Occupational Health & Safety
sb admin | January 23, 2008As the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq approaches, itâs clear that the U.S. is still having trouble ensuring that injured veterans get what they need â whether thatâs care for a brain injury, mental health services, or sufficient recovery time. Hereâs the news from the past week:
An Army task force report completed in May and released last week highlighted several problems with brain injury screening for returning veterans, according to USA Today. The task forceâs chair praised improvements in screening and other areas, but urged further work in gauging neurological deficits and…
sb admin | January 22, 2008By Les LeopoldÂ
If you need a quick snooze, read a US Government Accountability Office report with its carefully parsed prose. But lost in the holiday rush was a December GAO report that could keep you awake as it bashes the Bush administrationâs effort to water down the community Right to Know regulations that provide us with potentially life-saving information about the use, storage and release of toxic substances. These regulations require that companies make detailed reports which form the Toxics Release Inventory â an accessible public database on the quantity of toxic chemicals on…
sb admin | January 17, 2008Howard A. Heit, MD and a pain management specialist at Georgetown University offers an informed perspective on "painkiller abuse" among coal miners, in response to the Washington Post's article "A Dark Addiction."Â He writes:
"I don't believe the majority of these miners have the disease of addiction....[instead they] are seeking medications appropriately or inappropriately as a result of significant undertreatment of pain."
Dr. Heit's letter to the editor reads:
 "'A Dark Addicition' [front page, Jan 13] documented the experience of miners in western Virginia who work under conditions…
sb admin | January 16, 2008The U.S. House of Representatives debated today the Supplemental Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act (S-MINER, H.R. 2768) which would require, among other things, closer review of retreat mining plans, allow independent investigations (outside of MSHA) for multiple fatalities, and update permissible exposure limits. The White House issued a veto threat, saying the bill would "place in jeopardy meaningful achievements and efforts currently underway"..."weaken several existing regulations" and "impose burdensome and unrealistic time requirements." Likewise, the National Mining…
sb admin | January 16, 2008Katherine Torres of Occupational Hazards reports that Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) investigators have identified an overheated chemical reactor as the likely cause of the blast that killed four workers at T2 Laboratories in Jacksonville last month (see Celesteâs posts on the disaster here, here, and here).
In a separate article, Torres covers a letter sent by U.S. Representatives George Miller and Lynn Woolsey to OSHA Secretary Edwin Foulke, which states that if OSHA had modified its Process Safety Management Standard in accordance with recommendations CSB made in 2002…
sb admin | January 15, 2008Last month, Andrew Schneider reported in the Seattle PI that the use of diacetyl-containing cooking oils could be putting professional cooks at risk for the same severe lung disease thatâs struck workers in microwave-popcorn and flavor factories. Now, Schneider brings us news that the UNITE HERE union is urging manufacturers to remove diacetyl from cooking sprays and oils, and members of Congress have requested that NIOSH (the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health) investigate the use of the chemical and the harm it might be doing to workers.
NIOSH investigated when the severe…
sb admin | January 15, 2008These are the words of Linden High School student Omar Diaz, 17, remembering his father Victor Diaz, 42 who died on December 1 at North East Linen Supply Company. Mr. Diaz and a co-worker Carlos Diaz, 41, were asphyxiated by chemical fumes while they were cleaning out a 20,000 gallon storage tank at the industrial laundry facility.
New Jersey Asssemblyman Joseph Cryan called immediately for state and federal probes into the workplace deaths, and yesterday, Cong. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Cong. Donald Payne (D-NJ) and Cong. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) held a congressional hearing "Workplace…
sb admin | January 14, 2008The front page of Sunday's Washington Post (Jan. 13) featured the blackened face of coal miner Forest Ramey, 24, but the story was not about a deadly explosion or workers trapped underground. A Dark Addiction, by the Post's Nick Miroff, gives us a peak into the lives of coal miners who are struggling with painkiller abuse.
"Tazewell County, Va. The crowd is gathering early in the dirt parking lot outside the Clinch Valley Treatment Center, the only methadone clinic within 80 miles. ...It is 2:45 am...the clinic does not start dosing until 5 am. ...Many of the patients who fill…
sb admin | January 9, 2008Itâs been almost a decade since U.S. corporations, facing a consumer outcry over sweatshops, launched high-profile efforts to ensure that their products were manufactured under fair labor conditions. David Barboza of the New York Times reports that investigations by labor rights groups find dangerous and unfair working conditions persisting nonetheless:
The groups say some Chinese companies routinely shortchange their employees on wages, withhold health benefits and expose their workers to dangerous machinery and harmful chemicals, like lead, cadmium and mercury. â¦
And so while American and…
sb admin | January 9, 2008Several months ago, I tried to get a simple question answered by NIOSH about part of its process for awarding mine safety research grants. The technical staff with whom I spoke probably knew the answer to my question, but they weren't sure whether the information could be disclosed or not. Fair enough. They suggested that I file a FOIA request which I promptly did.  More than 4 months later, I'm still waiting for an answer.Â
Granted, this is nowhere near the worst FOIA performance (see annual Rosemary Award), but my question to NIOSH was straightforward, and I guarantee they have at…
sb admin | January 7, 2008It's been three weeks since the deadly explosion at the Jacksonville, Florida T2 laboratory which claimed the lives of four workers and injured others on and off the site. The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB), along with OSHA and other agencies, is investigating the disaster and lead CSB official, Robert Hall, offered the following information on Jan 3 about the event:
"The blast at T2 was among the most powerful ever examined by the CSB."
