One year an amputated foot. Another year two amputated legs. Could OSHA’s deal after the first incident done more to prevent the second one?
Congress fixed a loophole and OSHA penalties will now be adjusted regularly to account for inflation. But if Labor Secretary Perez is serious about leveling the playing field for those who follow the law, he should consider what’s being called OSHA’s “discount on death.”
Detroit Free Press reporters investigate Michigan’s flawed worker safety oversight system; workers in China’s fireworks factories face life-threatening conditions; New Mexico farmworkers win major workers’ comp victory; and OSHA rules in worker’s favor in asbestos retaliation case.
Government
Fatal work injury that killed Eric McClellan was preventable, Virginia-OSHA cites Reynolds Metals
The fatal work-related injuries that killed Eric McClellan could have been prevented had his employer followed worker safety regulations.
OSHA added five new topics to its regulatory agenda despite being tardy completing its current rulemaking activities. Reading the agenda brings several questions to mind.
An in-depth look at how lobbyists squashed an Illinois bill to prevent discriminatory hiring practices in the temp industry; thousands of coal miners in Kentucky rally to save their health benefits and pensions; Chicago gets closer to a sick leave ordinance; and two workers lose their lives in the Bakken oil fields in the span of a few days.
Injury Control & Violence
Not an “accident”: Agrey Emile Coudakpo, 32, suffers fatal work-related injury in Jessup, MD
This week’s snapshot of just one work-related fatality in the US. This one occurred on Friday, May 27, in Jessup, MD.
Child Labor
In the fight for a rest break, Dallas construction workers find their voice: ‘This is not the end, but a stepping stone to something bigger’
Last summer, 25-year-old Roendy Granillo died of heat stroke while he installed flooring in a house in Melissa, Texas, just north of Dallas. His tragic and entirely preventable death marked a turning point in advocacy efforts to pass a rest break ordinance for local construction workers.
The FAA updates its website daily with aircraft safety incident reports linked to ownership data. MSHA promptly posts injury, illness, and close-call incidents reported by every US mining operation. OSHA’s plan for 2018 to post annual injury data for a fraction of US workplaces is just the agency trying to keep up with the times.
It’s been 15 years since worker safety advocates in Puerto Rico first began fighting against a proposal to dilute the qualifications associated with being a professional industrial hygienist. As part of their efforts, such advocates developed their own proposal to protect the livelihoods of those with the knowledge and experience to properly protect workers. And after years of work, they may finally cross the finish line victorious.