Confined Space @ TPH
sb admin | August 9, 2007Marty Bennett was a coal miner with 29 years of experience, including work at operations that practiced "retreat mining." He died at age 51 at the Sago mine in January 2006, along with 11 other coal miners. Today, his family organized a letter of support for the Crandall Canyon miners' families from victim-families of previous coal mining fatalities. Their letter was published in the Salt Lake City Tribune. (Full text below) Â
To the families,Â
Not many people can actually say what your hearts are feeling. We want you to know that this family can. We are the family of…
sb admin | August 8, 2007Recent events remind us about the difficult and valuable work of rescue and recovery. Celeste Monforton has already taken a look at the mine rescue teams that respond to disasters like the collapse at the Crandall County mine in Utah. Meanwhile, divers are at work in the aftermath of last weekâs bridge collapse. Dee DePass at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune follows the work of a Wisconsin dive crew as they face powerful currents, 82-degree water, and poor visibility that makes it hard to navigate around dangerous debris. In Time Magazine, Mitch Anderson describes the precautions divers have to…
sb admin | August 7, 2007More than 1,900 miles separate the Sago Baptist Church in Buckhannon, WV and the Emery County Senior Citizens Center in Huntington, UT. But the cavalcade of feelings from fear and hope, to uncertainty and despair is something only those who've been in their shoes can understand. In January 2006, it was the families of 12 trapped WV miners who were waiting and praying; today it is six families at a Utah community center. The families in Buckhannon wanted 12 miracles, but there was only one: Mr. Randall McCloy.  If we hear a joyful announcement "They're Alive," I've no doubt that…
sb admin | August 7, 2007As I stay tuned for news on the fate of the six coal miners trapped at the Crandall Canyon mine in Emery County, Utah I've heard numerous tv and radio reporters say "hundreds of mine rescuers" have converged near the worksite to assist with the rescue operation. Who are these "mine rescuers"?
They include the official mine-rescue teams, typically a 6-person group especially trained and equipped to enter a mine after an explosion, fire, roof fall or other catastrophe occurs, as well as scores of other individuals with specialized knowledge or equipment to assist with the rescue…
sb admin | August 3, 2007Back in April we reported that OSHA, facing scrutiny over its failure to protect food and flavoring workers from exposure to the butter flavoring chemical diacetyl, had announced a National Emphasis Program for the microwave popcorn industry. Last week, OSHA published a directive (PDF) to launch this one-year program.
OSHAâs effort will involve âinspection targeting, direction on methods of controlling chemical hazards, and extensive compliance assistance.â The most glaring hole in the program, as we noted earlier, is that it only covers microwave popcorn manufacturing.
In 2000, OSHA was…
sb admin | August 1, 2007Two new studies highlight concerns about what some workers are inhaling on the job. An international study published in the Lancet (free registration required to view summary) found that occupational exposures account for a substantial portion of adultsâ new-onset asthma, and that nurses have a significant excess risk of asthma. An Australian study published in Environmental Science & Technology found that several common models of office laser printers release amounts of ultra-fine particle pollution comparable to those from secondhand tobacco smoke.
In other news related to what workers…
sb admin | August 1, 2007
June and July 2007 has been a dangerous and deadly ones for 13 U.S. miners, and their families and co-workers left behind. So far this summer, 6 mine workers have died at metal mining operations, 4 workers employed at stone quarries and 3 coal miners.  These 11 men were working at mining operations in 11 different States: Alabama, Alaska, California, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon and Tennessee.     Â
As Mike Wright of the United Steelworkers reminded participants at a recent congressional hearing on mine safety, (his oral statement and…
sb admin | July 31, 2007Over at the Weekly Toll blog, Tammy says farewell to Carolyn Merritt, whose five-year term as chair of the Chemical Safety Board is coming to an end. She writes:
Carolyn is a strong, compassionate leader who has been in politics but hasn't let it pilot her ethics. Carolyn has done a terrific job of letting the families be heard and putting the human factor back into the system. God knows I will miss her in her role and I pray she has the same success in her family life that she had during her duration at the CSB.
Also, don't miss the most recent Weekly Toll - writeups of 109 deaths that…
sb admin | July 31, 2007In a post last week entitled Mining Professors Oppose Mine Safety Bill, I invited the signatories of a letter opposing new mine safety legislation to disclose their financial ties to the mining industry (if any) or other related conflicts of interest.  A couple of days later, one of the letter's signers, Larry Grayson, PhD of Penn State University, responded thoughtfully and thoroughly (here and here) to my post.  I respectfully invite the other signatories to follow Dr. Grayson's lead and provide their own disclosures.
