Occupational Health & Safety
cmonforton | August 3, 2011Margarito Guardado Resinos, 34, and Nelson Pineda were working together to erect a pre-engineered steel building frame at a construction site in San Marcos, TX. The two were employed by Jetka Steel Erectors of Katy, TX, a firm hired by Bailey Elliot Construction of Austin to erect a new building for Thermon Manufacturing at the central Texas location. (I moved to San Marcos, TX last fall and the Thermon facility is on the service road for I-35, only a few miles from my home.) Just before noon on July 27, 2011 the metal structure collapsed, killing Mr. Resinos and injurying Mr. Pineda.…
lborkowski | July 29, 2011by Rebecca Reindel
Holidays are interesting times of the year. Many of us fill our schedule with time to visit friends and family across the nation, and even across the globe. When our plans involve air travel, many of us line-up alongside the baggage carousel station while we wait for our prized possessions to roll out onto the conveyor belt. We are eager to see if our luggage made the trip in the same condition as we checked it.
On a recent trip from Denver to Washington DC, I deplaned and headed to retrieve my belongings from baggage claim. I patiently waited for the blinking light…
lborkowski | July 27, 2011Though the disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant has faded from the headlines, cleanup work continues amid high radiation levels. TIME's Krista Mahr reports that Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has just released a document that includes an April estimate that 1600 workers will be exposed to high levels of radiation while working to stabilize the plant. Japan's government raised the exposure limit from 100 millisieverts per year to 250 after this disaster occurred; the just-released document expresses concern that if too many workers reach this limit working at…
cmonforton | July 26, 2011[Updated 9/21/11: see below]
Ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk......is the familar sound around house framing and roofing jobs of the pnuematic nail gun. !Expletive! Expletive! Argh....Expletive!....is the cursing yelps from guys whose fingers, hands, and other body parts are punctured by nails inadvertently shot from these construction tools. An estimated 37,000 individuals in the US are treated annually in hospital emergency rooms for nail gun injuries. Moreover, nail guns are responsible for the most tool-related hospital admissions for workers in the construction trades…
cmonforton | July 22, 2011What do Kraft Foods Global, Tyson Foods, Sea World and Lucas Oil Production Studio have in common? They are four of the 147 employers identified by OSHA as "severe violators" of worker health and safety standards. Earlier this month, federal OSHA posted on its website a document listing employers in 30 States who meet the agency's criteria as a
"recalcitrant employers who endanger workers by demonstrating indifference to their responsibilities under the law."
The OSHA document is a 4-page PDF and for your convenience, I've converted it into a spreadsheet in MS-Excel to make it easier to…
cmonforton | July 19, 2011Thanks 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 to sing the praises of King Coal and complain that the Obama Administration is trying to cripple the industry. The target of the oversight hearing was the EPA, with Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) serving as lead-off witness and insisting…
lborkowski | July 15, 2011Yan Jie of China Daily reports that four mine disasters have occurred in China during July alone - and we don't yet know how many miners and rescuers will survive. Three rescuers have died already, and hope dims for the remaining miners the longer they remain trapped by high water and collapsed walls. Here is what I've been able to gather on the various cases, although the articles are all from earlier this week and there may be more up-to-date information elsewhere:
Flooded iron ore mine in Weifang, Shandong province: AFP reports 21 workers remain trapped underground
Fire in a coal mine in…
lborkowski | July 13, 2011On the afternoon of Saturday, January 23, 2010, Carl "Danny" Fish, a 32-year employee of the DuPont plant in Belle, West Virginia was performing a routine operation when a hose carrying phosgene (a chemical so toxic it was used as a weapon during World War I) ruptured, spraying him in the face and chest. Fish was rushed to the hospital. He died the night of January 24. Two workers who attended to Mr. Fish were also exposed to phosgene but apparently without any lasting impact.
What initially sounded like a freak accident turns out to have been but one in a series of equipment failures that,…
cmonforton | July 12, 2011If 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 ask "how many OSHA rules were issued last month?" Imagine their surprise when they learn, OSHA barely issues one major rule per year. Whomever is telling lawmakers and business that the Labor Department's worker safety agencies are out-…
lborkowski | July 7, 2011Update below (7/8/2011)
Just a few months after the Obama Administration took office, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a scathing report on OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). The program is supposed to recognize workplaces with exceptional safety programs, but GAO's investigators identified participant worksites that had multiple fatalities and gross violations of safety standards. The late Senator Kennedy said
"GAO's report makes clear that OSHA has strayed too far from its core mission of protecting the safety and health of workers on the job. The agency has spent…
cmonforton | July 6, 2011During his first week in office, President Obama promised an Administration defined by
"unprecedented level of openness...to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration."
