Occupational Health & Safety
sb admin | November 6, 2008In "DuPont finds high levels of C8 in Chinese workers," Ken Ward of the Charleston Gazette writes that workers at the Changshu, China plant had average blood concentration of about 2,250 ppb of perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), an agent used to make the non-stick compound Teflon. Ward writes:
"DuPont Co. has found high levels of the toxic chemical C8 in the blood of workers at a new Teflon plant in China, despite company promises to greatly reduce exposures and emissions.  ...DuPont installed its new Echelon technology. DuPont says this technology allows it to make 'low-PFOA' products. The…
sb admin | November 6, 2008In Milwaukee, 69% of voters cast their ballots in favor of a requirement for employers to provide their workers with paid sick leave. Milwaukee becomes the third city â after San Francisco and Washington, DC â to adopt a requirement for paid sick days. Georgia Pabst of the Journal Sentinel explains:
Under the measure, a full-time worker would earn a minimum of one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, or nine days a year. Businesses with 10 or fewer employees would be required to provide five days a year of paid sick time to full-time employees.
The paid leave could be taken for…
sb admin | November 6, 2008In 1966 when the original Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) became law, President Lyndon B. Johnson said he "signed this measure with a deep sense of pride that the U.S. is an open society in which the peopleâs right to know is cherished and guarded.â The law's purpose is âto establish a general philosophy of full agency disclosure," and records will only be withheld unless they fall into narrow categories, such as national security (i.e., FOIA exemptions).
In my own personal experience with the G.W. Bush Administration, principles of openness and the people's right-to-know have been…
sb admin | November 5, 2008In honor of yesterday's historic election, I'm delighted to share this poem by James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938).
Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won.
At last week's annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, the 700-person strong…
sb admin | November 3, 2008Only 14 days after Gloria McInnis died in an explosion at a Goodyear plan in Houston, her husband Raymond McInnis testified before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Homeland Security. At the June 25, 2008 hearing, Mr. McInnis explained why he was present and sharing his grief and pain in such a public forum:
"It is not easy for me but I came here today to talk about what happened to Gloria, but I don't want this to happen to anyone else. Neither would Gloria."
The McInnis family's nightmare was made particularly unbearable because they were originally told by a Goodyear…
sb admin | November 3, 2008On the eve of the election, The Nation reminds us that the next president will play a crucial role in determining the makeup of the Supreme Court. Herman Schwartz describes the Court's current makeup and rattles off current rulings that would be threatened by the appointment of another conserviative justice. Then, other contributors explain how the Court has shaped the legal landscape on workers' rights, healthcare, and consumer safety.
Eric Schnapper, a law professor at the University of Washington School of Law, looks at Supreme Court decisions that he says allow employers to violate…
sb admin | October 29, 2008With concerns growing about a nursing shortage, hospitals are looking at ways to improve retention of the nurses they have on staff. Susan Meyers at Nurse.com (via RWJF) reports on an initiative at Los Angelesâs Cedars-Sinai Hospital to improve physician-nurse communication in order to boost morale:
With nearly a nine-year jump on the [MD-RN Collaborative], Cedars-Sinai has seen many positive benefits stem from the collaborative, including safer and more efficient care, a greater focus on patient-centered care, increased nurse retention, improved satisfaction among physicians, nurses and…
sb admin | October 28, 2008The Rotterdam Convention is an agreement addressing international movement of hazardous substances, but of course thereâs a great deal of debate about what qualifies as a hazardous substance. As convention parties met this week, several developing nations spoke up against adding asbestos to this list â and, according to one Canadian MP who attended the meeting as an observer, they did so at Canadaâs behest. For CanWest News Service, Katie Daubs reports:
Chrysotile asbestos will remain off a watch list of dangerous UN chemicals for at least another two years, say observers attending the…
sb admin | October 28, 2008The American Public Health Association is holding its annual meeting this week in San Diego (check out their conference blog here), and members of the occupational health section will be gathering today to congratulate the winners of this yearâs awards. (Read about last yearâs awards here.) Here are some of the outstanding individuals who are working tirelessly for safe, healthy workplaces:
David Kotelchuck, PhD, MPH, CIH is the recipient of the Alice Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. Dr. Kotelchuck is professor emeritus at Hunter College School of Health Sciences at the City…
sb admin | October 27, 2008Remember back in early May, when White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten sent a memorandum to all agency heads warning them:
"to resist the historical tendency of administrations to increase regulatory activity in their final months" and
directed, except in extraordinary circumstances, that regulations needed to be proposed by 6/1/08. Well it seems that pretty much everybody in the Administration is ignoring the Bolten memo, with both bad rules (MSHA's mandatory worker drug-testing proposal) and good ones (OSHA's crane safety standard).
Scholars at NYU's Institute for Policy Integrity…
sb admin | October 24, 2008The UKâs Health and Safety Executive reports that 20 tradesmen die from asbestos-related diseases every week, and that number will likely increase. In an effort to reduce asbestos exposure among plumbers, joiners, electricians, and other maintenance workers, HSE has launched the campaign Asbestos: The Hidden Killer. Campaign materials and activities are designed to alert workers to the dangerous effects of asbestos and educate them about where itâs found and how it should be handled.
