Occupational Health & Safety
egrossman | January 31, 2011by Elizabeth Grossman
The 398-page National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling final Report to the President on the Deepwater Horizon: The Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling, released January 11, offers a scathing critique of the offshore oil-drilling industry's approach to safety and of the U.S. government's systemic failure to ensure that safety. It also includes a valuable history of the industry that helps explain - but does not excuse - the structural complexities and shortcomings of the response to the disaster, deficiencies that…
cmonforton | January 25, 2011OSHA proposed penalties totaling nearly $1.4 million against two Illinois companies for violations of safety standards that led to the deaths of three workers last summer in grain elevators. Haasbach LLC received 24 violations, including 12 classified as willful, for failing to take steps to workers from engulfed 30 feet deep in corn. Alex Pacas, 19, and Wyatt Whitebread, 14, died at Haasbach's Mt. Carroll site on July 28. Two other young workers escaped, but one of them suffered serious injuries. In addition to the OSHA proposed penalty of $550,000, Haasbach was also fined $68,125 from…
lborkowski | January 24, 2011On April 5, 2010, a massive explosion at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal, West Virginia, killed 29 miners. Last week, federal Mine Safety and Health Administration investigators briefed victims' relatives on what MSHA thinks happened at the mine. (MSHA's official final report is not expected for another 2-3 months, though.) NPR's Howard Berkes reports that the investigators' presentation "pointed to a tragedy that could have been prevented if the Upper Big Branch coal mine had complied with federal safety regulations."
In a related piece, Berkes explains some of the safety…
egrossman | January 21, 2011by Elizabeth Grossman
On August 28, 2008 at 10:53 p.m., a massive explosion and fire, caused by a runaway chemical reaction, ripped through the Bayer CropScience pesticide plant in Institute, West Virginia. It killed two workers and injured eight employees, two contractors, and six fire-fighters, all of whom were treated for possible toxic chemical exposure. On January 20, 2011, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released its investigation report. Each of its key findings points to a disaster waiting to happen.
The incident occurred at the facility's Methomyl-Larvin…
cmonforton | January 20, 2011The construction trade association Associated Building Contractors (ABC) was one of 150 business groups that received a letter from Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) in December, asking for their ideas about federal regulations "that have negatively impacted job growth." ABC responded with a list heavy on opposition to labor protections, such as requirements for prevailing wage and labor-management agreements on federal construction projects.
The trade association's hit list also includes three OSHA initiatives, one of which was withdrawn just yesterday by the agency.
I'm particularly…
lborkowski | January 19, 2011In the new executive order, which Rena Steinzor wrote about yesterday, President Obama stated that agencies must "propose or adopt a regulation only upon a reasoned determination that its benefits justify its costs." This isn't a revolutionary requirement; public-health agencies are already required to demonstrate cost-effectiveness of proposed regulations. For instance, when Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently revised its crane and derrick standard, it estimated the annualized costs of implementing the rule to be $154 million and the benefits - in the form of 22 lives…
cmonforton | January 18, 2011Have you seen the new TV commercial for Jack-in-the-Box set in a busy police precinct? A confident, all-business police detective barks into the phone:
"Tell the Mayor to shove it."
He slams down the phone, walks purposely across the room and asks outloud:
"Hey rookie, did you get lunch?"
A guy in a black police uniform with a large ping-pong ball smiley face head says:
"Yes I did. I went to the convenient Jack in the Box and got each of us the Jumbo Deal, comprised of a Jumbo Jack (burger), two classic tacos, fries and a cold beverage for only $3.99."
The price might be right, but…
lborkowski | January 18, 2011by Rena Steinzor, cross-posted from CPR Blog
Sixteen months ago, President Obama stood in the well of Congress and issued a ringing call for a progressive vision of government. Working to persuade Members of Congress to adopt health care reform, he said that
"large-heartedness...is part of the American character." Our ability to stand in other people's shoes. A recognition that we are all in this together; that when fortune turns against one of us, others are there to lend a helping hand."
Many took comfort from that vision, the first avowedly affirmative one we had heard from a President…
cmonforton | January 14, 2011Hedilberto Sanchez, 26, was killed on Monday (Jan 11, 2010) at a construction site in Elmhurst, NY when an 18-foot high cinder block wall collapsed on him. He leaves behind his wife, and two sons, Luis, 6 and Edison, 3. Three other workers were injured in the incident, including Mr. Sanchez's brother. The men worked for a subcontractor (who I've been unable to identify) who was hired by the property developer Thomas J. Huang. Mr. Huang has been described in some circles as a one-man wrecking crew for his disregard for building codes, zoning rules and other laws. The New York Times'…
lborkowski | January 13, 2011by Eileen Senn, MS
The multiple options that OSHA is considering to address their badly outdated rules for chemical hazards were described in my November 17 post. They include updating OSHA Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) which are erroneously considered to be safe levels for chemicals in workplace air. In reality, it's wrong to call them "safe" levels. Most PELs are based on toxic ignorance, that is, our lack of sound and complete toxicology data on most chemicals. It is the rare chemical that has been tested for all disease endpoints including cancer and effects on reproductive,…
lborkowski | January 11, 2011According to new research from the Institute for Women's Policy Research, in 2010 44 million private-sector US employees, or 42% of the workforce, lacked access to paid sick time. This IWPR analysis distinguishes between employees who are eligible for paid sick time vs. those who can actually access it, because employers often don't allow for the use of paid sick time by employees in their first months on the job. IWPR reports that new employees have to wait an average of 3.5 months to access paid sick days.