But that's not been the case when it comes to a draft worker safety rule developed by federal OSHA. Almost all the participation has been among special interest groups--not the ordinary workers who have the most at stake---and not in a public process that builds trust and is participatory.
The proposed regulation would affect workers exposed to respirable…
lborkowski | July 1, 2011The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has released additional results from its ongoing investigation into the disaster at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine, which killed 29 miners last year in West Virginia. Like the independent investigation team, MSHA investigators cite poorly controlled coal dust, inadequate ventilation, and a corporate culture that emphasized coal production even when mine conditions were unsafe. NPR's Howard Berkes reports that MSHA also documented "a pattern of intimidation" at Upper Big Branch:
According to Kevin Stricklin, the coal mine safety chief at…
lborkowski | June 24, 2011Deborah Sontag's New York Times story about the murder of 25-year-old mental health worker Stephanie Moulton, allegedly at the hands of schizophrenic patient DeShawn Chappell, is a moving exploration of two grieving families and the many challenges facing the mental health care system.
Deborah Sontag's New York Times story about the murder of 25-year-old mental health worker Stephanie Moulton, allegedly at the hands of schizophrenic patient Deshawn Chappell, is a moving exploration of two grieving families and the many challenges facing the mental health care system in Massachusetts and…
cmonforton | June 23, 2011Rhetoric has been flying this year, especially in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, about the "burdens" of federal regulations. Many of these members seem to despise EPA rules, CSPS rules, healthcare rules, and OSHA rules. Many of their talking points come from groups like the Heritage Foundation with their reports "Red Tape Rising: Obama's Torrent of New Regulations," and "Rolling Back Red Tape: 20 Regulations to Eliminate," and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's multi-media "Regulations: Restoring Balance" campaign. Many House members were embolden early in the…
egrossman | June 22, 2011by Elizabeth Grossman
On June 10th the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Toxicology Program released the department's 12th Report on Carcinogens, adding eight new substances to the overall list that now includes 240 compounds (or classes of compounds) known or reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens. Two of these eight - the industrial chemical formaldehyde and the botanical compounds known as aristolochic acids - are listed as known human carcinogens. Six others - styrene, certain inhalable glass wool fibers, o-nitrotoluene, captafol, cobalt-tungsten…
cmonforton | June 21, 2011In 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 and October. As I've written previously, this Administration has a habit of being tardy releasing these plans, and this fifth document is posed to be the most belated. According to a very nice press officer with the Office of Management and Budget, the agencies…
cmonforton | June 17, 2011NPR'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 6, 2007. An explosive outburst of rock and coal, related to the retreat-mining method in use at the mine, struck (killed) and buried six coal miners: Kerry "Flash" Allred, 57; Don Erickson, 50; Jose Luis Hernandez, 23; Juan Carlos Payan, 22; Brandon Phillips, 24; and…
lborkowski | June 17, 2011by Kim Krisberg
Don't mess with Texas. The iconic phrase was actually created as part of an anti-littering campaign more than 20 years ago, however it could be as easily applied to the state's notorious anti-regulatory attitude and penchant for bucking convention. But despite its reputation, the Lone Star State is poised to join 29 other states in passing a statewide restriction on indoor smoking.
With the Texas legislature now in special session, policy-makers are considering a bill (known as HB 46 in the House and SB 28 in the Senate) that would ban indoor smoking in bars and restaurants.…
lborkowski | June 16, 2011It's wonderful to hear what substantial progress US Representative Gabrielle Giffords has made in recovering from the traumatic brain injury she sustained from being shot in the head in January. As the Associated Press reported this morning, Giffords has spent the past five months in a rehabilitation facility and has regained some of her speaking ability. Now she'll move to the suburban Houston home of her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, and continue daily intensive therapy on an outpatient basis. While at home, she'll have round-the-clock help from a home care assistant.
On hearing about the…
lborkowski | June 15, 2011Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine was, as an independent investigation team documented in the report released last month, a dangerous place to work. In the immediate aftermath of the massive explosion on April 5, 2010, which killed 29 miners, it was also a dangerous place for rescue operations. A scathing editorial in the Charleston Gazette highlights disturbing statements in testimony from mine rescuers. These teams are highly trained in a range of skills, including assessing whether conditions make it advisable to enter mines where disasters have just occurred. Yet, as the Gazette…