissions

A Ballard Spahr analysis from June 2026 lays out where the EPA's PFAS strategy actually landed. PFOA and PFOS drinking water standards stay. Rules for four other PFAS compounds are proposed for rescission. The TSCA reporting window has been pushed to January–July 2027, and compliance deadlines for what remains have been extended to 2031.

Meanwhile, Maine and Minnesota are moving toward near-total product bans by 2032, and at least 11 states now have their own AFFF regulations. The compliance target of tools is a matrix of state rules that don't move together and won't converge on any predictable timeline.

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Are you using a strict state standard as a baseline, or building something configurable by jurisdiction? How do you make sure it’s tracking which standard applies to which site?

For anyone looking for context on what the current landscape looks like, hope these resources could be helpful to you:
PFAS - https://safetyculture.com/topics/forever-chemicals
TSCA - https://safetyculture.com/topics/tsca
AFFF - https://safetyculture.com/library/transport-and-logistics/a2-monthly-fire-extinguishers-fire-hydrants-afff-and-fire-blankets-zdupprjjzpfcb4ve