Occupational Health & Safety
sb admin | February 20, 2008OSHA's Regional Office in New York announced the successful resolution of a retaliation case filed by a worker who was discharged by his employer after he expressed concerns about entering a workspace which had just been "bombed" with an insecticide. The case began more than two years ago at a residential housing complex in Flushing, NY, called Second Housing Co. Inc., and was resolved under a consent order in which the employer agreed to pay more than $66,000 in back wages to the worker.
Under Section 11(c) of the OSH Act:
"No person shall discharge or in any manner discriminate…
sb admin | February 19, 2008If you havenât heard yet, USDA has ordered the largest meat recall in U.S. history â 143 million pounds of beef from the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company. USDA officials believe that the meat distributed by the company poses little or no hazard to consumers, which is fortunate, because much of it has been eaten already. Itâs being recalled because the company failed to follow procedures necessary to prevent sick cows from entering the food supply.
Violations at the Hallmark meat packing facility came to light a few weeks ago, when an undercover Humane Society investigator released video…
sb admin | February 18, 2008Kudos! to the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) for providing an update on their investigation of the devastating explosion at the Imperial Sugar/Dixie Crystals refinery near Port Wentworth, Georgia. As I've noted in previous posts, because the CSB makes it part of their business to provide regular update for the publicâeven if they don't have much at all to reportâtheir effort increases the likelihood that worker and environmental safety and health issues will be covered by the press. In turn, it means that these critical public health topics stay in the publicâs and…
sb admin | February 16, 2008The final deceased victim of the February 7 explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery has been recovered from the scene, and a ninth victim, Mr. Michael Fields, 40, succumbed to his severe injuries earlier today at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Georgia.  U.S. Senators Johnny Iasakson (R-GA) and Saxby Chamblis (R-GA) met today with victims' families as well as about 200 employees from the plant. Senator Isakson's news release said:
"On my visit this morning, I saw the absolute devastation of the tragic explosion at the Imperial Sugar facility. ...We pledged to them our…
sb admin | February 15, 2008Friends and colleagues continue to offer lovely memorials to Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), who passed away on February 11. (here, here)  Human Rights Watch noted in their tribute  he was an "unwavering advocate for fundamental rights," and "his remarkable and sustained efforts on behalf of vulnerable and otherwise voiceless people." Â
Indeed, for Cong. Lantos, human rights was not only about the politically oppressed in far away places. The vulnerable and voiceless included workers who were injured or otherwise harmed by hazards on the job, or those discriminated against for…
sb admin | February 14, 2008Reporters and bloggers are using the occasion of Valentineâs Day to explore the health and environmental aspects of typical gifts and recommend worker- and Earth-friendly alternatives.
â¢Â Jennifer Sass at NRDCâs Switchboard blog describes how typical greenhouse practices harm flower workers, and offers some healthier Valentineâs Day suggestions.
â¢Â The Green Guide at Grist suggests some green options for flowers and chocolate.
â¢Â Terra Sigillata alerts us to a romantic tune that can be downloaded to benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
â¢Â The LA Timesâ Margot Roosevelt reports on…
sb admin | February 13, 2008Fire suppression experts from a North Carolina firm are providing assistance in Port Wentworth, Georgia at the Imperial Sugar factory. After the devastating explosion five days ago on Thursday evening, February 7, the fire continues to burn.  Two workers remain missing in the fire and debris. Another six perished at the scene and 16 remain in critical condition. Three injured workers have been released from the hospital to continue their recovery at the Joseph M Still Burn Center (More here.) The clinic has a hopeful motto: "Though not every scar can be removed it is our …
sb admin | February 13, 2008This week, North Carolinaâs Charlotte Observer is running an in-depth series, âThe human cost of bringing poultry to your table.â After a 22-month investigation, reporters convey the grim picture: poultry-plant workers suffer high rates of crippling injuries, but fear losing their jobs if they complain, and companies cover up the problem. Observer editor Rick Thames reminds readers that this isnât the first time North and South Carolina have powered their economies on the backs of âa disturbing subclass of compliant workers with few, if any, rights.â He writes:
Illegal immigrants often take…
sb admin | February 11, 2008By Francis Hamilton Rammazzocchi
For the second time in two months, America has witnessed a catastrophic industrial explosion involving multiple fatalities. On December 19, 2007, the small T2 Chemicals in Jacksonville, FL, detonated in a towering mushroom cloud, killing four workers. And earlier this week, the Imperial Sugar plant outside of Savannah, Georgia, exploded, killing at least 6 workers and probably more.
Not only were both of these disasters preventable, but the factors that caused both explosions had been subjects of Chemical Safety Board (CSB) regulatory recommendations to OSHA,…
sb admin | February 7, 2008Pulitzer-winning Seattle P-I reporter Andrew Schneider is already known to many in the public health world: He broke the Libby, Montana story,  and tracked the asbestos problem across the country. With fellow P-I reporter Robert McClure, he revealed the environmental devastation from mining on public lands in the West. He started writing about the dangers of diacetyl before it was cool, and stepped up (when OSHA wouldnât) to investigate the potential diacetyl exposure of restaurant cooks.
