worker fatality
The Pump Handle
Tag archives for worker fatality
Sequestration and OSHA: Impact so far seems minor, but advocates brace for an uncertain future
Posted by The Pump Handle on June 7, 2013 Every week, the Austin-based Workers Defense Project welcomes standing room-only crowds to its Workers in Action meetings. And once a month, a local OSHA representative would join the meeting, giving some of Texas’ most vulnerable workers the chance to meet face-to-face with the agency. Unfortunately, due to the federal sequester, OSHA has had to indefinitely suspend its participation. It’s a significant loss.
Preventing fire fighter deaths, learning from the fallen
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on April 23, 2013 CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has a special role in the West Fertilizer plant explosion. Its Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program will be investigating the factors that led to the deaths of the 10 volunteer fire fighters.
Study: Peer-to-peer training can improve safety, knowledge among Hispanic construction workers
Posted by The Pump Handle on April 19, 2013 Eric Rodriguez and his colleagues at the Latino Union of Chicago quite literally meet workers where they’re at — on the city’s street corners. Many of the day laborers who gather there are hired to work construction at residential housing sites. Work arrangements are hardly formal and day laborers are frequently subjected to unnecessary and illegal dangers on the job. Unfortunately, worker safety is often kicked to the curb in the street corner marketplace.
$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.
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.
Hundreds of Texas workers protest in memory of fallen construction workers
Posted by The Pump Handle on March 1, 2013 Texas construction workers who’ve lost their lives on unsafe worksites may be gone, but they certainly haven’t been forgotten. Earlier this week, hundreds of Texas workers and their supporters took to the streets to demand legislators do more to stop preventable injury and death on the job.
It’s not rocket science to prevent coal miner’s deaths
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on February 6, 2013 Greg Byers, 43, worked underground at Arch Coal/ICG’s Pocahontas Coal Mine in Beckley, WV. He suffered a serious injury in July 2012 that led to his death. An investigation report explains how common sense–not rocket science–could have prevented his work-related death.
New report confirms Texas’ abysmal record on construction worker safety
Posted by The Pump Handle on February 1, 2013 Texas may boast a booming construction sector, but a deeper look reveals an industry filled with wage theft, payroll fraud, frighteningly lax safety standards, and preventable injury and death. In reality, worker advocates say such conditions are far from the exception — instead, they’ve become the norm.
Repeat violators of mine safety rules targeted in new Labor Dept regulation
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on January 23, 2013 The Labor Department’s MSHA issued a new regulation this week targeting employers that have an egregious pattern of violating mine safety and health standards.
Demands for safer working conditions, fair wages drew Martin Luther King to Memphis
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on January 21, 2013 Today we commemorate the life of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. who was assassinated in Memphis, TN in April 1968. The civil rights leader was visiting Memphis to support hundreds of city sanitation workers in their demands for safer working conditions and dignity on the job.