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Category archives for MSHA
White House message: new regulations and election year don’t mix
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on January 27, 2012 The Republicans’ mantra about the burden of regulations seems to have cast a spell on the Obama Administration’s attitude about promoting new regulatory initiatives. My observations about this were reinforced this week when I read the Administration’s statement accompanying its Fall 2011 regulatory plan. The message is clear: new regulations and an election year don’t…
Scientists urge White House to intervene in stalled worker safety rule
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on January 25, 2012 A group of 300 scientists, physicians and public health experts are urging President Obama to direct his Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to complete its review of a proposed Labor Department health standard on the carcinogen crystallline silica. OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has been reviewing the proposed rule for nearly…
Cost of work-related injury and disease higher than cost for heart disease, cancer
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on January 20, 2012 Money talks, as the saying goes, and a recently published paper on the annual cost of work-related injuries and illnesses should get policymakers to listen up. The number is staggering: $250 Billion, and it’s a figure on par with health conditions like cancer, coronary heart disease, and diabetes that attract much more attention and research…
Ignoring geologist’s recommendation had deadly consequences at Lucky Friday mine
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on December 19, 2011 Last week’s violent rock burst at the Hecla Mining’s Lucky Friday mine was just one of several catastrophic events this year at the deep underground silver mine in Mullan, Idaho. Another rockburst occurred a month earlier, and just one day before another incident in which 26 year old Brandon Gray was engulfed in muck as…
Congressional Appropriators ignore what Upper Big Branch miners showed us about black lung disease
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on December 16, 2011 [Updated 1/4/12 below] The Charleston Gazette’s Ken Ward Jr. pointed me yesterday to the latest attack on working people. House and Senate negotiators have apparently come to an agreement on an FY 2012 spending bill (165-page PDF) which includes funding for the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Tacked onto the bill are…
20 miners escape violent rockburst at Idaho silver mine, April and November incidents killed two workers
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on December 15, 2011 Just before 8:00 pm local time, a powerful burst of rock exploded in an area where at least 20 miners were working in the Lucky Friday mine. All the miners escaped to safety but several remain hospitalized. This silver mine in the Coeur d’Alene region has been the site of numerous serious incidents this year,…
$10.8 million penalty by Labor Dept for 29 dead at Upper Big Branch mine
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on December 6, 2011 The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) released today the findings of its 20 month-long investigation into the Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion. The April 5, 2010 disaster killed 29 workers, seriously injured another worker, and left hundreds of grieving family members and friends. MSHA identified 12 violations of safety…
MSHA poised to issue investigation report on Upper Big Branch disaster
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on December 1, 2011 The US Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is preparing to issue next week its investigation report on the April 5, 2010 coal mine disaster at the Upper Big Branch mine that killed 29 workers. Ken Ward, Jr. at Coal Tattoo reports that MSHA will hold a media briefing at 3:00 pm…
MSHA should scrap any plan to wait for OSHA action on respirable crystalline silica
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on November 25, 2011 Before too long the US Department of Labor (DOL) and other federal agencies should be issuing their annual regulatory plans and semi-annual agendas. These documents serve as official public notice of agencies’ regulatory (and deregulatory) priorities. The Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order (EO) 12866 direct agency heads to release these documents in April (agenda)…
Billion dollar company and a broom handle implicated in death of two workers
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on November 11, 2011 [Updated 11/14/11 below] Barrick Goldstrike is the largest gold producer in the world, with a stock market value of $51.0 Billion. With that kind of wealth, one has to ask why workers at the company’s Meikle mine near Elko, Nevada were compelled to use a broom handle to keep a reset button depressed, so tons…