Professor Grayson, who holds the George H., Jr. and Anne…
sb admin | July 26, 2007 Does anyone need to worry about asbestos fibers released into the air following the explosion of an 83-year old Manhattan steam pipe last Wednesday? Hopefully not! So far, officials are saying that while asbestos fibers were detected in solid material near the site, they were not found in air samples collected on-site. Still, with the respiratory illnesses of WTC responders fresh in everyoneâs mind, a Staten Island Advance columnist reported that Wednesdayâs responders were quick to don masks and to start asking questions about potential health effects. Read more about the response to the…
sb admin | July 26, 2007By David Michaels
We are pleased that the Washington Post has come to the same conclusion we have here at the Pump Handle (see here and here): something needs to be done to shake up the attorneys at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In an editorial today entitled FEMA's Toxic Environment, the Post tells FEMA director R. David Paulison that âknocking a few heads in FEMA's general counsel's office would be a good first step" in sending a strong signal that the beleaguered agency needs to undergo major changes.
The environment at FEMA is certainly toxic to the Katrina victims, many of…
sb admin | July 25, 2007A group of 11 "academic experts in mine safety and health" sent a letter today to the leadership of the House Education and Labor Committee urging them to withdraw legislation (HR 2768 and HR 2769) on miners' safety and health. The authors of the letter say that "now is not the right time to pursue" further improvements for miners.
Signers of the letters include several chairs of mining engineering departments, such as professor Larry Grayson, who offered just days ago a similar dire warning about more mine safety protections in an op-ed called Mine Mania (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/22/07).…
sb admin | July 24, 2007By David Michaels
In the continuing post-Hurricane Katrina debacle, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is facing two daunting tasks:
Cleaning up some of the 56,000 trailers that are off-gassing formaldehyde, a toxic chemical; and
Cleaning up the FEMA Office of General Counsel, which is evidently staffed with unethical attorneys. One recommended that the agency not test for formaldehyde because âOnce you get results and should they indicate some problem, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them.â
After a blistering hearing of the House Oversight and Government Affairs…
sb admin | July 23, 2007By David Michaels
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director R. David Paulison needs to pursue disciplinary charges against the attorneys who advised the agency to ignore its responsibility to take care of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Last week, we reported on the revelations that FEMA attorneys advised the agency not to test for the presence of formaldehyde in FEMA-provided trailers, fearing that the agency would be legally liable if any of the thousands of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina who lived in the trailers became sick as a result of the toxic exposure. FEMA…
sb admin | July 22, 2007Congress has given significant attention over the last 18 months to the dangers facing US coal miners, but many fatal hazards claim the lives of other miners, such as those working at sand and gravel quarries, limestone and salt mines. This year, nearly twice as many miners have died at US metal and non-metal mining operations compared to coal mines.  But, like most workplace fatalities, the deaths typically occur one miner at a time. These means the deaths rarely attract national attention.Â
On Thursday, July 19, Craig Bagley, 27 and Tyler Kahle, 19, were working in a lift…
sb admin | July 20, 2007By Liz BorkowskiÂ
In the latest issue of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Joseph Plaster explores how the system for trucking imported goods from the Port of Oakland keeps both truckers and residents struggling. Truckers scrape by on meager earnings and can only afford the oldest, most polluting vehicles; pollution from hundreds of dirty trucks idling for hours each day spells health problems for truckers and those living nearby.
A coalition of labor, environmental, and community groups has proposed changes that would improve truckersâ situation and clear the air. The companies who contract…
sb admin | July 19, 2007This week, OSHA posted on its website a case study designed to show the benefits of implementing a comprehensive workplace safety and health program. In announcing the case study, Assistant Secretary Edwin Foulke, Jr said the report âis a good example of what can happen when management and employees dedicate themselves to workplace safety and health.â The news release's quote from the company was equally positive "...safety is part of our culture, and we have had measurable results over the past 5 years." But, the Foulke-promoted report has a familiar blame the worker tone, even…
sb admin | July 19, 2007By David Michaels
More sickening revelations about FEMAâs lack of concern for the health of Americans, this time concerning their actions months after Hurricane Katrina. Spencer S. Hsu of the Washington Post reports that
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has suppressed warnings from its own Gulf coast field workers since the middle of 2006 about suspected health problems that may be linked to elevated levels of formaldehyde gas released in FEMA-provided trailers, lawmakers said today.
At a hearing this morning of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, investigators…
sb admin | July 19, 2007Last night, the Barton Amendment to the Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill was defeated by a vote of 181-249. All the Democrats, along with 19 Republicans, voted against the amendment. If it had been enacted, it would have resulted in a cut of more than 20% of NIOSHâs budget, and would have killed the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) program.
Thanks for this victory goes to the labor movement, which mobilized quickly to oppose the amendment, and to Rep. David Obey and his Appropriations Committee staff.
sb admin | July 18, 2007According to an American Road and Transportation Builders Association analysis, roadway construction workers are killed at a rate nearly three times higher than other construction workers. Tom Demeropolis at the Cincinnati Post reports that roadway construction workers safety is on officialsâ minds right now in Kentucky, where highway speed limits have just increased. In the Wall Street Journal, Al Karr notes that a trend toward doing more roadwork at night has eased daytime traffic snarls but heightened concerns about construction workersâ safety. Improved lighting, additional police…