regulation
kkrisberg | October 11, 2016At the Denver Post, John Ingold and Monte Whaley authored a year-long investigative series into the dangerous conditions facing Colorado’s oil and gas workers, the role of subcontracting in heightening worker safety risks, and the lack of employer accountability and oversight. The series, “Drilling through danger,” noted that 1,333 workers died in the nation’s oil and gas fields between 2003 and 2014, with 2014 being the second-most lethal year for oil and gas workers in Colorado in a decade. According to the newspaper’s analysis, there was about one oil and gas worker death per every 12 rigs…
cmonforton | October 5, 2016I wasn’t in the room, but watching the webcast I could feel the public’s lingering dissatisfaction and distrust. It was last week's (Sept. 28) public meeting held by the Chemical Safety Board on its investigation into the 10,000 gallons of a toxic soup that poured in January 2014 into the Elk River in Charleston, WV. The river is the water source for residents of the city and surrounding communities. 300,000 residents were affected by the disaster. They did not have safe tap water for drinking, cooking, or bathing. Some still have no confidence that the water is safe to use.
Headlines about…
kkrisberg | September 30, 2016Just 10 years ago, it wouldn’t have been possible to bring leading physicians, scientists and advocates together in a consensus on toxic chemicals and neurological disorders in children, says Maureen Swanson. But with the science increasing “exponentially,” she said the time was ripe for a concerted call to action.
Swanson is co-director of Project TENDR (Targeting Environmental Neuro-Developmental Risks), a coalition of doctors, public health scientists and environmental health advocates who joined forces in 2015 to call for reducing chemical exposures that interfere with fetal and child…
cmonforton | September 16, 2016Emilio Dodd, 55, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Tuesday, September 6, while working at the Waste Management landfill on Railroad Street. The Lewisville Texan reports:
the incident occurred at about 3:30 pm
according to Lewisville police, “a resident with an F-350 pickup and dual-axle trailer had brought in a load of demolition debris to dump. Dodd was directing the driver as he backed the trailer up in the dumping area”
”a handle protruding from the trailer became entangled in Dodd’s clothing, causing Dodd to be pulled down. The 9,000 pound trailer drove over Dodd’s chest.”
Federal…
egrossman | September 16, 2016Asbestos has long been the poster-child for the United States’ failure to adequately protect Americans from hazardous chemicals. Yet despite its notoriety, asbestos remains in use, exposing, not only workers but also their families, communities and in some cases, consumers to a known and deadly carcinogen. It’s been widely hoped – even expected – that the updated Toxics Substance Control Act (TSCA) would finally address this problem. But as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gets to work implementing the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act (LCSA), a battle is shaping up around asbestos…
egrossman | September 8, 2016 The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act for the 21st Century was signed into law with a general sigh of relief that finally, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would have the authority needed to evaluate and regulate the tens of thousands of commercial chemicals it oversees in the U.S. But as the EPA begins implementing the new law, the chemical industry is already busy pushing the agency to limit scrutiny of various widely used, highly toxic chemicals.
Among the EPA’s first tasks under the Lautenberg Act is to enact rules outlining how it will prioritize chemicals for review…
cmonforton | September 8, 2016Harold Felton’s work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings from Washington State-OSHA in the agency’s recent citations against Alki Construction.
The 36 year-old was working in January 2016 on a sewer repair project in a West Seattle neighborhood. The initial press reports indicated that Mr. Felton was working inside a 10-foot deep trench which was situated between two homes. King5.com reported: “…the walls of the trench gave way and buried the man under several feet of soil.”
I wrote about the incident shortly after it occurred. The State of Washington's…
egrossman | August 31, 2016As the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) begins work under the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act for the 21st Century (LCSA) – the updated Toxic Substances Control Act – more striking divisions are emerging between what environmental health advocates and what chemical manufacturing and industry groups want from the law.
These go beyond what was voiced during the public meetings the EPA held in early August to gather input on the rules it will use to prioritize chemicals for review and evaluate those chemicals’ risks. A look at the written comments now submitted to the agency underscores…
lborkowski | August 31, 2016by Garrett Brown, MPH, CIH
If there is one thing that Christine Baker, Director of California’s Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), and Juliann Sum, Chief of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH or Cal/OSHA), cannot stand – it is criticism, no matter how constructive or gently offered it may be.
With a “thin skin” sensitivity and an aggressive impulse to counter-attack that rivals Donald Trump’s, Baker and Sum tend to go crazy about the annual report by Federal OSHA on the state of Cal/OSHA. In July 2015, DIR/DOSH wrote two tart letters to federal OSHA (here, here)…
egrossman | August 24, 2016by Elizabeth Grossman
Among the big changes the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act for the 21st Century (LSCA) makes in the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is that it requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect those most vulnerable to chemical exposures. It’s a concept that was not part of TSCA. But exactly who it will protect and how the EPA will interpret this requirement remains to be seen. Comments from environmental, public health advocates and medical professionals at the EPA’s August 9th and 10th public meetings suggest this provision will be key to…
cmonforton | August 12, 2016It wasn’t the first time an industry made wild exaggerations about a proposed safety regulation, but one made by the coal industry in 2011 was a doozy. Now five years later, we have the data to show how big a doozy it really was.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration had proposed a new regulations to protect coal miners from black lung disease. The coal industry insisted that many of the nation's 1,500 coal mines would not be able to comply with a rule that would reduce cut in half the allowable concentrations of respirable coal dust in the miners' work environment.
