Occupational Health & Safety
sb admin | October 8, 2008By Nathan Fetty
Every so often, my wife and I take our daughter, whoâs now two-and-a-half, on one of our favorite walks in the country here in central West Virginia. To get there, unfortunately, we have to pass by torrents of orange acid mine drainage (photo examples here and here) and through a landscape brutalized by mining. But the woods and streams beyond this devastation are as prime as any in West Virginia. Thatâs why we keep going there. We want our child to know these kinds of special places.
Our daughterâs becoming more and more verbal. She loves to point out things as sheâs…
sb admin | October 6, 2008A report released last week by staff of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee on EPA's handling of the massive asbestos contamination in the mining town of Libby, Montana is laden with words including "failure," "misled," "interference," and "delay." Refering to "EPA's Failure to Declare a Public Health Emergency in Libby, Montana," Senator Baucus said that he and the staff examined more than 14,000 internal documents and found:
"...a pattern of intervention from OMB, the White House, and political appointees at EPA that undermined cleanup efforts at Libby, delayed…
sb admin | October 1, 2008As our population gets older and heavier, healthcare workers are having to lift more and heavier loads as they transfer and position patients. The increased physical demands have translated into alarming rates of musculoskeletal disorders. NIOSH reports:
Direct and indirect costs associated with back injuries in the healthcare industry are estimated to be $20 billion annually. Additionally, nursing aides and orderlies suffer the highest prevalence (18.8%) and report the most annual cases (269,000) of work-related back pain among female workers in the United States. In 2000, 10,983 registered…
sb admin | September 29, 2008Despite a short 30-day comment period, dozens of interested individuals and organizations provided comments to Asst. Secretary Leon Sequeira about his proposed so-called risk assessment policy. I've pulled some of my favorite excerpts for your consideration:
"The proposed rule is a parting gift from an outgoing administration to its supporters in industry and should be withdrawn." (Public Citizen, full comments here)
"The Asst Secretary for Policy has no legal authority to issue this proposal or to finalize it. ...The authorities granted to him all involve performing economic reports and…
sb admin | September 29, 2008The Labor Department has rejected calls from numerous public interest groups and even the chairman of its legislative oversight committee to conduct public hearings and extend the time period to provide feedback on its worker health risk assessment proposal. That means that today, Monday, September 29 is the final day to submit comments on the Assistant Secretary for Policy Leon Sequeira's proposed changes to OSHA's and MSHA's risk assessment practices. He sent identical letters dated September 25 to Congressman George Miller (D-CA) (here), Prof. Rena Steinzor (here), and probably…
sb admin | September 29, 2008Updated below: 9/29/08 5:00 pm
Over the last year, Matthew Faraci has served as the MSHA spokesman, providing official statements, for example, about the Crandall Canyon investigation, touting the Agency's progress implementing the MINER Act, and defending the Administration's request for an additional $19 million for MSHA.  In fact, Faraci even organized a media briefing so that agency officials could explain why the requested budget increase "would provide MSHA with the vital resources it needs to help protect miners' safety and health."Â
So, it was a bit jarring to find the…
sb admin | September 25, 2008Four U.S. Senators have written to Labor Secretary Chao and OSHA Asst. Secretary Foulke expressing serious concern that "OSHA has failed to make significant progress in addressing the continuing hazards" of diacetyl. They asked for a response by October 8 to four simple questions, including a list of inspections conducted as part of OSHA's national emphasis program on diacetyl.
It was nearly 10 years ago when an alert physician in Missouri linked rare cases of the lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans to his patients' workplace exposure at a microwave popcorn manufacturing plant.  …
sb admin | September 24, 2008Itâs become increasingly evident over the past few years that many veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have sustained mild traumatic brain injuries, often from being in the vicinity of a powerful blast. (See last monthâs New York Times article for details.) Symptoms can range from dizziness and persistent headaches to hearing problems and memory loss.
Now, USA Today reports, the government is substantially increasing benefits for veterans suffering from milder forms of brain injuries. A regulation announced this week modifies a 1961 rating schedule for mild brain trauma. Doctors have…
sb admin | September 23, 2008J. Davitt McAteer, who served as acting Solicitor of Labor for nearly two years,* submitted formal objections today on DOL's proposed risk assessment rule, and indicated that if the Administration "refuses to withdraw the proposal," he asks for public hearings [plural] and an extension of the comment period. McAteer, who also served as the MSHA chief from 1994-2000, lays out a number of fallacies in DOL's legal justification for the proposed rule.  In response to DOL's assertation that they have the general authority to mandate specific risk assessment practices on MSHA and OSHA,…
sb admin | September 22, 2008During a recent one-on-one interview with the Charleston Gazette, MSHA chief Richard Stickler said his agency will not be issuing more protective health standards to protect miners from coal workers' pnuemoconiosis during his tenure. In Ken Ward's article (Sept 14), Stickler says:
"There's no way I'm going to get that done with what I have on my plate."
