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Category archives for MSHA
Upper Big Branch disaster called industrial homicide by United Mine Workers
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on October 26, 2011 In big bold orange letters, the cover of the United Mine Workers of America’s (UMWA) report on the Upper Big Branch mine disaster reads “Industrial Homicide.” The union’s 154-page report says: “Massey Energy must be held accountable for the death of each of the 29 miners. Theirs is not a guilt of omission but rather,…
Coal mining industry insisted on new dust sampling technology, now they don’t want MSHA to use it
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on October 19, 2011 It’s too late for Ronald Martin of Dema, Kentucky. “I’m in last stage of black lung,” he wrote in shaky script, “please help the miners so they won’t suffer like I suffer. I can’t breathe but a little.” Mr. Martin sent his note to the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to comment…
House Republican Appropriators don’t think coal miners need protection from black lung disease
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on September 30, 2011 Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-MT) and his Republican members of the House Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Labor Department don’t think coal miner deserve better protection from black lung disease. In their FY 2012 appopriations bill they would prohibit the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) from using any funds to develop, promulgate, enforce or…
Beware of Congressmen who claim they are cutting red tape, health and safety protections are on the chopping block
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on September 26, 2011 Funny how a bill touted by Members of Congress as one that will “cut red tape” will actually add a dozen new steps before a rule to protect people’s health or safety is put in place. Last week, several Republican and Democratic Senators and Representatives did just that when they introduced the “Regulatory Accountability Act”…
A peek at health and safety for temporary workers
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on September 13, 2011 March 2, 2011 may have seemed like any other workday for David Clark Jr., 51, when he arrived at the Lee Creek potash mine in Aurora, NC at 5:50 am to start his shift. Clark and a small crew would be excavating a large ditch near the R9 roadway and burying a 22-inch diameter polyethylene…
No matter what mining industry reps say, MSHA’s proposed rule to address black lung is easily achievable
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on July 19, 2011 Thanks to Ken Ward at Coal Tatto for alerting me to a hearing conducted last week in the House Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Overight and Government Spending, of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform called “EPA’s Appalachian Energy Permitorium: Job Killer or Job Creator?” The majoirity of the witnesses were at the ready…
No avalanche, hardly even a snow flurry, of worker safety regulations in Labor Dept’s latest regulatory agenda
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on July 12, 2011 If one listens to the speeches of many Republican members of Congress, especially those assigned to the House Education and Workforce Committee, you’d think the U.S. Department of Labor has unleashed an avalanche of new employment-related regulations that business must now meet. I heard one Hill staffer report on inquiries he receives from constituents who…
My prediction on the next worker safety regulatory agenda was way off
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on June 21, 2011 In a post on May 5, I predicted that Labor Secretary Hilda Solis would be publishing within a few days her semi-annual regulatory plan for new worker health and safety rules. I made that projection based on requirements in the Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order 12866, which suggest these plans be published every April…
Still no day in court for worker safety violations at Crandall Canyon coal mine
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on June 17, 2011 NPR’s Howard Berkes reported this week on the disposition of criminal and civil charges stemming from the disaster nearly four years ago at the Crandal Canyon mine in Utah. The makings of the catastrophe began months earlier, (previous posts here, here, here) but came to a deadly denouement in the early morning hours of August…
Why US coal miners are still developing black lung disease
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on June 3, 2011 In Hawk’s Nest Redux, Ellen Smith reports that an apalling number of the 29 deceased Upper Big Branch coal miners had black lung disease. The autopsy evidence was reported at the end of one chapter of the investigation report prepared by an independent panel of investigators commissioned by the Governor of West Virginia.* Smith compared…