Sitting down for long-hours causes back aches, which may hamper workplace productivity, researchers say. Occupational health physician Dr Abed Onn has listed low back pain as one of the three most common work-related ailments, alongside noise-induced loss of hearing and upper limb muscular disorder, a media report said. Due to lack of reliable statistics, he based his evaluation on cases he has handled in the course of his work.

Almost 500 South African miners are seeking health-related compensation from Anglo American through a High Court lawsuit launched in London on Wednesday.

The multinational mining company faces claims related to silicosis, a lung disease associated with deep-level gold mining in South Africa.

Fracking, the latest craze in the quest to produce oil and gas, has been blamed for environmental problems ranging from flammable tap water to minor earthquakes. Now a new risk is emerging: sand mining.

To squeeze hydrocarbons out of shale through hydraulic fracturing of the rock -- the process known as fracking -- producers need to pump an enormous amount of sand and other materials into the ground.

Obtaining the sand for this requires removing the top layer of earth over a sandstone deposit and using heavy equipment and large amounts of water to produce the fine grains.

South Asian countries must not allow their beaches to be used as dumping grounds for the chemically contaminated and extremely hazardous ships from the western countries.

The ship-breaking in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh has been causing serious environmentally-hazardous issues as the poor and the marganilsed people are forced to work in extremely unsafe conditions.

Government data suggest U.S. coal mines have grown safer in the 18 months since an underground explosion killed 29 West Virginia miners, with industry and federal officials attributing the improvement to increased enforcement of regulations and better training by mining companies themselves.