So, here we are, 12 years after a federal advisory committee recommended an overhaul of the regulations to protect coal miners from developing black lung disease, and we are still no closer to having a more health-protective rule on the…
sb admin | September 19, 2008Occupational Hazards has assembled a list of the 50 most influential leaders in Environmental Health and Safety, and our own David Michaels is on the list. âLove them or despise them, these are the 50 people the editors of Occupational Hazards feel have had the most impact on EHS in the past decade,â the introduction reads â and, indeed, several of the people on the list (like Elaine Chao and Edwin Foulke of the Department of Labor) have been frequent targets of criticism on this blog.
The sections devoted to Worker Safety Advocates and Union EHS Leaders include some folks who weâve been…
sb admin | September 18, 2008In 1971 under the National Cancer Act, Congresss authorized the 3-person President's Cancer Panel which is charged with monitoring the "development and execution of the National Cancer Program" and preparing periodic progress reports for the President. Over the years, the Panel has examined quality of life for cancer patients, access to care issues, and lifestyle risk factors related to cancer. The Panel's focus for 2008-2009 is "Cancer and the Environment," a topic endorsed by The Collaborative on Health and Environment (CHE) and the topic of a draft consensus statement released by CHE…
sb admin | September 17, 2008Earlier this year, the Charlotte Observer published an excellent and disturbing series on the dangerous working conditions at poultry plants, and employersâ efforts to keep worker injuries from being reported. Now, the Observerâs Ames Alexander reports that poultry worker Thomas Jurrissen told auditors about safety concerns at the plant where he worked â and was fired a day later.
Jurrissen has filed a complaint under North Carolinaâs Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act, which prohibits employers from firing workers who report OSHA violations. (The problems he cited had to do with…
sb admin | September 16, 2008Celeste Monforton will be testifying tomorrow at a hearing of the House of Representatives Committee on Education and Laborâs Subcommittee on Workforce Protections (10am, 2175 Rayburn). Sheâll be speaking about the Department of Laborâs proposed worker health risk-assessment rule, which might have gone undetected by worker-health advocates had Celeste not spotted its name on a White House Office of Management and Budget website. In a letter to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Celeste and 79 other scientists and occupational health experts summarized their concerns about the rule this way:
By…
sb admin | September 12, 2008by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure
Bush has announced he will reduce the forces in Iraq by 8000 by early 2009. My first thought (after "that's it? I thought we were victorious"; and let's get all of them out now as fast as we can) was to wonder what condition they will be in and what's in store for them in the future? I thought about that particularly because of the emerging scientific literature on strange and rare diseases in Gulf region veterans. One of these diseases is Lou Gehrig's Disease (medical name, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS). ALS, while rare (about 1 - 2 cases per…
sb admin | September 11, 2008José Herrera, a contract worker at a Citgo refinery in Corpus Christi, was working on equipment when a pipe ruptured and scorched one-third of his body with 550-degree oil. Herrera is now disabled and in constant pain, even in his sleep. Workersâ compensation insurance covers his extensive medical costs, but his lost-wages compensation equals only about $37,000 annually, compared to the approximately $100,000 he earned before the accident. It will still be another two or three years before doctors can tell Herrera whether heâll be able to return to work.
Herrera is now suing the refinery…
sb admin | September 10, 2008The Seattle Post-Intelligencerâs Andrew Schneider reports on another lawsuit from a consumer who says his lungs have been damaged by years of microwave popcorn consumption. The most famous microwave-popcorn consumer, Wayne Watson of Denver, filed suit earlier this year. Watson drew national attention after he was diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans, a disease previously found only in workers from plants that used the butter-flavoring chemical diacetyl. (The Pump Handle was the first to publicize the fact that a popcorn consumer had been diagnosed with the disease; check our diacetyl page…
sb admin | September 8, 2008"This happens. We live with that."
These are the words of ironworker Luis Guzman, who was working at the site of a new Manhattan skyscraper Tuesday when his fellow worker, Anthony Espito, 43, fell 40 stories (roughly 400 feet) to the ground. He was killed instantly. It appeared Mr. Espito was in fact wearing a safety harness, but it wasn't attached to anything.
Some of you may recall, I wrote a post just a few weeks ago about the shocking number of preventable workplace fatalities resulting from falls (see that post here). The day after, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that there…
sb admin | September 5, 2008On Labor Day, Matthew D. LaPlante reported in the Salt Lake Tribune:
On a day purportedly dedicated to America's laborers, much of the nation's labor force remained out in force. According to Development Dimensions International, a human resource consulting firm, about 40 percent of Americans work on Labor Day. Some work because they want to. But most, like [sandwich shop employee Rosemary] Patino, work because they have to.
At the height of her career as a nursing assistant, Patino made $15 an hour. "That's not great pay," she said, "but I got full benefits - medical, dental, paid vacations…
sb admin | September 3, 2008On Friday, August 29, Carolyn Merritt, 61, the former chair of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (2002-2007) passed away after a valiant battle against metastic breast cancer. Advocates for workers' safety will remember Ms. Merritt as an outspoken expert who minced no words when she insisted that work-related injuries and fatalities are PREVENTABLE.
Tammy Miser of United Support and Memorial for Workplace Fatalities (USMWF) came to know the CSB chairwoman after Tammy lost her brother, Shawn Boone, in an aluminum dust explosion at his workplace in Huntington,…