Protecting babies and children against dangerous — sometimes fatal — diseases is a core mission of public health. Everyday, in health departments across the nation, someone is working on maintaining and improving childhood vaccination rates and keeping diseases like measles and mumps from regaining a foothold in the U.S.
National COSH’s “Dirty Dozen” report profiles 12 employers with horrific safety and labor practices. Of all the fine content in the report two short lines will be sticking with me this Worker Memorial Day.
Worker advocates and consumers continue to pressure poultry companies to improve conditions for their employees. Perdue accepted petitions from 100,000 consumers while Tyson Foods made promises to increase wages and reduce injuries.
Immigrant workers who get injured at work now fearful about accessing workers’ comp; women ironworkers win six months of paid maternity leave; many home health workers still going without health insurance coverage; and a health care union declares itself a sanctuary for immigrants.
In February 2017, garment workers in Myanmar, who were enraged by abusive and illegal working conditions, stormed their factory and smashed $75,000 worth of equipment. The worker revolt revealed the broken promises of international clothing brands that sweatshop apparel production would lead to better lives and “empowerment.”
Federal contractors receive billions in public funds despite wage violations; Alabama’s auto industry putting workers’ lives in danger; OSHA delays life-saving silica standard; and Maryland and Nevada legislators approve paid sick leave measures.
It was a breath of fresh air speaking to a senior OSHA official who knows they have a job to do and they are doing it.
As a PhD student, Laura Syron was helping her advisor with workplace safety research focused on the Pacific Northwest commercial fishing industry. The project got her thinking about worker safety throughout the seafood supply chain, from the boat to the processing plant. So she decided to do a study of her own.
Instead of calling worker fatalities “accidents,” could the press communicate how such incidents could be averted? A new paper published in the Journal of Agromedicine got me thinking about the topic.
California farmworkers living in fear of deportation; Ontario health care workers call on officials to address violence in the workplace; West Virginia legislators consider dramatic loosening of mine safety standards; and thousands of workers get ready to strike on May 1.