The occupational categories with the lowest percentages of private-sector employees…
cmonforton | January 10, 2011Lena works in a turkey processing plant in Iowa. She's up by 5:30 am, eats sensibly, is not overweight and has never smoked tobacco. Lena should be the picture of health, but her job makes her feel much older than her 32 years. Over her 10-hour work shift, she makes about 20,000 cuts on the turkey carcasses that move in front of her at a rate of 30 per minute. Lena has chronic pain in her wrist, arms and shoulders. Her physical pain is exacerbated by other work-related stress. Lena earns several dollars per hour over minimum wage, but she has to work another job part-time to help pay…
lborkowski | January 6, 2011Liz and Celeste are on vacation, so we're re-posting some content from our old site.
By Celeste Monforton, originally posted 11/4/09
I admit it: I have a soft spot for hockey players. It probably stems from my Michigan upbringing, including my family's winter-time ritual of making an outdoor hockey rink, and the annual trek from Detroit to Nantias Sport Shop on Wyandotte Street in Windsor, Ontario to buy new hockey skates and gear for my male siblings. Brothers Roger and Dave wore (Bobby Orr's) Boston Bruin jerseys while brother Tony favored Chicago Blackhawks' (Keith Magnuson's) colors…
lborkowski | January 5, 2011Liz and Celeste are on vacation, so we're re-posting some content from our old site.
By Celeste Monforton, originally posted 12/16/09
In April-May 2008, there were a spate of fatalities involving workers doing installations or maintenance on cell phone towers. I blogged about seven of these worker deaths and promised to report back on the outcome of the Federal or State OSHA investigations. Of the seven fatal incidents, three resulted in informal settlements of serious violations with penalties ranging from $2,100 to $4,900; and two investigations resulted in no citations or penalties,…
lborkowski | January 3, 2011Liz and Celeste are on vacation, so we're re-posting some content from our old site.
By Celeste Monforton, originally posted 3/11/10
I think the ghost of Tony Mazzocchi is haunting me. Every day for the last 10 days, I've been presented with narratives, videos, testimony and phone calls about the workers who are compelled or forced to become whistleblowers. It started with a student asking me about Karen Silkwood which opened the door for me to explain the OCAW/Mazzocchi-Silkwood connection and the vital contribution of whistleblowers in exposing deadly health and safety problems in work…
lborkowski | December 30, 2010Liz and Celeste are on vacation, so we're re-posting some content from our old site.
By Celeste Monforton, originally posted 11/3/09
"How can it be safe with this line so fast?" .... "Come to the plant and you will see." ..."when a visitor comes they slow it down and when they leave they speed it up." "The line is too fast." "People say their hands hurt a lot." ...."Many people are injured and then they fire them."
These are the voices of 455 meatpacking plant workers in Nebraska -- not 100 years ago in Upton Sinclair's time, but from surveys conducted in 2007 and 2008 by the Nebraska…
lborkowski | December 29, 2010Liz and Celeste are on vacation, so we're re-posting some content from our old site.
By Celeste Monforton, originally posted 4/5/10
The painful and deadly toll that asbestos imposes on families across the globe is a public health problem of growing magnitude. In the U.S., individuals who are diagnosed today with asbestos-related disease may trace their exposure to the lethal mineral fibers back several decades. The number of new cases of asbestos-related disease in the U.S. has not yet plateaued, and may not for years. Globally, the World Health Organization estimates that 125 million…
lborkowski | December 28, 2010Liz and Celeste are on vacation, so we're re-posting some content from our old site.
By Liz Borkowski, originally posted 11/6/09
Earlier today, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee held a hearing on the use of burn pits for trash at military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan - a practice that may be exposing thousands of soldiers and civilians to carcinogens, respiratory irritants, and neurotoxins. A particularly large burn pit at the Balad Air Base in Iraq has been getting a lot of attention, but the use of burn pits seems to be widespread at these military bases.
As DPC Chair Senator Byron…
lborkowski | December 24, 2010A few of the recent pieces I've liked:
Patricia Callahan and Trine Tsouderos in the Chicago Tribune: Chronic Lyme disease: A dubious diagnosis (via Orac, who critiques the backlash against the article)
The Economist: Migrant farm workers: Fields of tears
Christina Larson in Yale Environment 360: In China, a New Transparency on Government Pollution Data
Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein at ProPublica: Med Schools Flunk at Keeping Faculty off Pharma Speaking Circuit
Adam Serwer in The American Prospect: Necessary and Proper ("Liberals can't make an effective constitutional case for the…
lborkowski | December 22, 2010Earlier this month, a bill that would have provided medical benefits and compensation for 9/11 first responders passed the House but couldn't overcome a Republican filibuster. (Remember the old days of majority rule in the Senate, when 51 votes was enough to pass most legislation? We're in a different era now.)
Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer of New York have now made alterations to the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act and hope it will now be able to attract enough Republican votes. The overall cost of the bill has dropped from $7.4 billion to $6.2 billion as a…