Now, Andrew Schneider has launched a blog, âSecret Ingredients,â at the Seattle P-I. Hereâs his reason…
sb admin | February 6, 2008In 2003, FRONTLINE, The New York Times, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation teamed up to investigate nine deaths and thousands of injuries at facilities owned by McWane, Inc., a major iron pipe foundry company â and âa portrait emerged of McWane as the most dangerous company in an inherently dangerous business.â
The resulting program caught the attention of the Environmental Crimes section of the Department of Justice, which guided a nationwide investigation that led to prosecutions. McWane and eight of its executives and managers were convicted of 125 environmental, health, and safety…
sb admin | February 5, 2008A group of advocates for miners and their families sent a rulemaking petition to MSHA on February 1, asking the agency to improve its regulations governing the training that mine workers receive about their statutory rights. The Petition for Rulemaking was submitted by the West Virginia Mine Safety Project, the Appalachian Citizens' Law Center, United Support & Memorial for Workplace Fatalities, and the United Mine Workers, and calls for significant improvements in the content and manner in which all U.S. mine workers---whether at coal, gold, stone, or other mine or mill---learn…
sb admin | February 4, 2008Nearly four decades after the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, it is difficult to find anyone who will argue that it has delivered on its promise to provide safe and healthful working conditions. In 2005 and 2006 I traveled across the country and met with people experienced in worker health and safety to share ideas about what we can do to protect workers better.
There was considerable agreement about the need to strengthen OSHAâs basic functions and use them more creatively â more inspections, stronger enforcement, renewed rulemaking, and a strategic focus on the…
sb admin | February 4, 2008Two high-tech communication firms, Venture Design Services, Inc and Helicomm, Inc., teamed up to create a wireless tracking system for underground miners, and it is the first product of its kind to be approved by MSHA since the Sago, WV disaster. That 2006 event, which claimed the lives of 12 coal miners and forever changed the lives of their families, coworkers and community, was the impetus for the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act (MINER Act) and its requirements for wireless tracking systems.
Helicomm has been using the CONSOL Energy's Big Branch mine in Mingo County, WV…
sb admin | February 4, 2008This afternoon at 2:30pm Eastern time, David Michaels will be doing a Public Health Reports webcast on protecting workers from beryllium. No registration or log-in password is necessary to participate;Â the link for the webcast will be posted at 2 PM on the Public Health Reports website.
David will focus on the Public Health Reports article he and Celeste Monforton co-authored: Berylliumâs âPublic Relations Problemâ: Protecting Workers When There is No Safe Exposure Level. Visit his post about the article for more.
sb admin | January 31, 2008Back in 1994, 240 coal miners in Hirwaun, Wales bought the Tower Colliery where they were employed. The UK government was de-nationalizing the coal mines and the pit was scheduled to close. The miners took charge of their own livelihood, used their severence-layoff pay and borrowed money, to buy the coal mine.
"In its first year, one of the oldest continuously worked pits in the world made a profit of two million pounds (~ $1 million US) ...[and] provided jobs for hundreds of miners."Â (Reuters here)]
Last week, the miners and the community said their final goodbye to the Tower Colliery…
sb admin | January 31, 2008On Monday February 4th, Iâll be doing the Public Health Reportsâ monthly webcast, discussing the recent article Celeste Monforton and I wrote entitled Berylliumâs âPublic Relations Problemâ: Protecting Workers When There is No Safe Exposure Level. Hereâs some background:
In a 1947 report, entitled Public Relations Problems in Connection with Occupational Diseases in the Beryllium Industry, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) asserted that the ability of the US government to produce nuclear weapons was threatened by the high incidence of severe health effects associated with exposure to…
sb admin | January 30, 2008On January 20th, Britainâs Sunday Times newspaper published the results of six months' worth of interviews with employees from the building site of Beijingâs Olympic stadium:
CHINA has systematically covered up the accidental deaths of at least 10 workers, and perhaps many more, in a rush to construct the futuristic âbirdâs nestâ stadium in Beijing for this summerâs Olympic Games ⦠In interviews workers talked of the relentless pressure to get the job done, of abusive subcontractors who frequently withheld pay in violation of Chinaâs labour laws and of harsh restrictions on their personal…
sb admin | January 26, 2008The Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released new information concerning the massive explosion on December 19 at the T2 Laboratories plant in Jacksonville, Florida. The disaster killed four men out of the nine total who were working at the time. In their announcement, the CSB investigators indicated that 33 people---more than double the number originally reported---suffered lacerations, contusions and temporary hearing loss from flying and falling debris. The majority of the injured were individuals working in other facilities in the same industrial complex.This is the 3rd time in about a…
sb admin | January 24, 2008A group of state legislators in West Virginia introduced a bill to strengthen the State's laws to protect mine workers who raise concerns about unsafe working conditions. The lead sponsor is Delegate Bill Hamilton (R) who represents the region where the now-abandoned Sago mine is located.* He's been a strong champion for mine safety improvements and also known for reprimanding Massey Energy's Don Blankenship when the CEO asserted that mining disasters, like Sago and Aracoma Alma, were rare and insignificant.  Mine-worker advocates, like Nathan Fetty at the WV Mine Safety Project…