safety
cmonforton | January 25, 2011OSHA proposed penalties totaling nearly $1.4 million against two Illinois companies for violations of safety standards that led to the deaths of three workers last summer in grain elevators. Haasbach LLC received 24 violations, including 12 classified as willful, for failing to take steps to workers from engulfed 30 feet deep in corn. Alex Pacas, 19, and Wyatt Whitebread, 14, died at Haasbach's Mt. Carroll site on July 28. Two other young workers escaped, but one of them suffered serious injuries. In addition to the OSHA proposed penalty of $550,000, Haasbach was also fined $68,125 from…
cmonforton | January 20, 2011The construction trade association Associated Building Contractors (ABC) was one of 150 business groups that received a letter from Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) in December, asking for their ideas about federal regulations "that have negatively impacted job growth." ABC responded with a list heavy on opposition to labor protections, such as requirements for prevailing wage and labor-management agreements on federal construction projects.
The trade association's hit list also includes three OSHA initiatives, one of which was withdrawn just yesterday by the agency.
I'm particularly…
cmonforton | January 14, 2011Hedilberto Sanchez, 26, was killed on Monday (Jan 11, 2010) at a construction site in Elmhurst, NY when an 18-foot high cinder block wall collapsed on him. He leaves behind his wife, and two sons, Luis, 6 and Edison, 3. Three other workers were injured in the incident, including Mr. Sanchez's brother. The men worked for a subcontractor (who I've been unable to identify) who was hired by the property developer Thomas J. Huang. Mr. Huang has been described in some circles as a one-man wrecking crew for his disregard for building codes, zoning rules and other laws. The New York Times'…
cmonforton | January 10, 2011Lena works in a turkey processing plant in Iowa. She's up by 5:30 am, eats sensibly, is not overweight and has never smoked tobacco. Lena should be the picture of health, but her job makes her feel much older than her 32 years. Over her 10-hour work shift, she makes about 20,000 cuts on the turkey carcasses that move in front of her at a rate of 30 per minute. Lena has chronic pain in her wrist, arms and shoulders. Her physical pain is exacerbated by other work-related stress. Lena earns several dollars per hour over minimum wage, but she has to work another job part-time to help pay…
lborkowski | January 6, 2011Liz and Celeste are on vacation, so we're re-posting some content from our old site.
By Celeste Monforton, originally posted 11/4/09
I admit it: I have a soft spot for hockey players. It probably stems from my Michigan upbringing, including my family's winter-time ritual of making an outdoor hockey rink, and the annual trek from Detroit to Nantias Sport Shop on Wyandotte Street in Windsor, Ontario to buy new hockey skates and gear for my male siblings. Brothers Roger and Dave wore (Bobby Orr's) Boston Bruin jerseys while brother Tony favored Chicago Blackhawks' (Keith Magnuson's) colors…
cmonforton | December 21, 2010By the end of 2011, the Labor Department's worker safety agencies expect to issue six new rules to better protect workers from on-the-job hazards. In the Department's regulatory plan issued yesterday, OSHA projects it will finalize four rules while MSHA expects to complete two new standards. As I've written before, these plans quickly become stale because target dates are missed, new issues emerge and political winds shift, but they still give us a snapshot inside the agencies and the Administration's regulatory strategies at a moment in time.
Of the four rules OSHA expects to finish in…
cmonforton | December 20, 2010Updated 12/21/2010
Every two weeks, OSHA issues a mini-newsletter called Quick Takes about the agency's activities and other worker health and safety news. The twice monthly electronic publication highlights 8-12 items and nearly always includes at least one report of a major enforcement action. I looked back at the OSHA Quick Takes from early 2010 and read gutsy language from OSHA chief David Michaels, such as:"It is unfortunate but true that you need a sizable fine to get the attention of employers who don't respect the lives of their employees." (Vol 9, Issue 2)
I started to wonder…
cmonforton | November 26, 2010Our friend and APHA OHS colleague Mark Catlin has assembled on YouTube an amazing collection of more than 500 environmental health and safety film clips. The video collection contain footage dating back to the 1920's, with loads WWII-era films produced by the U.S. military, Public Health Service and companies promoting tires, asbestos, oil, steel, tetraethyl lead, and more. The collection has already had a million hits this year.
