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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) website now offers up-to-date information about the 2009 H1N1 flu and resources that detail the steps that managers, employers and workers can take to avoid obtaining and transmitting the disease. The information will be updated as new details about the virus become available. To view the information, visit the H1N1 section of the OSHA website here.

Cargo Business News is reporting that ports in Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama, California and Washington have experienced hiring freezes, furloughs and/or layoffs due to the economic recession. Details on each port can be found in the full article here.

Occupational Health & Safety magazine recently introduced a new blog featuring news, opinions and analysis on the latest occupational healthy and safety issues affecting workplaces around the nation.

To view the blog, please visit http://ohsonline.com/blogs/the-ohs-wire/list/blog-list.aspx.

Worldwide shipping and global trade have experienced unprecedented downturns in the first half of 2009.  The outlook for the near-term recovery of world trade is weak because it still depends largely on the US consumer.  Despite expectations that fast-growing, emerging markets were becoming less dependent on the US, this has not proven to be the case.  World economic growth, and therefore the recovery in trade, depends in large part on the US consumer and for US government stimulus spending to accelerate the recovery. It is uncertain whether either of these will show much more improvement this year, at least for the next several quarters.

Container freight and rail shipments are down across the US, approximately 20% year-over-year.  A high number of freight-carrying ships have also been idled or removed from service, while freight rates are severely depressed from year-ago levels.