occupational safety | The Pump Handle

Education Study: Peer-to-peer training can improve safety, knowledge among Hispanic construction workers

April 19, 2013 The Pump Handle 1Comment

Eric Rodriguez and his colleagues at the Latino Union of Chicago quite literally meet workers where they’re at — on the city’s street corners. Many of the day laborers who gather there are hired to work construction at residential housing sites. Work arrangements are hardly formal and day laborers are frequently subjected to unnecessary and illegal dangers on the job. Unfortunately, worker safety is often kicked to the curb in the street corner marketplace.

Injury Control & Violence $70 million owed by mine operators for unpaid safety penalties, time for “boot” device equivalent

April 16, 2013 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 2Comment

In many cities, traffic control officers will “boot” are vehicle if it’s racked up too many unpaid parking tickets. It’s time for an equivalent sanction for employers who violate labor laws and refuse to pay the penalties.

Education Cracking down on deadbeat bosses: Wage theft victory a milestone in Chicago’s worker center movement

April 15, 2013 The Pump Handle 2Comment

For Angel Nava, Chicago’s newly adopted wage theft ordinance is particularly personal. Until recently, Nava had worked at the same car wash business in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood for 14 years. The 55-year-old employee did it all — washing, detailing, buffing — for about 50 hours each week. Then, his boss decided to stop paying overtime.

Injury Control & Violence Remembering the 29 men who were killed 3 years ago today at WV coal mine

April 5, 2013 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 2Comment

Three years ago today, 29 miners died at the Upper Big Branch coal mine.

Government Hundreds of Texas workers protest in memory of fallen construction workers

March 1, 2013 The Pump Handle

Texas construction workers who’ve lost their lives on unsafe worksites may be gone, but they certainly haven’t been forgotten. Earlier this week, hundreds of Texas workers and their supporters took to the streets to demand legislators do more to stop preventable injury and death on the job.

Environmental Health New study lifts the lid on unhealthy kitchen conditions in migrant farmworker housing

February 22, 2013 The Pump Handle

For many migrant farmworkers, the health risks don’t stop at the end of the workday. After long, arduous hours in the field, many will return to a home that also poses dangers to their well-being. And quite ironically for a group of workers that harvests our nation’s food, one of those housing risks is poor cooking and eating facilities.

Environmental Health A food safety inspector’s warning about chemicals and bacteria under USDA’s proposed poultry inspection “modernization”

February 19, 2013 The Pump Handle 3Comment

After nearly three decades as a USDA food safety inspector, Stan Painter tells me he now feels like “window dressing standing at the end of the line as product whizzes by.”

Food Safety & Nutrition How will USDA respond to environmental justice concerns for poultry plant workers?

February 12, 2013 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 2Comment

I’m eager to see how USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack responds to the environmental justice concerns raised about the Food Safety Inspection Services’ proposed regulation on poultry plant inspections.

Injury Control & Violence It’s not rocket science to prevent coal miner’s deaths

February 6, 2013 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 1Comment

Greg Byers, 43, worked underground at Arch Coal/ICG’s Pocahontas Coal Mine in Beckley, WV. He suffered a serious injury in July 2012 that led to his death. An investigation report explains how common sense–not rocket science–could have prevented his work-related death.

Injury Control & Violence New report confirms Texas’ abysmal record on construction worker safety

February 1, 2013 The Pump Handle 5Comment

Texas may boast a booming construction sector, but a deeper look reveals an industry filled with wage theft, payroll fraud, frighteningly lax safety standards, and preventable injury and death. In reality, worker advocates say such conditions are far from the exception — instead, they’ve become the norm.

Liz Borkowski, MPH	Celeste Monforton, DrPH,
Kim Krisberg	Garrett Brown