In France, thousands of workers took to the street to protest âDeath by Canadaâ â asbestos-related diseases…
sb admin | October 20, 2008A long awaited OSHA proposed rule on crane safety was published in the Federal Register on Oct 9. The current OSHA safety standards on cranes and derricks dates back to at least 1971, and these proposed changes have been in the works for 10 years. I've criticized OSHA's Asst. Secretary for the deadly delay in proposing this rule, and it is indeed good news that the proposal is now in the public comment phase of the rulemaking process. The comment period ends on December 8.
I noticed something strange, however, in OSHA's news release about the proposal. There was not a peep …
sb admin | October 16, 2008Itâs open season at many workplaces, the time when employers who offer health benefits let employees choose among different health coverage options for the coming year. The Wall Street Journalâs Anna Wilde Matthews reports that companies are reluctant to raise workersâ share of premiums, given that wages are stagnant, and many are instead increasing deductibles and co-payments. So, read the fine print on your enrollment documents, and plan ahead for these costs.
In other news:
Boston Globe: In an effort to address disproportionately high injury rates among immigrant workers, a coalition in…
sb admin | October 15, 2008The United Steelworkers (USW) and the United Mine Workers (UMWA) have sent letters to Asst. Secretary of Labor Richard Stickler asking for additional hearings and a longer public comment period for its proposed rule on mandatory drug and alcohol testing for workers in the mining industry. In one press account, the public hearings yesterday were called a "Logistical Nightmare."  In the USW's letter, HSE Director Mike Wright wrote:
"...hundreds of witnesses were effectively prevented from testifying in Birmingham and other locations even though they were present on the site -- or more…
sb admin | October 15, 2008
Last month, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) proposed a rule that would require all U.S. mine operators to adopt the Dept of Transportation's 100-page regulation on drug- and alcohol-testing. Setting aside the fact that MSHA's proposal is a poorly designed, substantiated and written, the following is a news account, reported by Mine Safety and Health News and used with permission, about MSHA's public hearing on the proposed rule. The public hearing was held on Tuesday, October 14.
"MSHA may continue yesterdayâs public hearing on its proposed rule to require alcohol and…
sb admin | October 14, 2008The Labor Department's 30-day public comment period on its risk assessment proposed rule closed 14 days ago. There are 117 items appearing in the on-line docket at Regulations.gov, including my own 9-page letter of opposition. What I didn't expect to see was notice saying that one of my attachments was not being posted in the electronic docket because it is "subject to copyright protections" and it "cannot be reproduced."
I guess Asst. Secretary of Labor Sequeira needs a little lesson about "Open Access."Â The document that I submitted (and of which I am a co-author) was an…
sb admin | October 13, 2008Mr. Bill Oxley was working at the Bayer CropScience plant in Institute, WV on August 28. At about 10:25 pm, a massive fireball erupted at the facility, killing his co-worker, Barry Withrow, 45. The dramatic facts surrounding this explosion included that plant officials told the dispatchers that an emergency situation was in progress, but as far as giving the 911 operator further details: "I'm only allowed to tell you we have an emergency."Â
When I originally wrote about this disaster, I only knew this about Mr. Bill Oxley:
"A second worker was seriously injured in the explosion and…
sb admin | October 10, 2008The Mayor of Houston, Texas Bill White wants the Lyondell Chemical Refinery to justify and defend its practice of emitting tons of benzene annually into the air. (In 2007, the refinery reported emissions of 39 tons, which they proudly noted was below their 58 ton annual cap.) The Houston Chronicle's Matthew Tresaugue reports that the Mayor's office send a 96-page letter to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) requesting a public hearing on Lyondell's request for a 10-year extension of its toxic air emissions permit.
"The refinery is in the city's cross hairs because…
sb admin | October 9, 2008"American Coal Co. repeatedly demonstrated its failure to comply with basic safety laws over a number of months, and for that it must be held accountable."Â (Asst. Secretary of Labor for MSHA Richard Stickler)
Yesterday, MSHA issued a news release announcing that the operator of the Galatia Mine in Saline County, Illinois was receving $1.46 million in penalties for scores of safety and health violations it's wracked up over the last year. The underground coal mine is owned by American Coal Company, a subsidiary of Murray Energy Corp--the same corporate controller of the Utah Crandall…
sb admin | October 8, 2008Nevada's OSHA has found that the death of a carpenter was caused by the contractor's pressuring employees to put construction speed before safety. Lyndal Bates, 49, was working at the construction site of a new casino in the Las Vegas strip last June when he mistakenly attached his safety harness to a piece of scaffolding that he was tearing down. Nevada OSHA has cited the contractor, Marnell Corrao Associations, with 5 violations related to the incident, for a total of $11,000. Marnell, not surprisingly, is appealing the ruling. The Las Vegas Sun has more on the dangers facing…