One of my favorites, Safety Styles, features WWII pin-up model Veronica Lake. The actress, known for her flowing long blonde peakapoo hair style, encourages…
cmonforton | November 24, 2010A second, more powerful explosion today rocked the Pike River coal mine in Greymouth, New Zealand. This event forced government and company officials to declare that the 29 miners are surely dead. The initial blast occurred on Friday, Nov 19 deep in the mine and rescue attempts had been thwarted by dangerous gas levels. The country's prime minister John Key said, "This has been the news that all of New Zealand has been dreading. From the moment of the first explosion, [mine rescuers] have spent every waking hour tirelessly working, searching for a way to bring these men home alive. That…
lborkowski | November 17, 2010by Eileen Senn
After decades of dysfunction, OSHA is poised to do something about their badly outdated rules for occupational exposures to chemical hazards. Millions of U.S. workers are exposed to chemicals every day at work, such as asbestos fibers in insulation, asphalt fumes in roofing and road work, carbon monoxide gas from burning fuels, chlorine in disinfectants, formaldehyde in bonded wood, isocyanates in foam, lead in bullets and solder, liquid mercury in instruments and light bulbs, solvents in cleaning products and paints, and silica in concrete. Yet most standards for chemicals on…
cmonforton | November 3, 2010It's that time of year, when the Secretary of Labor is supposed to outline her rulemaking priorities for next 12 months. This would include new proposal to protect mine workers, like the 64 killed already this year, and the tens of thousands made ill by inadequate OSHA standards on exposure to chemicals. The Presidential Executive Order governing this process dictates that agencies' regulatory plans be published in October. Last year the Obama Administration didn't release its plan until December, but I chalked that delay to the stalled Senate confirmation of the President's reg czar,…
cmonforton | October 29, 2010I recently logged 1,300 miles in a rented white PT Cruiser traveling on I-94 from Chicago to Milwaukee and Madison, WI, down I-65 and I-74 to Cincinnati and up I-75 to Detroit. Along the way I saw dozens of road construction projects to expand traffic lanes, repair overpasses, and repave the road surface. Workers were dutifully wearing hard hats and reflective vests, but these protections seemed completely inadequate for the deadly hazards in their midst. Vehicles were zipping past within a few feet of the workers, with only a line of plastic barrels as a barrier. At one site near…
cmonforton | October 26, 2010Melissa Lee's life changed forever on May 20, 2006 when her husband Jimmy, 33 was killed, along with four other workers, in an explosion at the Kentucky Darby coal mine. Afterwards, she not only had four sons to raise without a dad, but as soon as Melissa started speaking up to demand mine safety improvements, she was harassed and threatened by defenders of coal mine operators. Four years since her husband's death, Melissa is still speaking up, this time in a campaign ad running in Kentucky's 6th district in support of Congressman Ben Chandler (D-KY). The incumbent is in a tight race…
cmonforton | October 19, 2010Estevan R. Benavidez's family says he was a happy-to-lucky, 20 year old. He graduated from Miami (AZ) High School in 2008, was a talented tattoo artist, liked to fish, eat junk food, and spend time with his young daughter. On January 9, 2010 he was working for Ames Construction as a laborer at the Freeport McMoRan copper mine in his hometown. He reported to work at 6:30 am, but he never made it home alive.
Benavidez was working with several other men to construct a new reservoir at the surface copper mine. The large lined reservoir holds a sulfuric acid mix used to extract the copper…
cmonforton | September 21, 2010At today's 2nd annual Distracted Driving Summit, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood laid out the U.S. statistics: "thousands of people are killed or injured every year in accidents caused by distracted drivers" and 500,000 more are injured. Distractions while driving can be new age, such as using a Blackberry or IPhone, or classic like looking at a map or unwrapping a sandwich. Distractions for drivers fit into three categories:
Visual: Taking your eyes off the roadManual: Taking your hands off the wheelCognitive: Taking your mind off what you're doing
Its easy to see how certain…
egrossman | September 14, 2010by Elizabeth Grossman
On September 9th, OSHA announced the award of its 2010 Susan Harwood Capacity Building Grants. The grants will support training in industries that range from meatpacking and agricultural work to beauty salons, supermarkets, and construction - in both remote rural and urban environments. Almost all programs are designed to reach workers in both English and Spanish - among other languages - as well as workers in what OSHA describes as "high risk" industries."The programs funded by these grants will have a long-lasting, positive impact on workers and employers alike,"
said…
cmonforton | September 3, 2010Public Citizen, the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) and other worker advocates petitioned the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue a regulation limiting the number of hours worked by medical residents. The petitioners argue that the excessive hours expected by the employers (hospitals) of these physicians-in-training cause chronic sleep deprivation and stress, which contributes to motor vehicle crashes, depression and mood disorders, needlestick injuries and other health problems. Among the compelling evidence provided are studies demonstrating…
cmonforton | August 19, 2010Earlier this month, Labor Secretary Solis proposed more than $16 million in penalties to 17 employers involved in the construction of the Kleen Energy Systems power plant in Middletown, Connecticut. The construction site was the scene of a massive explosion on the morning of February 7 in which Peter Chetulis, Ronald J Crabb, 42, Raymond Dobratz, 58, Chris Walters, 42, and Roy Rushton, 37 were killed; Kenneth Haskell, 37, later died from his injuries. More than 50 other individuals were injured and residents as far as 20 miles away felt the blast.
Investigations by the U.S. Chemical Safety…
lborkowski | July 28, 2010Earlier today, OSHA published its long-awaited final rule on cranes and derricks in construction. We've been following this rule's slow progress for two years now, since a March 2008 crane collapse at a New York construction site killed six workers and a tourist. At the time, Celeste pointed out, "OSHA acknowledges that as many as 82 workers are killed each year in crane 'accidents,' and that the 1971-based crane safety standard is outdated."
OSHA actually looked like it was addressing this issue back in 2003, when it established a negotiated rulemaking committee (which included…
cmonforton | July 18, 2010Congressman Tom Price MD (R-GA) is apparently offended by the suggestion that some companies are not model employers. During last week's hearing in the House Education and Labor Committee on a bill to modernize a few provisions of the OSHA and MSHA statutes, he seemed annoyed that asst. secretary of labor for OSHA, David Michaels, has characterized some employers as "unscrupulous." The Congressman said:"Secretary Michaels, you have talked a number of times about [quote] unscrupulouos employers [unquote]. Do you want to name any?"
Dr. Michaels responded with one example:"a certain oil…