Hours before the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act of 2019 (HR 1603), the New York Times reported that EPA ignored its scientists’ advice in proposing a new asbestos rule.
Worker Health & Safety
Workers Memorial Day 2019: “There is no reason to tolerate irresponsible behavior by employers who fail to provide a safe workplace”
For Workers Memorial Day, two important reports capture what’s wrong in U.S. workplaces.
I saw the title of the paper ….Car Wash Workers. Immediately the 1976 R&B hit from the movie soundtrack invaded my brain… Working at the car wash, yeah Well, those cars never seem to stop coming (Work and work) Keep those rags and machines humming (Work and work) My fingers to the bone (Work) Can’t […]
NPR’s Howard Berkes and Benny Becker of Ohio Valley Resource invite us to listen to the voice of seven coal miners—all who have severe lung disease because of their work.
Worker Health & Safety
Diaper-wearing protesters help to secure bathroom breaks for Texas poultry workers
“Paradise” for some Texas poultry workers is being defined as permission to pee when necessary. It’s been achieved, at least for the moment.
A recent poll revealed 80 percent opposition to a Trump administration proposal to allow 16- and 17-year old workers to use power-driven hoisting equipment to move patients in nursing facilities. The risk of injury to patients and to the young workers should be sufficient for the Labor Department to ditch this bad idea.
I just read a super interesting study on efforts to protect public employees in Colorado from developing skin cancer.
Worker Health & Safety
No answers from worker safety agency to parents’ question “how did this happen to our son?”
After an investigation into the work-related death of their son was bungled by Kentucky OSHA, Pam and Mike Oakley filed a complaint with federal OSHA. They learned that shoddy investigations are not the exception, but the rule. I wonder if there are any lawmakers who care enough to do something about it?
Investigative journalists with the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and Ohio Valley ReSource use records from 47 worker fatalities in the Bluegrass State to expose its failing worker safety agency.
55 workers have been fatally injured since 2007 after being pulled into a wood chipper. Safety sensors can be installed to reduce the hazard but too few manufacturers and employers have adopted the safer technology.