"...There are several steps in the process [of producing the gasoline additive MMT]; the first step involved heating and reacting organic materials with…
sb admin | January 4, 2008There are two terrific book events scheduled for Monday January 7th, here in Washington DC. Les Leopold, author of The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor: The Life and Times of Tony Mazzocchi, will be in town to talk about Tony's life and legacy.
Les' book is a great read, an inspiring and illuminating account of Tony's lifetime organizing for worker rights and safe factories. Here's an excerpt, to give you a sense of the book's content.
At noon on Monday January 7th, Les and several distinguished speakers from the House of Labor will be speaking at noon in the Gompers Room at AFL-CIO…
sb admin | January 4, 2008I guess President Bush and Secretary Chao are stickin' with Richard Stickler afterall. A personnel announcement this afternoon from the White House says:
"The President intends to designate Richard Stickler, of West Virginia, to be Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health."
Note the use of the word "designate" not "nominate." And now the webpage featuring Mr. Stickler's photo is back up on MSHA's website. My previous posts on this are here, here, and here. Oy!
sb admin | January 4, 2008Yesterday afternoon, if you happened to MSHA's website and click on the Asst. Secretary's button, you'd see this, with the ominous caption:
"The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable."
That was a tell-tale sign that Richard Stickler's recess-appointment tenure as MSHA's chief has come to an end. Ken Ward of The Charleston Gazette reports today in "Stickler out at MSHA" that a political appointee named John Pallasch is now the acting Assistant Secretary for MSHA.
Ward reports:
"...on Thursday, MSHA officials revealed that…
sb admin | January 3, 2008A coal mine operator in Hazard, Kentucky received a $220,000 penalty from MSHA for flagrantly violating electrical lockout/tagout procedures (such as padlocking an on/off switch to ensure that a machine is not unexpectedly turned-on, plugged in or energized while it is being serviced.)  The hefty monetary penalty was authorized under the 2006 MINER Act for flagrant violations, defined as:
"a reckless or repeated failure to make reasonable efforts to eliminate a known violation of a mandatory safety and health standard that substantially and proximately caused, or reasonably could have…
sb admin | January 2, 2008As 2007 drew to a close, Occupational Hazards asked a panel of industry leaders to make some predictions about the future of workplace safety. Laura Walter reports:
The discussion revealed a variety of emerging trends that could impact the practice of safety in the future. Some were familiar themes, such as globalization, the aging workforce, nanotechnology and OSHAâs role in worker safety. Other predictions were a bit less expected, including the possibility that human resource departments might play a big role in workplace safety culture, the greening movement can attract young talent to…
sb admin | January 2, 2008The town of Odessa, Texas had never had a police officer die in the line of duty in its 73-year history. That changed in September 2007, when three Odessa officers, Arlie Jones, 48, Abel Marquez, 32 and Scott Gardner, 30 were gunned down responding to a domestic disturbance complaint.* These three worker-victims were among the 186 law enforcement officers killed on the job in 2007---a 28 percent increase in fatalities compared to 2006. The National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund which tracks officers' in-the-line-of-duty deaths, reports 2007 was the deadliest year for this cohort since…
sb admin | December 21, 2007OSHA? No. It's Andrew Schneider and his colleagues at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. In "Flavoring Additive Puts Professional Cooks at Risk," the reporter describes a study commissioned by the newspaper to determine how much of the butter-flavoring agent diacetyl becomes airborne when used in a restaurant cook's work setting. Exposure to diacetyl is associated with the severe lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans in microwave popcorn plant workers and others, yet Schneider writes:
"Government indifference to the possible threat posed by breathing diacetyl is epidemic. The CPSC…
sb admin | December 21, 2007The families of the workers killed at the T2 Lab are now planning memorial services instead of holiday celebrations.
"With Christmas next week, we're not shopping for gifts--we've got to go look at caskets,"
said a relative of Parrish Ashley, 36, one of the four men killed in the Wednesday explosion.  Mr. Ashley and his deceased co-worker, Karey Henry, 35 were best friends, according to family members. They were:
"side by side in a break-room trailer about 1:30 pm when they were killed by a blast that witnesses described as like a bomb going off.  'They were together throughout all…
sb admin | December 20, 2007The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor: The Life and Times of Tony Mazzocchi is one of the Pump Handleâs top book recommendations this year (hereâs an excerpt, to whet your appetite). On Monday January 7th, the bookâs author, Les Leopold of the Labor Institute, will be coming to Washington to read from it and sign copies. There are two events scheduled that day. The first, featuring Les and a number of distinguished speakers, will be held at noon in the Gompers Room at AFL-CIO headquarters, 815 16th St. NW. That evening, there will be a book party at Busboys and Poets Cafe (2021 14th St.…