Occupational Health & Safety
The Pump Handle
Category archives for Occupational Health & Safety
$70 million owed by mine operators for unpaid safety penalties, time for “boot” device equivalent
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on April 16, 2013 In many cities, traffic control officers will “boot” are vehicle if it’s racked up too many unpaid parking tickets. It’s time for an equivalent sanction for employers who violate labor laws and refuse to pay the penalties.
Paid sick leave: Setback in Philly, progress elsewhere
Posted by Liz Borkowski on April 12, 2013 Although Philadelphia’s City Council fell one vote short of overriding a veto of the city’s paid sick leave bill, paid sick leave efforts are gaining steam nationwide.
Occupational Health News Roundup
Posted by Liz Borkowski on April 11, 2013 Wage theft, employee misclassification, and unsafe workplaces are alarmingly common in the Texas construction industry; the Philadelphia City Council fails to override a veto of a paid sick leave law; and immigrant workers in the US with temporary visas face uncertainty.
Trying to make the unacceptable acceptable: New books by Dan Fagin and Sarah Vogel illuminate our flawed history of controlling chemical hazards
Posted by The Pump Handle on April 8, 2013 Two new books illustrate how and why the US system for regulating chemicals often fails to adequately protect human health.
Remembering the 29 men who were killed 3 years ago today at WV coal mine
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on April 5, 2013 Three years ago today, 29 miners died at the Upper Big Branch coal mine.
When nerve-damaging glue is disabling workers, what can OSHA do?
Posted by Liz Borkowski on April 2, 2013 The New York Times explores the plight of furniture workers disabled by exposure to a neurotoxicant glue. Why hasn’t OSHA put a stop to this?
More excellent reporting on grain bins and temporary workers
Posted by Liz Borkowski on March 28, 2013 Reporters from the Center for Public Integrity, NPR, and WBEZ are producing excellent, in-depth stories on the circumstances and aftermaths of worker deaths in grain bins and at temporary worksites.
Are manufacturing by-product PCBs an occupational health hazard?
Posted by The Pump Handle on March 27, 2013 Although EPA banned commercially manufactured PCBs in 1979, it still allows PCBs that occur as manufacturing by-products. Recent research has found these by-product PCBs in air and water samples from across the US. Are workers at risk from exposure to these substances?
“The one kid who survived actually saw his friends die”: Report on grain bin deaths
Posted by Liz Borkowski on March 26, 2013 NPR and the Center for Public Integrity have teamed up to produce an excellent and chilling series of stories about workers suffocated to death in grain bins — a major and well-known hazard in agriculture.
Advancing paid sick leave laws – from Portland to the US Congress
Posted by Liz Borkowski on March 21, 2013 As the list of US jurisdictions with paid sick leave laws gets longer, members of Congress introduce a bill that would require paid sick leave nationwide.