The Center for Public Integrity investigates working conditions inside the nation’s oil refineries; mine safety advocates worry about changes under a Trump administration; garment workers in Bangladesh continue to face abusive conditions; and workers chronicle sexual harassment and retaliation within the National Park Service.
Reporters at the Center for Public Integrity investigate the nation’s third wave of asbestos disease; garment workers in Bangladesh continue to fight for safety and dignity in the workplace; Seattle becomes the first U.S. city to allow Uber drivers to organize; and OSHA sends its silica rule to the White House.
Anniversaries of two deadly workplace disasters remind us of the hazards of combustible dust and gas blows; a former Cal/OSHA employee warns that the agency is dangerously understaffed; and CDC uses sugar-industry money to fund studies into the epidemic of chronic kidney disease striking Central American sugarcane workers.
ProPublica investigates the hazards of temporary work, while the death of a temp worker at an Amazon warehouse underscores the severity of the problem; three California counties are recognizing nail salons with worker-friendly practices; and Bangladesh charges the owners of Tazreen Fashions factory, where 112 workers died in a fire, with culpable homicide.
EHS Today tackles Bangladesh factory safety; federal employees get paid for shutdown days, but thousands of contractors don’t; and health ministers from across the Americas pledge funds to address chronic kidney disease that’s killing agricultural workers.
The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee hears about regulatory shortcomings related to the Texas fertilizer plant explosion; 70 clothing retailers agree to a legally binding plan for safety inspections at Bangladesh factories supplying their clothing; and Hyatt and the UNITE HERE union reach a tentative agreement.
As immigration legislation passes the Senate Judiciary Committee, a report demonstrates why agricultural employers consider a guest worker program to be so important; Bangladesh garment workers win important improvements; and OSHA penalizes an energy company for firing an employee who raised safety concerns about a nuclear-energy project.
A fire at a Bangladesh factory increases the death toll of workers in that country and increases pressure on retailers who sell clothing made in Bangladesh; fast-food workers in St. Louis walk off the job, demanding higher pay and the right to unionize; and retired football players often face high healthcare costs after their NFL insurance has expired.
Worker Health & Safety
“Enough is enough” – Asian labor rights advocates call for change as death toll mounts in Bangladesh
The Asia Network for the Rights of Occupational and Environmental Victims (ANROEV), meeting in Bangkok this week, called for changes in the system that has led to disasters that have killed more than 1300 workers in the past eight months.
The Bangladesh factory where 112 workers died in a fire last month had not gotten its fire department certification renewed; two West Virginia miners at separate mines were killed on the same day; and the Whistleblower Protection Act will extend whistleblower protections to many federal employees.