Communities regroup after deadly storms destroyed homes and businesses: Update

The National Guard is being deployed as residents across the U.S. began to assess the fallout from dozens of tornadoes, wildfires, and dust storms that left at least 42 people dead and hundreds of decimated buildings in their wake over the weekend.

Field crews from weather service offices across the central and eastern U.S. began surveying the damage Sunday after deaths were reported in Kansas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, and Oklahoma, where almost 300 houses and structures were destroyed by wildfires. As clean-up begins for some, parts of the Central and Southern High Plains will be at risk for extreme or critical fire weather Monday, the National Weather Service said.

Nationwide, there were over 130,000 power outages Monday morning, according to USA TODAY's outage tracker, including over 25,000 outages in Missouri, where at least a dozen people were killed and an EF-3 tornado with peak winds of 140 mph was reported Saturday.

More at source: USA Today

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Janitorial workers and musculoskeletal pain: webinar explores solutions

San Francisco — Janitorial workers can lower their risk of musculoskeletal injuries by rotating job tasks and, when possible, reducing force, University of California researchers say.

Their finding is included in a forthcoming report, which the researchers discussed during a recent webinar conducted by the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at UC Berkeley.

Janitors “perform physically demanding work” that “can result in low back pain and other musculoskeletal disorders,” said study co-author Melissa Afterman, a certified ergonomist and instructor at UC San Francisco.

The team surveyed 416 janitors in California as part of the study and found that nearly 85% reported experiencing moderate to severe pain in at least one body region over the past month, with all regions affected similarly.

More at the source: Safety + Health

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Dangerous bacteria lurk in hospital sink drains, despite rigorous cleaning, study reveals

Patients with lowered immune defenses, and in some hospitals, poor adherence to hygiene protocols, allow HAIs to thrive. Furthermore, antibiotics are widely used in hospitals, which tends to select for hardy, resistant strains of bacteria. When such resistance genes lie on mobile genetic elements, they can even jump between bacterial species, potentially leading to novel diseases.

"Here we show that hospital sink drains host bacterial populations that change over time, despite impeccable cleaning protocols in the particular hospital we looked at," said Dr. Margarita Gomila, a professor at the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain, and the senior author of a study in Frontiers In Microbiology.

"These results highlight that controlling bacterial growth in drains, and preventing colonization by new strains of such hard-to-disinfect niches, is likely a global problem."

More at source: Medical Express

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I clean graves as a side hustle — it gave me enough cash to buy my first home

A man says his side hustle of cleaning graves has enabled him to buy his first home.

Shaun Tookey, 31, has cleaned more than 300 graves since he began his side business in May 2023.

Families will pay him between $187 and $312 for a deep clean and $437 and $562 for a deep clean, repainted lettering and decorative chippings for headstones belonging to loved ones.

He said it can take him up to two hours and he cleans between two and four graves a day, alongside a full-time job as a tree surgeon.

More at source: NY POST

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SEIU Local 2: Halifax area could see its first ever large-scale private sector janitorial strike next week

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Jan. 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Three hundred private sector cleaners could soon be on the picket lines across the HRM. The workers, who are employed by GDI Integrated Facility Services, have been without a contract since the end of September 2024. A final conciliation meeting between the employer and the workers’ Union, SEIU Local 2, is scheduled for Thursday, January 23, 2025. If an agreement is not reached, the strike will start on Monday, January 27, 2025. A mass rally at Purdy’s Wharf is being planned.

SEIU Local 2 represents 20,000 workers in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta. 

More at source: Global News Wire

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Waffle House Servers Accuse Company of Forcing Unpaid Labor, Including Janitorial Duties

Waffle House servers are firing back at the breakfast chain, claiming they have been improperly paid for years.

They allege the company forces them to perform janitorial and dishwashing tasks at tipped wages, saving Waffle House up to $46.8 million annually. One employee making such accusations, Melissa “Kat” Steach, a server in Marietta, Georgia, navigates her 69-hour workweeks by serving food and ringing up orders for tips. However, she revealed that she also spends up to three hours per shift mopping floors, scrubbing toilets, and washing dishes, duties that go unpaid or are compensated at tipped rates far below the standard wage.

The Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW) has filed a federal wage theft complaint...

More at the source: Atlanta Journal

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Contract Cleaning Services Market size to increase by USD 165.3 Bilion between 2024 to 2029

The commercial segment, which includes hospitality establishments, spas and salons, food service establishments, hospitals and healthcare centers, institutions, and offices, is the primary driver of the contract cleaning services market. The hospitality sector, a significant end-user in this segment, is experiencing growth due to the completion of new hotel projects, particularly in emerging economies like 

India and China, as well as in the Middle East. This growth creates opportunities for contract cleaning service providers to expand their customer base. The healthcare sector is another major contributor, driven by mandatory government standards for clean facilities and the need to prevent hospital-acquired infections. 

More at source: PR Newswire

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Commercial And Residential Cleaning Services Market In US size is set to grow by USD 36.81 Billion from 2024-2028, rising popularity of multifamily dwellings in US to boost the revenue. 

 Inc., Coit Services Inc., Coverall North America Inc., Harvard Maintenance, ISS AS, Jan Pro Franchising Inc., Jani King International Inc., MaidPro, Neighborly Co., OFFICE PRIDE, Stratus Building Solutions, The ServiceMaster Co. LLC, Vanguard Cleaning Systems Inc., ABM Industries Inc., The Service Master Company, LLC, CleanNet, Anago Cleaning Systems, Aramark Corporation, Sodexo, Jani-King Inc., Stanley Steemer International, Inc., ChemDry, Pritchard Industries Inc., Anago Cleaning Systems Inc., and Angi Inc..

More at source: Yahoo Finance

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Zoo janitor killed by tiger after door left open

PITETI, Romania (WKRC) - A 52-year-old janitor was killed by a tiger at Piteti Zoo after failing to follow safety procedures, according to Romanian newspaper Adevrul. The incident occurred Monday morning when the man entered the tiger's enclosure to clean it.

The tiger had bitten the janitor on the head, according to Adevrul and The Sun. The zoo's safety guidelines required the tiger to be moved to a high-fenced cage behind a security door before cleaning begins. However, the janitor reportedly forgot to lower the security door, allowing the tiger to return while he was still inside.

More at source: Local 12

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Investigators find 11 children working 'dangerous' overnight cleaning shift in meat processing plant

A cleaning company has been fined $171,000 after federal investigators found 11 children working a "dangerous" overnight shift at a meat processing plant in Iowa.

The U.S. Labor Department said in a statement that it found the children working for sanitation company Qvest LLC at the Seaboard Triumph Foods pork factory in Sioux City, Iowa.

The children were employed to "use corrosive cleaners to clean head splitters, jaw pullers, bandsaws, neck clippers and other equipment at the Seaboard Triumph Foods facility from at least September 2019 through September 2023," the statement said.

It is illegal under U.S. law for anyone younger than 18 to work in meat processing. Qvest must pay the fine and not engage in "oppressive child labor," as per a court filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.

More at source: NBC News

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