Alliance Coal's vice…
kkrisberg | August 3, 2016At Slate, Gabriel Thompson writes about a little-used legal provision that could go far in helping farmworkers fight wage theft and other labor abuses. A part of the Great Depression-era Fair Labor Standards Act, the statute is known as the “hot goods provision” and it gives the U.S. Department of Labor the authority block products made in violation of labor laws from being shipped across state lines.
Thompson’s story begins with Felix Vasquez, who works in the strawberry fields of Oxnard, California, and had successfully worked with legal advocates to recover owed wages from his employer,…
cmonforton | July 21, 2016The leading cause of death among retail workers is robbery-related assaults. One of the latest victims is Zachary Benavidez, 23, a clerk at the Diamond Food Mart in San Antonio, TX. He died on June 8 from gunshot wounds inflicted by criminals during an attempted robbery.
Workers like Benavidez are seven times more likely to die from work-related violence than workers in other industries. Convenience store owners and those of other retail establishments can take precautions to prevent such incidents. The industry’s trade associations and law enforcement groups have developed best practices to…
kkrisberg | July 8, 2016In 2005, the World Health Assembly adopted a revised version of its International Health Regulations, a legally binding treaty among 196 nations to boost global health security and strengthen the world’s capacity to confront serious disease threats such as Ebola and SARS. A decade later, just one-third of countries have the ability to respond to a public health emergency. That’s why Rebecca Katz thinks it’s time to get creative.
“How can we think creatively about incentives for countries to build the required public health capacity under international treaty obligations,” Katz, an associate…
lborkowski | July 5, 2016[Updated below 7/5/16 (6:30 pm)]
by Andrea Hricko
Last week, three railroad workers were killed in Texas when two BNSF locomotives crashed head-on into each other; one other worker was hospitalized but released. Due to heavy smoke, the bodies of the three workers with fatal injuries were unable to be located for many hours/even several days after the crash because of heavy smoke from the ensuing fire.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
"The railroad has said that a new safety technology known as positive train control was slated for installation later this year along the area of track…
kkrisberg | July 5, 2016At the Detroit Free Press, Jennifer Dixon and Kristi Tanner investigate Michigan’s workplace safety and oversight system and talk to the families of victims who say there’s no justice for workers who’ve been injured or killed on the job. During the year-long investigation, the reporters looked into more than 400 workplace deaths across the state, finding “a flawed system of oversight with penalties against employers so low they're not a deterrent.”
The article began with the story of Mary Potter, who worked at a group home for people with developmental disabilities. Dixon and Tanner write:…
cmonforton | June 28, 2016Eric McClellan’s work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings from Virginia-OSHA in the agency’s citations against his employer Reynolds Metals, a subsidiary of Alcoa.
The 55 year-old was working in November 2015 at the company’s plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia. The initial press reports indicated that McClellan got “caught in a machine.” I wrote about the incident shortly after it occurred.
Virginia-OSHA issued a citation to Reynolds Metals for one serious violation related to machine guarding. Specifically, a guard
“designed and constructed as to…
cmonforton | June 23, 2016Priorities for a successor? That’s what I wondered when I reviewed the worker safety topics on the OSHA's latest regulatory agenda which was issued last month. In addition to rulemaking projects already identified by the agency, I count five new topics listed on the agenda for possible future regulatory action. They involve the following topics about which OSHA would seek public comment via a "Request for information" or an "Advance notice of proposed rulemaking":
Protections for healthcare workers against violence on-the-job (here)
A lower blood-lead level to trigger medical removal…
cmonforton | June 22, 2016President Obama signed into law today a bill to improve the way toxic substances are regulated and allowed into products that enter our homes, schools, and workplaces. The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act is the first amendment in 40 years to the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA).
During the White House signing ceremony, the President explained why the new law is needed:
"...the system was so complex, so burdensome that our country hasn't even been able to uphold a ban on asbestos --a known carcinogen that kills as many as 10,000 Americans every year. I…
cmonforton | June 14, 2016Kenneth Schultz work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings of California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) in the agency’s recent citations against his employer, Labor Ready.
The 56 year-old was working in October 2015 at a construction project in Oceanside, CA. It’s the site of a new FedEx distribution facility. The initial press reports indicated that Schultz
‘…was using a hand-held hydraulic machine to compact dirt in a drainage channel’ when a retaining wall ‘fell on him.’
I wrote about the incident shortly after it was reported by local press.
A Cal/OSHA spokesperson…