OSHA
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Category archives for OSHA
OSHA rulemaking activity in the year before a Presidential Election
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on September 12, 2012 Since 2000, major regulatory activities by OSHA do indeed slow down during a Presidential election year compared to the year preceding it.
The year in worker health & safety: action (and not) on the federal scene
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on September 6, 2012 In our new report “The Year in U.S. Occupational Health & Safety,” we devote one section to key activities by the Obama Administration and the U.S. Congress.
A different kind of Texas-style justice: Two nights at Austin’s Workers Defense Project
Posted by The Pump Handle on August 31, 2012 It’s Tuesday evening and as usual, the small parking lot outside the Workers Defense Project on Austin’s eastside is packed. The dusty lot is strewn with cars and pick-up trucks parked wherever they can fit and get in off the road. I’ve arrived well before the night’s activities begin, so I easily secure a spot. But my gracious guide and translator, a college intern named Alan Garcia, warns me that I might get blocked in. It happens all the time, he says.
OSHA action on worker safety standards during Presidential election years
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on August 28, 2012 During the last seven Presidential election years, OSHA has an interesting record of issuing new rules on worker safety issues despite the heated national campaigns.
No shortage of ideas from OSHA staff to improve oversight of agency’s Voluntary Protection Program
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on August 22, 2012 An internal OSHA report on the agency’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) was submitted to agency leadership nine months ago, and released to the public this week. The group made 34 recommendations to improve the program, including several addressing fatalities occurring at VPP sites.
Worker falls 70+ feet to his death at ConAgra mill, another at a Pepisco plant, manlifts involved in both cases
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on August 15, 2012 Three multi-national corporations. Three workers dead from manlift incidents. Preventing more deaths from manlifts requires comprehensive fatality investigations.
On the departure of Obama’s regulatory czar and cost-benefit analysis
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on August 14, 2012 President Obama offered high praise to his regulatory czar on the day Mr. Cass Sunstein announced his resignation. It’s disappointing neither are bold enough to address the grave limits of cost-benefit analysis.
On the border of change: A portrait of the workers’ rights movement in El Paso
Posted by The Pump Handle on July 27, 2012 In the fall of 2011, a new Texas statute took effect against employers who engage in wage theft, putting in place real consequences for employers found guilty of stealing wages from workers. It was a big step forward in a state where wage theft has become as common as cowboy boots and pick-up trucks. It was especially good news for workers in El Paso, where wage theft has become so rampant that workers rights advocates have dubbed it an “epidemic.”
US chemical manufacturers just blowing smoke about burdensome worker safety regulations
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on July 17, 2012 The American Chemistry Council is making the ludicrous claim that a proposed OSHA regulation on combustible dust will negatively impact the economy and job growth. That’s a bunch of baloney. OSHA doesn’t even have combustible dust on its regulatory agenda.
Houston, we have a workers’ rights problem: Profile of a worker justice center in Texas’ biggest city
Posted by The Pump Handle on July 9, 2012 Last month, more than 70 ironworkers walked off an ExxonMobil construction site near Houston, Texas. The workers, known as rodbusters in the industry, weren’t members of a union or backed by powerful organizers; they decided amongst themselves to unite in protest of unsafe working conditions in a state that has the highest construction worker fatality rate in the country.